Update: Saturday, December 17 (Game Results). With the Cat’s 58-74 loss to St. Joe’s, we congratulate four VU Hoops readers who took medals in this bonus-points round. Gold Medal: schitzengigles10 (62-74), earning 7.5 points; Silver Medal: Scott0220 (65-73), earning 4.5 points; Bronze Medals: Beardog (58-64) and Clarkkell (64-70) earning 1.5 points 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 PUSHED by betting ‘Nova +3.0 (LOSS) and the Under (WIN). The details follow. With the push, we remain down $200 for the season.
| VU Hoops | Vegas | Bet | Actual | Result | |
| Spread | ‘Nova -4.0 | ‘Nova +3.0 | ‘Nova +3.0 | SJU by 16 | LOSS |
| Over | 138.0 | 141.0 | UNDER | 132 | WIN |
Leaderboard
| Reader | Points |
| Scott0220 | 10.0 |
| schitzengigles10 | 7.5 |
| Bstep011 | 2.5 |
| chuck st.petersburg | 2.5 |
| Nervous Nelly | 2.5 |
| novasmu | 2.5 |
| Steph | 2.5 |
| Beardog | 1.5 |
| Clarkkell | 1.5 |
| Dom | 1.5 |
| JDW71 | 1.5 |
| Johnnyb1 | 1.5 |
| NovaCat94 | 1.5 |
| Old School | 1.5 |
| Rick19 | 1.5 |
| stats | 1.5 |
| TimW | 1.5 |
| Jimdribble | 0.5 |
| jtc123 | 0.5 |
| Stevie V | 0.5 |
Update: Saturday, December 17 (Game Time) A total of 70 VUHoops readers posted predictions, with 12 (17%) picking the Hawks to win. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 71-67 (a margin of 4.0 points and implied over/under of 138). The Vegas odds makers pick St Joe’s to win by 3.0 and set the over/under at 141 points, implying a final score of 69-72.
Scatter Plot of Predicted Scores
Window Opening: Thursday, December 15, 7:00 AM. The window is now open for readers to post their predicted final scores for ‘Nova’s game at St. Joe’s on Saturday at 8:00 PM (Hagen Arena / CBS) in our Closest to the Pin Contest. After three rounds, Scott0220 is in first place with 5.5 points. Click here to see our updated leader board.
Special Note: As one of four rivalry games, points are tripled for this game.
Villanova (6-4) is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #49 by Kenpom.com. The Cats have a RPI of 95, a SOS of 79, and score an average of 74.3 PPG while giving up an average of 66.6.
St. Joe's (7-9) also is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls, but is ranked #73 by Kenpom.com. The Hawks have an RPI of 17, a SOS of 27, and are scoring an average of 72.8 PPG while giving up an average of 67.2 PPG. Of their seven games so far, St. Joe’s has played three teams with a better-than-100 RPI, beating Creighton 80-71 while losing to Seton Hall 70-78 and Iona 99-104. The Hawk’s third loss was to American 60-66. St. Joe's and Villanova have played and prevailed against one common opponent -- Boston University -- with the Hawks winning 75-68 and the Cats winning 68-43.
Be sure to check out Brian’s game preview.
When posting predictions, please:
- 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, St. Joe’s 75)