The Tuesday free play worked out as Nashville notched a road win at Colorado in the NHL. I’ll return to college hoops for the Wednesday comp.
597 UNLV at 598 SOUTHERN UTAH
Take: SOUTHERN UTAH +8.5
I’m big on looking for intangibles when sizing up potential wagers. There’s a big one in play tonight as UNLV hits the road for the first time as the Rebels make the short trip to Cedar City to face the Thunderbirds.
UNLV has the better talent here, not much argument about that. But it is the initial road game after six straight at home and that can be a challenge regardless of the opponent.
Southern Utah is very limited in terms of personnel. The Thunderbirds have been a losing program for ages. Their last winning season was way back in 2006-07 and they’re going to likely be toward the bottom of the Big Sky again this year.
But here’s where the intangibles come in. Todd Simon is now the coach at Southern Utah after being the interim head guy for the Rebels last season after Dave Rice departed the scene. Simon certainly would have liked to become the full time coach here in Las Vegas, but the school decided to go in another direction.
I can pretty much guarantee that if there’s one game Simon would absolutely love to win this season, it’s tonight’s game against the Runnin’ Rebels.
Whether Southern Utah has enough to stay with UNLV for the full 40 remains to be seen. But I’m convinced this team will be ultra-fired up for the game and I suspect the visiting Rebels might get more than they bargained for tonight in Cedar City. I’m looking at taking the points with the Thunderbirds.
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