Update: January 18 (Game Results) With the Cat’s 79-76 win over St. John's, we congratulate five VUHoops readers who took medals in this round. Gold Medal: Dom (78-76), earning 5.0 points; Silver Medals: Bill ’77 (80-78), and marty1029 (82-76), earning 3.0 points each; Bronze Medals: schitzengigles10 (79-72) and Loser Cruiser (81-74), 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 DOUBLE-WIN by picking ‘Nova to beat the -2.5 point spread (WIN) and betting the Over (WIN). The details follow. With the double-win, we are now +$100 for the season.
VU Hoops | Vegas | Bet | Actual | Result | |
Spread | ‘Nova -9 | ‘Nova -2.5 | ‘Nova -2.5 | ‘Nova by 3 | WIN |
Over | 145 | 141.5 | Over | 155 | WIN |
Leader Board
Reader | Points |
Clarkkell | 14.0 |
Scott0220 | 10.0 |
Dom | 9.5 |
TK87 | 9.5 |
schitzengigles10 | 8.5 |
Bill '62 | 8.0 |
NovaCat94 | 6.5 |
Loser Cruiser | 5.5 |
barry class of 57 | 5.0 |
FruitLoops | 5.0 |
Kait'08 | 5.0 |
BZ34 | 4.5 |
DP5 | 4.5 |
Bill'77 | 4.0 |
Stevie V | 3.5 |
FLM'33 | 3.0 |
marty1029 | 3.0 |
Old School | 3.0 |
Pretty Toney | 3.0 |
Robertrise | 3.0 |
Southoftheborder | 3.0 |
Beardog | 2.5 |
Bstep011 | 2.5 |
chuck st.petersburg | 2.5 |
Nervous Nelly | 2.5 |
novamsu | 2.5 |
Steph | 2.5 |
Jimmy | 2.0 |
JDW71 | 1.5 |
JMac726 | 1.5 |
Johnnyb1 | 1.5 |
Rick19 | 1.5 |
stats | 1.5 |
TimW | 1.5 |
bhank | 1.0 |
Jim89 | 1.0 |
NovaFlyer | 1.0 |
StatsManOne | 1.0 |
Top Gere | 1.0 |
Jimdribble | 0.5 |
jtc123 | 0.5 |
Update: January 21 (Game Time) A total of 52 VUHoops readers posted predictions, with 6 (12%) picking the Johnnies to win. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 79-68 (a margin of 9.0 points and implied over/under of 145.0). The Vegas odds makers pick ‘Nova to win by 2.5 and set the over/under at 141.5 points, implying a final score of 72-70.
Scatter Plot of Predicted Scores
Window Opening (Thursday, January 19, 8:30 PM) … The window is now open for readers to post their predicted final scores for ‘Nova’s game at St. John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden (1:00PM, ESPNU) in our Closest to the Pin Contest. Clarkkell remains in first place with 14.0 points. Click here to see our updated leader board.
Villanova (9-10, 2-5) is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #71 by Kenpom.com. The Cats have a RPI of 91, a SOS of 3, and score an average of 73.3 PPG while giving up an average of 70.4 PPG.
St. John’s (8-10, 2-5) is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #171 by Kenpom.com. The Red Storm have an RPI of 148, a SOS of 58, and are scoring an average of 65.1 PPG while giving up an average of 67.3 PPG. Their wins and losses break down as follows:
Opponent | RPI | AP | H/A | St. John's | Opponent |
WINS | |||||
William & Mary | 306 | - | Home | 74 | 59 |
Lehigh | 128 | - | Home | 78 | 73 |
Maryland- Baltimore | 328 | - | Home | 82 | 59 |
Saint Francis NY | 247 | - | Home | 63 | 48 |
Fordham | 209 | - | Home | 56 | 50 |
Texas Pan American | 309 | - | Home | 66 | 61 |
Providence | 107 | - | Home | 91 | 67 |
Cincinnati | 89 | - | Away | 57 | 55 |
LOSSES | |||||
Arizona | 67 | 15 | Away | 72 | 81 |
Texas A&M | 188 | 19 | Away | 57 | 58 |
Northeastern | 155 | - | Home | 64 | 78 |
Kentucky | 11 | 1 | Away | 59 | 81 |
Detroit | 214 | - | Away | 63 | 69 |
Connecticut | 7 | 9 | Away | 69 | 83 |
Louisville | 45 | 11 | Home | 58 | 73 |
Marquette | 13 | 25 | Away | 64 | 83 |
Georgetown | 15 | 11 | Home | 49 | 69 |
South Florida | 97 | - | Away | 49 | 64 |
Be sure to check out Brian’s game preview on Friday.
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, Red Storm 75)