Appalachian State Basketball: Appalachian @ UNC-Greensboro 1/26/2012

Expecting Appalachian to be favored here by 3.5 to 5.5 points.

Very surprised this morning to wake up and see Appalachian being spotted 1.5 points on the road to a team they have already defeated this season and covered their largest spread on the season against. Appalachian beat UNC-Greensboro 78-64 and covered a 9.5 point spread at home on December 1st, 2011. Greensboro has won four games in a row against Samford, Chattanooga, The Citadel and College of Charleston. Samford and The Citadel are holding the cellar down in their respective divisions, and Chattanooga has yet to win a game on the road. College of Charleston is underachieving due to poor shooting and lack of consistent guard play. The loss of Andrew Goudelock is really hurting them. The Charleston win was what kick started this winning streak for the Spartans.

This is the one game this season, where I picked the opposing team and I got burned. I am not going to make the same mistake again. Appalachian is playing better, and should have a decent crowd in the Greensboro Coliseum where they have not lost in their last two trips. I think the handicappers are giving the Spartans too much credit, so I will take the Mountaineers to cover this spread, mainly because they are going to win straight up.

Final: This game went to overtime and Appalachian could not keep up with UNCG’s hot shooting once Jamal Trice fouled out in overtime. I lost for the second time in three games and my record fell to 8-6 on the season. I picked the wrong team both times Appalachian and UNCG played.

Appalachian State Basketball: 1/23/12 Men’s and Women’s Socon Update

UNC-Greensboro picked up a big win over Samford on Sunday afternoon. Not that beating Samford was a momumental win, as they are last in the SoCon North Division, but it was the Spartans fourth win in a row, after starting the season 2-14. Greensboro is now 4-4 in SoCon play, tied with Appalachian for second placein the SoCon North. Thursday’s game in Greensboro is now even bigger. A win for Appalachian would give them a season sweep and separate themselves from UNCG by a full game in the standings, and would require UNCG to finish ahead of Appalachian in the regular season in case tiebreakers came into play for seeding in the SoCon Tournament which will be held March 2-5 in Asheville.

Tonight is a big night as far as the SoCon women’s race in concerned as well. First place Chattanooga (8-1) continues its road trip in the Old North State with a trip to third place (7-2) Davidson. Appalachian limited Chattanooga to 26 points over the final 30+ minutes of the game on Saturday evening. UTC star Whitney Hood was contained quite well on the inside. Second place Appalachian (7-1) hosts fourth place Samford (6-3) in what is a must win game for Samford if they plan on contending for the conference title. Appalachian will look to get revenge from last year’s defeat to the Bulldogs in the Southern Conference championship game. Samford defeated Davidson on Saturday. Appalachian and Samford tipoff tonight at 6pm at the Holmes Center.