Update: Saturday, December 3 (Game Results). With the Cat’s 73-65 win over Penn, we congratulate nine VU Hoops readers who took medals in this round. Gold Medals: Bstep011 (72-65), Chuck St.Petersburg (72-65), Nervous Nelly (73-64) and Steph (72-65) earning 2.5 points each; Silver Medals: NovaCat94 (71-65), Rick19 (75-65), stats (72-66) and TimW (73-67) earning 1.5 points; Bronze Medal: Jimdribble (75-64) earning 0.5 point. 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 won $200 by betting Penn +13.5 (win) and the Over (win). The details follow. With the double-win, we are now even for the season.
| VU Hoops | Vegas | Bet | Actual | Result | |
| Spread | ‘Nova -9.0 | ‘Nova -13.5 | Penn + 13.5 | ‘Nova by 8 | WIN |
| Total | 137.0 | 132.5 | OVER | 138 | WIN |
Leader Board After 2 Rounds
| Reader | Points |
| Scott0220 | 5.0 |
| Bstep011 | 2.5 |
| chuck st.petersburg | 2.5 |
| Nervous Nelly | 2.5 |
| Steph | 2.5 |
| Dom | 1.5 |
| NovaCat94 | 1.5 |
| Rick19 | 1.5 |
| stats | 1.5 |
| TimW | 1.5 |
| Jimdribble | 0.5 |
| Stevie V | 0.5 |
Update: Saturday, December 3 (Tip-Off) A total of 72 VUHoops readers posted predictions, with five picking the Quakers to win. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 73-64 (a margin of 9.0 points and implied over/under of 137). The Vegas odds makers are picking 'Nova to win by13.5 points and set the over/under at 132.5 points, implying a final score of 73-60.
Scatter Plot of Predicted Scores
Window Opening: Thursday, December 1, 8:30 PM The window is now open for our readers to post their predicted final scores for Saturday night’s game against Penn at the Pavilion (7:00PM, ESPN3) in the second round of our Closest to the Pin Contest. Scott0220 stands alone in first place, scoring a 5.0 point bulls-eye in the opening round; Dom is in second place with 1.5 points while Stevie V is in third place with 0.5 points.
Villanova (4-2) is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #52 by Kenpom.com. The Cats have a shockingly high RPI of 123, a SOS of 154, and score an average of 77.3 PPG while giving up an average of 66.5 PPG (Note: if you exclude the Monmouth blowout, those averages drop precipitously to 71.6 PPG and 65.8 PPG, respectively, with a decidedly downward trend).
Penn (4-4) also is unranked in the AP or ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls, but is ranked #207 by Kenpom.com. The Quakers have an RPI of 203, a SOS of 185, and are scoring an average of 65.8 PPG while giving up an average of 66.4 PPG. Of its eight games so far, Penn has played three teams with a sub-100 RPI, beating Robert Morris 66-60 while losing to Pitt 58-78 and Temple 67-73.
Be sure to read Brian’s game preview. We’ll post the Las Vegas spread / over-under on game day. 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, Penn 75)