(01-12-2022, 11:59 AM)Papa John Wrote: WSU averages 9 made 3-pt FGs per game and shoots free throws pretty well. They have out-rebounded their opponents by 5.9 pg and have forced an average of 14.2 turnovers pg. Their leading scorer is guard Michael Flowers, who is averaging 13.2 ppg. Junior foward DJ Rodman--son of Dennis Rodman--averages 19 minutes pg and 5.9 ppg. Noah Williams and Tyrell Roberts are other notable players for the Cougars.
Flowers and Roberts are both transfers. Williams is a junior as well. Continual support of how to build a competitive MBB roster - vets and transfers. Overall I do think Kyle Smith is a solid coach, and the rest of their rotation outside those two are his own recruits...but you just can't ignore two starters, and their #1 and #3 leading scorers, being transfers.
I expect a loss here and hope I'm wrong. To be clear, this is definitely a winnable game given Wazzu's resume to date. But Haase's teams haven't proven they can keep it going after a big win, and Noah Williams must be licking his chops after last time. A win here would be more significant than we think, IMO.
A bit surprisingly, Wazzu is favored by 7. I'm sure fans in the stands (if applicable...not sure) help that spread a bit, but being favored by more than USC was?