00:00We are back on Newswire and pleased to bring in our good friend Mike DeCoursey of course covers college basketball for the sporting news. Mike how are you? I am well Adam how are you? I'm good look it's feast week so everybody is happy not only counting down until they can literally feast on their Thanksgiving meals but as we can bet all day long and follow all things college basketball through these early season tournaments and just everything that is going on day by day really it feels like anytime you turn on the TV there's at least a game on and so it's a great time let's
00:29start with the Johnnies now St. John's you know number 14 team in the country handled Baylor first loss of the year for the Bears as well it was lopsided 96 81 in this one Bryce Hopkins 26 points the Johnnies great from three 11 out of 22 we know Rick Pitino was happy after the game obviously what do you think of the bounce back? Yeah I thought it was good but one of the interesting things that developed out of that victory to me Adam was the fact that they shot so well from three point range
00:59and that I came out of that thinking do they need to shoot that well from three point range to win because they're still not rebounding they got beaten pretty handily on the boards down the stretch of their loss on Monday and then I thought that there would be improvement in that area that there would be a focus on it Bryce Hopkins edgy for those guys have been good rebounders in the past but it's not happening right now I thought it would be an emphasis against Baylor
01:29if it were if it was a emphasis it didn't come through it they still shot the ball well they guarded Baylor very well but they are not hitting the boards and getting those defensive possessions closed out and that will cost them if they don't improve in that area.
01:46It's obviously very early in the season teams haven't played 10 games yet but when we're considering the futures market for a team like St. John's who to me you know thinking back to last year in the tournament went out a little prematurely at least compared to my own expectations and where I had them on my bracket and all that fun stuff the odds naturally obviously get longer the deeper you go into the tournament as you look at it right now.
02:09For instance to win the Big East we have plus 160 the final four plus 550 to win the whole damn thing cut down the nets 25 to 1 I don't need to ask you what their ceiling is clearly that's the latter but what's most realistic to you in terms of this team's finish?
02:25Yeah I mean first of all the Big East is not really a very deep conference in terms of contenders this year so when you look at that number on the Big East championship I think it reflects more the idea that it's probably
02:39going to be either going to be either them or UConn with a maybe an outside shot for Villanova Georgetown will be a contender as well but there's not a big pool of candidates I don't think they're a great value to win the league unless they make significant gains in the area that I just discussed I do think they're dangerous because first of all they've got that ability to shoot now from the perimeter they didn't have a year ago
03:02and you've got Rick on the bench who's as good in March as there's ever been a coach in terms of navigating his way through the madness he's as good as there's ever been so there's there might be some value in that final four play but even that number seems a little bit low for the challenge that there'll be to try to get that far.
03:23So by knocking off Baylor that means next up Auburn the number 21 team in the country right now at St. John's is a six and a half point favorite total in this game as you can see on your screen is 167 and a half do you like the Johnnies to go out there and not only win but cover the number?
03:40Well I don't know about the number it's a big one especially since Auburn is a very talented team but what you do have if you feel inclined there you have Rick Pitino against Stephen Pearl who's coaching his eighth or ninth game as a division one head coach and gosh Rick has coached about a thousand of them and won most of them so you have that advantage and you do have a skill advantage I think Tahad Pettiford will be the best player on the floor for Auburn
04:10but I think if you were having a draft so to speak the next two three players you'd take would be Johnny so they do have a talent advantage there as well but I don't like I just don't like the way the Johnnies are playing right now in terms of their effort on the on the glass I just it makes them too vulnerable for me to invest in them at this stage.
04:33Houston got the best of my Syracuse squad my alma mater just a couple of days ago barely they had to work for it but they got it and then they got their their just due on the other side it was Tennessee with a 76-73 win in the last time out sets up Tennessee against Kansas but before we look ahead to that one what was your big takeaway from the survival for the Vols?
04:57Yeah what I liked about the Vols in that game is that down the stretch it became sort of a basket trading game which has not typically been the way Tennessee has won they break your offense and then they score enough to win that's been Tennessee basketball under Rick Barnes with the rare exception of having a Grant Williams type talent on your team.
05:17They break your offense and they make it and they find their way to get enough points to win but they won the game on offense down the stretch against the Cougars they were trading buckets they were having a hard time stopping Kings Kings and Flemings and rightfully so the guy's fantastic but Jacoby Gillespie Gillespie answered all of that they made some really nice execution to get especially a bucket that they got that was key from Felix Opara so I like where Tennessee is right now.
05:46I think they're in a really good position heading into this game against KU well it's a much lower total than the game we were just talking about 139 and a half for this one the four and a half point spread with Tennessee favored the number 17 team in the country against obviously unranked Kansas is this going to be a defensive showdown do you think well I think that like I said before that's kind of where can't where Tennessee starts and Kansas is going to have to do that in order to hang on they are
06:16missing their best offensive player Darren Peterson who will probably be one of the well he'll definitely be one of the first players taken in next year's draft he could be the first player taken and he's he's out with a hamstring injury right now so they're kind of having
06:30to make do at point guard with Melvin Council he's done a very nice job especially his first two games in Vegas but when you go up against the defense as proficient as Tennessee's I think that's where things break down a little bit for KU and why I might lean a little bit toward the Vols in this game.
06:48We got about 30 seconds one more for you and that is Gonzaga and Michigan this one's pretty close to a pick them it's not quite there you got Gonzaga as a slight favorite where do you go?
06:59Well it's hard because those are the two best front lines I think in college basketball right now Gonzaga's got a little less experience at point guard so I would say if I had to pick between the two I'm gonna like Michigan but man it's gonna be a heck of a game to watch.
07:15Mike DiCorsi once again covers college basketball for the Sporting News a regular here on Newswire on SportsGrid. Mike thank you so much and happy holidays.
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