| Range | W | L | P | +/- (Units) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Last 30 Days | 7 | 4 | 0.00 | +5.58 |
| Season to Date | 10 | 4 | 0.00 | +11.58 |
WAKE FOREST +7½ -106 over Xavier
7:00 PM EST. The Musketeers are definitely a legit team but they lost Dee Davis and Matt Stainbrook from last year's Sweet-16 team. As a senior, Davis dished out six assists per game and committed a mere 2.4 turnovers. Matt Stainbrook was the massive inside presence for Xavier, who averaged a team high 12.3 points and 6.9 rebounds during his senior season. One cannot talk about Xavier without mentioning NBA prospect Trevon Bluiett, a 6-6 sophomore guard. Bluiett is the star of this team but he still has a ways to go before he’ll excel at being the QB of this offense like Davis was.
There is always a price to pay when backing highly-rated undefeated teams, which applies here to the Musketeers. Xavier comes in with an 11-0 record. They’re ranked #6 in the country but they were not ranked in the preseason polls whatsoever. Only after the Musketeers defeated then #24 Michigan by 16 points a month ago did they appear in the polls. Eight wins later and Xavier has moved all the way up to a #6 ranking. What we’ve learned since is that the Wolverines are not all that. Michigan has played three legit teams (Xavier, UConn and SMU) and they’re 0-3 in those games. Xavier has played one true road game this season, which happens to be that aforementioned, not as impressive as it seemed at the time, victory over Michigan. The Musketeers have put up a lot of crooked numbers in a slew of blowout victories but most of those were against cupcakes and all of them were at home. Now Xavier’s stock is through the roof, which makes us sellers here.
Wake Forest did not have too many good moments to build on during Coach Danny Manning’s first season with the team. The Demon Deacons went just 5-13 in ACC play and there were only a couple quality wins over North Carolina State and Miami to hang their hat on. This season, however, as a 12½-point pooch against then #23 Indiana on November 23, Wake won outright by four points. The very next night against #19 Vanderbilt, as an 11-point dog, Wake was whacked by 18. Since covering against the Hoosiers seven games ago, the Demon Deacons have just one cover since. Combine that with last year’s poor record and Wake’s market appeal is not very high at the moment. That makes us buyers. Wake has won five in a row over UCLA, Rutgers, Arkansas, UNC Greensboro and Coastal Carolina. Three games ago, the Deacs welcomed back senior guard Codi Miller-McIntyre, who was the team’s leading scorer a year ago, but missed the first eight games with a foot injury. In games decided by five points or less, the Deacs are 5-0. They’re also 4-1 at home, 2-0 on the road and 8-2 overall. This is a Wake team with good ball handlers and plenty of scorers. They only lost one starter from a year ago and it’s a rather insignificant one. The Deacs need to improve on defense, which was a sore spot last year as well but they can trade punches with anyone and they figure to be profitable when taking back significant home points. The buy-low/sell-high angle comes into play here. These are inflated points. Pick: Wake -7½ Risking 2.12 units to win 2).
