Update: Game Results: With the Cat’s 83-71 victory at USF, we congratulate 13 VU Hoops readers who took medals in this game. Gold Medals: marty1029 (85-71) and Two in the Pinkston (83-69) and REPRESENT804 (83-73), earning 5 points each; Silver Medals: Novachamps22 (86-71), mj (82-69), Schitzengigles (80-71) and Mark Anderson (85-70), earning 3 points each; Bronze Medals: DMC (81-69), TK87 (80-70), Doctorfeelgoodes (83-75), Matt (84-68), DJPizzle (82-68), and Stevie V (80-70), earning 1 point each. Our updated leader board is provided below.
VUHoops vs. Vegas: Based on the average predicted scores of the VUHoops Crowd, we saw ‘Nova winning by 12 vs. the Vegas spread of 6.5. We therefore would have bet $100 on ‘Nova to cover the spread. With ‘Nova covering, we would have won $100, putting us +$400 for the season. Note: there was no posted over / under on this game.
LEADER BOARD AFTER 14 ROUNDS
| Reader | Points |
| Joe | 12.5 |
| Nervous Nelly | 10.5 |
| Pat'12 | 10.5 |
| TC'87 | 10.5 |
| chuck st.petersburg | 10.0 |
| Robertrise | 10.0 |
| TK87 | 9.5 |
| Hugh Jass | 7.5 |
| Joey | 7.5 |
| Dj pizzle | 7.0 |
| mfc4293 | 7.0 |
| Beardog | 5.0 |
| marty1029 | 5.0 |
| novafan95 | 5.0 |
| REPRESENT804 | 5.0 |
| Two in the Pinkston | 5.0 |
| Steph | 4.5 |
| Stevie V | 4.5 |
| Andy'06 | 4.0 |
| doctor feelgoodes | 3.5 |
| Bill '77 | 3.0 |
| Ed'08 | 3.0 |
| Mark Anderson | 3.0 |
| miles'88 | 3.0 |
| mj | 3.0 |
| Novachamps22 | 3.0 |
| regred | 3.0 |
| Schitzengigles | 3.0 |
| Tommyboy | 3.0 |
| Colt | 2.5 |
| Palsgraf | 2.5 |
| super nova | 2.5 |
| David '06 | 2.0 |
| cdtoffers | 1.5 |
| CMM | 1.5 |
| DP5 | 1.5 |
| EG'77 | 1.5 |
| Esto | 1.5 |
| FLM'33 | 1.5 |
| friartownmayor'13 | 1.5 |
| Mark A | 1.5 |
| mprams | 1.5 |
| Pete (Aliti 13) | 1.5 |
| Chicken Dinner | 1.0 |
| DMC | 1.0 |
| hit the bid | 1.0 |
| Matt | 1.0 |
| Pena Power | 1.0 |
| Rich'09 | 1.0 |
| Simple'07 | 1.0 |
| Vinny'06 | 1.0 |
| bgunn | 0.5 |
| Brendan '10 | 0.5 |
| Christopher Coggins | 0.5 |
| David | 0.5 |
| FishersTalent13 | 0.5 |
| jimmy | 0.5 |
| Kitlesfan95 | 0.5 |
| mattymo | 0.5 |
Update: Thursday, January 6 (Game Time). A total of 78 VUHoops readers posted predictions, none picking USF to win. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 77-65 (a margin of 12.0 points and implied over/under of 142). The Vegas odds makers are picking ‘Nova by 6.5 points; there was no posted over/under on this game.
VUHoops vs. Vegas: The VUHoops Crowd would take 'Nova giving 6.5 points.
SCATTER PLOT OF PREDICTED SCORES
Window Opening: Tuesday, January 4 (8:00 pm). The window is now open for readers to post their predicted final scores for ‘Nova’s game at USF on Thursday at 7:00 PM (ESPNU) in our Closest to the Pin Contest. After thirteen rounds, Joe remains alone atop the leader board with 12.5 points. In our VUHoops vs. Vegas competition, VUHoops is up $300. Click here to see our full leader board.
The #7 Cats (12-1, 1-0) have an RPI of 20, a SOS of 123 and are scoring an average of 77.2 PPG while giving up an average of 60.2 PPG. The Bulls (6-9, 0-2) are unranked, have an RPI of 77, a SOS of 11, and score an average of 60.9 PPG while allowing an average of 61.3 PPG. USF’s more notable wins have come against Texas Tech (+3) and VCU (+1). Losers of four straight, their most notable losses include Seton Hall (-9), Connecticut (-5), Southern Miss (-7), UCF (-6) and Brigham Young (-2). More statistical information about USF is available at Statsheet.com.
Be sure to check out Brian’s game preview.
Special Note: When posting predictions, please be sure to:
- List your predicted score for Villanova first, followed by the score for the opponent (e.g., Cats 100, Owls 75)
- All future games (except Rivalry Games), points are awarded to winners as follows: Bulls-eye = 10 points; Gold (non-bulls-eye) =5 pts; Silver = 3pts; Bronze = 1pt.
- Note the following rule change: given the extraordinary number of readers participating in the contest, we can no longer enforce our rule prohibiting duplicate score predictions.
- 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 guests or anonymous readers cannot be accepted