George Mason at Delaware (+6) - 4:00 Pacific - Game #527-528
Surprising Delaware will be playing with first place on the line tonight. Transfers Egerson and Ledsome have joined All-CAA senior forward Courtney, all-rookie PG Johnson and three time CAA rookie of the week pick Dawson to form a potent starting lineup. The Blue Hens sit alone in first place at 3-0 in the conference standings and have won four of five including back to back CAA road games for the first time in five years. Saturday outright win at Drexel came despite foul trouble. Delaware has won the battle of the boards in four of last five games after losing it in first eight. George Mason has played just three true road games this year, beating FIU, getting blown out at Kent State, and losing outright as a double digit favorite at Georgia State. In last game the Patriots came in as a 16 point favorite but were taken down to the wire by a suspect Towson team who had been awful in recent road games. GM starters Thomas, Smith, and Vaughn all played 36 minutes or more in the contest as depth has suddenly become an issue with freshman not getting the same minutes they were earlier in the season. This is the Blue Hens first lined home game since the infusion of new talent and they are still being undervalued. Take the points.

Play: Delaware +6  0.5 UNIT |  WIN 73-68
Pittsburgh at South Florida (+3.5) - 4:30pm Pacific - Game #555-556
The Bulls have won 10 of 12 games and six straight at home. They now have a great opportunity here to get a marquee win. NBA prospect center Gransberry (15.1ppg & 11.6rpg) and good looking PG Howard (11.7ppg, 5.4apg) were known commodities before the season, but no one could have expected the impact of "Dwayne Wade" like freshman Dominique Jones. The impressive guard leads the team in scoring and ranks second in rebounds and assists behind the two mentioned above. Pittsburgh is playing shorthanded with two starting guards Cook (#4 scorer, #3 assists, #4 minutes played) and Fields (#2 scorer, #1 assists, #2 minutes played, #4 rebounds) sidelined by injuries. They played well in close loss at Villanova in first test without both players but three games back were blown out on the road at Dayton with Cook out and Fields playing half the game. They will now face their second straight road game against another fired up team. This is easily South Florida's biggest home game in recent memory. Students have returned to campus just in time and the game is being televised on ESPN2. Expect a great effort from the Bulls and a good chance of an outright win. Take the points.

Play: South Florida +3.5  0.5 UNIT |  LOSS 66-79
UAB at Tulane (-1.5) - 5:00pm Pacific - Game #577-578
The Green Wave are 10-4 on the season and have already beaten three SEC teams, two coming on neutral courts. They won eight of their last ten C-USA regular season games last year with only losses coming at Houston and at Memphis. Reigning conference player of the week David Gomez is a go to type post player and former all freshman team guard Chris Sims is a go to type player in the backcourt. Several quality role players round out the rotation. This team is playing with great chemistry and should be primed for their conference home opener. UAB is just a shadow of what they expected to be coming into the season. Top guard Delaney is out for the season with a knee injury, former Miss State transfer forward Sharpe (#2 scorer, #2 rebounder, #1 blocks) has missed last three games and is out today due to an academic issue, two freshman have been declared ineligible, and touted Georgia transfer Channing Toney will not be eligible for another week. The Blazers are just 3-5 away from home with two of the wins coming vs poor Georgia State and Louisiana Lafayette (in OT) teams, with all three away wins coming with Sharpe active. This is a short number for an improving Tulane team at home against an overrated opponent. Give the points.

Play: Tulane -1.5   0.5 UNIT  |  LOSS 61-62


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