| Range | W | L | P | +/- (Units) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | -2.20 |
| Last 30 Days | 5 | 2 | 0.00 | +5.68 |
| Season to Date | 12 | 6 | 0.00 | +11.26 |
FORDHAM -10½ -106 over La Salle
The first inclination here would be to grab the points because the Rams of Fordham probably haven’t been a double-digit favorite in conference play in 15 years. In fact, Fordham has usually been a double-digit pooch in conference play for years so when the oddsmakers make this Rams’ team such a big favorite, it caught our attention immediately. We’ll get back to the Rams in a second after we discuss the Explorers.
La Salle is 4-7 overall and 0-1 in conference play. They have played two tough opponents thus far, Villanova and Miami and lost them both by 29 and 46 points respectively. A 46-point loss is disturbing enough but the 29-point loss to ‘Nova might be even more disturbing. Although the Wildcats are highly ranked, they are ranked 276th-in defensive rebounding so losing by almost 30 points to them is a serious sign of trouble ahead. There are just two seniors on the Explorers and neither is impacting. La Salle’s four wins this season have come against Towson, Rider, Lafayette and Rowan. Among their defeats are a 13-point loss to Drexel, a 16-point loss to the Penn Quakers and a nine-point loss to Florida Gulf Coast. There are some weak teams in the A-10 that include George Mason and Saint Louis but the Explorers have the least talent and will likely finish in dead last.
Losing and Fordham is synonymous. The Rams have been an Atlantic-10 bottom feeder for years but the culture of that program is heading in the right direction for the first time in a very long while. There’s a new man in charge of the men’s basketball program at Fordham and his name is Jeff Neubauer, the former Eastern Kentucky coach for the past decade. We loved what coach Neubauer did at Eastern Kentucky, where the Colonels pressed relentlessly, contested every pass, forced gobs of turnovers, passed constantly and shot bushels of 3’s. And in bringing that hyper-aggressive style to the Bronx, Neubauer and his staff have supercharged Mandell Thomas, a standout point guard who endured 66 losses in his first three seasons with the Rams. With Thomas harassing the perimeter and grabbing steals on 4½ percent of possessions, Fordham ranks fourth in the NCAA in limiting opponents’ long-range shooting (26.1 percent shooting percentage on 3-point attempts) and sixth in forcing turnovers (25.5 percent of opponent possessions), both of which are huge turnarounds from 2014-15. The Rams’ out of conference schedule was exceptionally weak but that only adds to their value here because nobody is giving them any credit. The Rams are 0-1 in conference play but that loss occurred by just six points at George Washington and now this team is ready to grab an early conference win against the most beatable team in the conference. Fordham has always been an easy out but don’t sleep on this team this season, as they could be an Atlantic-10 spoiler and figure to put away weaker teams like the one they’ll face here. Pick: Fordham -10½ -106 Risking 2.12 units to win 2).
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