Cyber Max

It’s no suprise that the Colonials have been a top-20 team for most of the year. What is surprising is that they’ve basically flown under the radar for most of this year despite returning four starters from last year’s team that won 22 games, the Atlantic 10 tournament title and secured it’s first NCAA tournament bid since 1999. This is a deep experienced team poised to do some damage in March.

This year’s edition of the Colonials is the culmination of a two year master plan by HC Karl Hobbs. In 2004, while Xavier and St Joe’s were rampaging thru the Atlantic 10 enroute to the Elite Eight, Hobbs played his kids and managed to win 18 games as well as garnering an NIT invite. Last year’s club returned the top-seven scorers from 2004 and won the conference before bowing to Georgia Tech in the first round of the Big Dance.

The 2006 edition returns intact except for off guard TJ Thompson (13.2 ppg) whose long range shooting and leadership will be missed. Thompson had started 117 straight games for the Colonials before graduating. While Thompson is a significant loss, Hobbs prefers to see the glass 4/5’s full rather than 1/5 empty.
And for good reason. George Washington is 10-1 and the only team in the Atlantic 10 with five players averaging in double figures.

The Colonials are led by shooting guard JR Pinnock who is averaging 15.4 points per game. Pinnock was the A-10’s Sixth Man of the Year last year and will get serious consideration for Player of the Year this year. Pinnock is joined in the back court by floor general Carl Elliot who averages 11.1 ppg while dropping 4.4 dimes per outing. Both guards are 6′5″ and solid rebounders.

PF Mike Hall is second in scoring at 13.1 ppg and also grabs 7.6 boards. A tireless worker, Hall has a non-stop motor and has become the heart and soul of the team. SF Omar Williams 7.3 ppg has selflessly put his game on hold to become the team’s top defensive stopper. His extra-long wingspan makes him particularly annoying to opposing scorers.

At center we have second-team A-10 and first team All-Name, Pops Mensah-Bonsu. Pops comes via London and is the most athletic of the Colonials. Bonsu averages 11.6 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Pops biggest problems have been foul trouble (he challenges everything, 130 career blocks) and foul shooting (makes Shaq look like Steve Kerr).

Maureece Reece is a talented sopomore guard who is first off the pine. Reece broke many of Wilt Chamberlain’s long standing HS records in Philadelphia and is avgg 11.3 ppg in his debut season. Freshman Montrell McDonald (5.8 ppg) and LSU transfer Regis Koundija (4.3 ppg / 2.7 ppg) are the other key reserves getting double-digit minutes.

Entering tonight’s game against St Louis, the Colonials only loss was a 79-58 blowout to a very tough North Carolina State team. The Wolf Pack are top-10 in the country in almost every statistical category and number one in FG% allowed. NC State held GW to just 31% shooting which might have been aided somewhat by a scheduling quirk that saw the Colonials without a game the prior fourteen days. George Washington does have quality wins against Maryland and Temple.

George Washington is off to a relatively slow start against the points this year at 3-2 but should be profitable in certain situations throughout A-10 play. The Colonials are 25-15 over the past three years as a favorite and a wallet fattening 24-13 in A-10 play. Talented, experienced, and deep. Keep your eye on George Washington as you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of them in March!

Dennis Macklin is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Dennis_Macklin.htm

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a former NBA (National Basketball Association) player of legendary status. At 7 feet, 2 inches in height, Kareem dominated the in the NBA for 20 years. Kareem was voted the National Basketball Association’s most valuable player on six different occasions, in addition to being on the NBA All-Star team in 19 of his 20 seasons. Being named one of the fifty greatest players in NBA history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was inducted into the NBA hall of fame in 1995.

Kareem was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. in Harlem, New York City, in 1947. Born a large baby, 12 pounds and 11 ounces, Ferdinand began dominating the game of basketball at an early age. In high school he led his team at Power Memorial Academy to a 96-6 overall record with a 71-game winning streak and three straight New York City Catholic championships. After high school he decided to attend UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), where he played college basketball from 1966 to 1969. During his college campaign, Ferdinand helped lead UCLA to 88 wins and just 2 loses with three championships. In addition to the fantastic team accomplishments, Ferdinand was named Player of the Year twice, named First Team All-American on three occasions and was the first Naismith College Player of the Year. The trademark goggles he wears was the result of a scratched left cornea that happened while playing basketball in college. Ferdinand Alcindor also converted to Islam during college but his name change didn’t occur until 1971.

After college, Kareem was drafted in the 1969 NBA Draft as the first overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks after declining a millions dollars to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. Placing second in scoring and third in rebounding during his first year in the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar easily earned Rookie of the Year honors. In his second season with the Milwaukee Bucks, he earned his first scoring title, his first Most Valuable Player award and first Finals MVP award along with winning the his first NBA championship. Over the next five years he remained a dominant force with Bucks with multiple scoring titles and winning MVP honors another two times before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his first five years with the Lakers he earned three more Most Valuable Player awards. Before Kareem’s retirement from basketball in 1989 he won five more championships with the Lakers under the coaching of Pat Riley.

Besides being a basketball superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been in a couple films as an actor and has appeared as a guest on a few television shows. His first movie appearances were in “Airplane!” and “Fletch”. Kareem has since been named to NBA Hall of Fame and in 2005 became an assistant to coach Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers. Kareem is currently helping to develop young players on the Lakers. Every player on the Lakers surely listens to the wise words of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because he is one of the top five players in the National Basketball Association’s history.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Sports

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With 96 College hoops game to handicap this past Saturday, I find myself as a pro handicapper sometimes overwhelmed by the vast numbers of teams and stats and scenarios to look at on Friday Night as I prepare to post advice for paying customers, who count on me to make them money everyday of the week with my wares. This is a huge responsibility and one I do not take lightly, so I thought I would break down my performance to make a valid point in terms of how to narrow it down to make it profitable for the novice sports bettors and wannabe handicappers who sometimes lose site of the forest because of all the trees.

Specialization is the key to success- I took at a look at my 3-1 ATS performance Saturday, and thought I would point it out in terms of how one can achieve a 75% win rate ATS with so many games. I narrow it down to 3 conferences I specialize in, and one situation I specialize in, small conference totals plays now 5-1 ATS on the year. Lets look at my lone loss, which was Texas Tech against Oklahoma getting +10.5 and they lost by 12. Close but no cigar on that one, I needed a lay-up to cover, but found that Texas Tech is one of the worst road teams in college hoops and in the Big 12, it is official. Being in the radio business both from a gaming show perspective and a straight up sports talk show perspective in Lincoln, NE, so I work with game announcers and even a national play by play announcer for ESPN Gameplan that covers the Big 12 and Mountain West on a weekly basis. This gives me some serious insight and information that cannot be found on the wire services, a huge advantage for me!

Small conferences and mid-majors, like the Missouri Valley for instance, is also a MAJOR key to my success. Look at this past Saturday, 3 unbeatens, all favorites, including Duke, all were favored on the road. These games get the lions share of public interest and public wagering, and have no doubts, Vegas oddsmakers know it. I won with small conference plays, where the lines moved very little if at all. It is not exciting stuff, but profitable. St. Mary’s CA laying 1 point on the road in a 22 point win, San Diego State laying 7 and winning by 27 and the Over in the NC Wilmington and George Mason game, winning the over by 13 points over the spread. The line moves, side and total in those games combined was less than 3 points TOTAL! Not exciting stuff, not exciting games on TV, but with a 3-0 sweep in those games, exciting when you go to the ticket window! The lines are soft and not as sharp and are less likely to have huge swings in them before tip-off than a game involving Duke, U Conn, North Carolina and teams that attract huge numbers of wagers and public attention.

I like to fly under the radar screen and narrow it down to a finite number of teams to handicap, say looking at 25-30 games max, and I’ll let the public and other cappers worry about attracting attention on marquee games. If you work a few conferences, like the Colonial or Horizon or Sun Belt as a weekly chore, you become very accustomed to home /road dichotomies in those conference’s, and win / loss scenarios and past history, of who plays who tough, no matter the situation. Knowing that St. Mary’s of California always is a tough team to beat at home, and remember in that conference, Gonzaga travels there. Just little things that are common knowledge to those who take the time to specialize in it! Look at San Diego State, off to their best conference record ever, and playing a team who has lost all road games by double digits, and yet they lay 7 and win by 27! The Aztecs lead the conference standings and have an outstanding forward that dominates in this conference, keep an eye on them.

Narrow it down, keep it simple and look at a few conference’s like the ones I mentioned, maybe the MAC conference, or a small mid-major and start doing your homework, it will pay dividends this Hoops season.

Tony George is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Tony_George.htm

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