Update: January 5 (Game Results) With the Cat’s 57-74 loss to South Florida, we congratulate four VUHoops readers who took medals in this round. Gold Medal: FruitLoops (64-68), earning 5.0 points; Silver Medal: Pretty Toney (69-71), earning 3.0 points; Bronze Medals: Beardog (59-60) and Jim89 (72-75) earning 1.0 point each. Our updated leader board is provided below.
VUHoops vs. Vegas: Based on the average predicted scores of the VUHoops Crowd and the posted Vegas line, we would have had a PUSH by betting ‘Nova +7.5 (LOSS) and the Over (WIN). The details follow. With the push, we remain even for the season.
VU Hoops | Vegas | Bet | Actual | Result | |
Spread | ‘Nova +8.0 | ‘Nova +7.5 | ‘Nova +7.5 | South Florida by 17 | LOSS |
Over | 138 | 126.5 | Over | 131 | WIN |
Leader Board
Reader | Points |
Scott0220 | 10.0 |
schitzengigles10 | 7.5 |
Clarkkell | 6.5 |
FruitLoops | 5.0 |
Kait'08 | 5.0 |
TK87 | 5.0 |
Dom | 4.5 |
FLM'33 | 3.0 |
Pretty Toney | 3.0 |
Beardog | 2.5 |
Bstep011 | 2.5 |
chuck st.petersburg | 2.5 |
Nervous Nelly | 2.5 |
novasmu | 2.5 |
Steph | 2.5 |
JDW71 | 1.5 |
Johnnyb1 | 1.5 |
NovaCat94 | 1.5 |
Old School | 1.5 |
Rick19 | 1.5 |
stats | 1.5 |
TimW | 1.5 |
Jim89 | 1.0 |
Jimmy | 1.0 |
StatsManOne | 1.0 |
Top Gere | 1.0 |
Jimdribble | 0.5 |
jtc123 | 0.5 |
Stevie V | 0.5 |
Update: January 5 (Game time) A total of 60 VUHoops readers posted predictions, with 5 picking the Bulls to win. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 73-65 (a margin of 8.0 points and implied over/under of 138). The Vegas odds makers pick Villanova to win by 7.5 and set the over/under at 126.5 points, implying a final score of 67-60.
Scatter Plot of Predicted Scores
Window Opening: Tuesday, January 3, 5:30 PM The window is now open for our readers to post their predicted final scores for Thursday’s game home at the Pavilion (8:00PM ET, WPHL17) in the seventh round of our Closest to the Pin Contest. Scott0220 stands alone in first place; click here to see our full leader board.
Villanova (7-7, 0-2) is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #60 by Kenpom.com. The Cats have an RPI of 90, a SOS of 31, and score an average of 72.9 PPG (8th in the Big East) while giving up an average of 68.3 (8th in the Big East).
South Florida (8-7, 1-1) unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #135 by Kenpom.com. The Bulls have an RPI of 138, a SOS of 75, and are scoring an average of 61.3 PPG (16th in the Big East) while giving up an average of 58.3 PPG (16th in the Big East). The table below sets out their wins and losses so far this season.
Opponent | RPI | AP | Home/Away | SFU | Opponent |
WINS | |||||
Vermont | 205 | - | Home | 61 | 59 |
Marist | 267 | - | Home | 81 | 67 |
Florida Southern | - | Home | 73 | 43 | |
Georgia Southern | 298 | - | Home | 66 | 46 |
Florida Atlantic | 174 | - | Home | 68 | 55 |
Florida A&M | 342 | - | Home | 83 | 59 |
Cleveland State | 63 | - | Home | 70 | 55 |
Rutgers | 231 | - | Home | 67 | 65 |
LOSSES | |||||
Old Dominion | 133 | - | Away | 66 | 68 |
Penn State | 162 | - | Away | 49 | 53 |
Virginia Commonwealth | 73 | - | Away | 46 | 69 |
Kansas | 45 | 15 | Away | 42 | 70 |
Auburn | 193 | - | Away | 40 | 52 |
Southern Miss | 18 | - | Away | 51 | 53 |
Connecticut | 4 | 9 | Home | 57 | 60 |
Be sure to read our game preview tomorrow. We’ll add the Las Vegas spread / over-under when it’s posted. Good luck!
Special Note: When posting predictions, be sure to:
- Use a consistent handle / ID so that we can keep an accurate running leader board over the course of the season. Obviously, score predictions posted by anonymous readers cannot be accepted.
- List your predicted score for Villanova first, followed by the score for the opponent (e.g., Cats 100, Bulls 75)