Chalk Talk: UALR is playing in the SB Tournament final for the 4th time. The trojans are 1-2 in previous SB finals, with a victory in 2011 and losses in 95 and 96. #2 seed La-monroe is playing in the final for the 1st time..... The teams split the regular season series. UALR won 58-57 on 01/09 in LR and LAM won 86-82 on 02/11 in monroe. Deng (LA-mon) was the 2nd leading scorer in the SB at 18.9ppg.
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Top two teams in the belt square away here, with auto bid and title belt on the line. There has been unmitigated rumors circulating that the trojans are "locked" in for an at large bid, but cannot confirm the origin. Rest assured, NE LA will have their guns ablazing, as they can ill afford to play from behind. In UALR's loss in Monroe, the war pigeons jumped on them early and couldn't miss. Trojans mounted a valiant 2nd half effort, but failed to overcome. Monroe is salty at home, but same for UALR. There is some setback on the road for both, but overall UALR has the better team, imo. Coach Beard said in the loss to monroe that was the worst played game for the trojans this year. Wouldn't necessarily call in a revenge spot; but don't be disillusioned - trojans will show for this affair and I don't expect for LA-Mon to duplicate shooting performance of the 2nd meeting.
Line Assessment: The number is dropping to UALR (-3), but I don't think the ATS number is how you play this one. Game might very well be close, or UALR tenacious defense puts on clinic; ultimately believe the trojans win this game and am personally playing the ML (-155) for 3*. Should be a good game but trojans are a team of destiny.
Irrelevant stat: Monroe, LA broke rain record and recorded over 20+" of rain this week. If you ever been to the sh*thole, you know it's no higher than a bump on pickle.