College Basketball Betting Preview: A look at Arizona St-New Mexico

Arizona St Sun Devils at New Mexico Lobos, University Arena, Albuquerque, NM
Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 10:00 pm Eastern, TV: Versus
Opening Line: New Mexico -3 1/2
Current Line: New Mexico -3
Opening Total: 130
Current Total: 130
Money Line: UNM -155 / ASU +135

Steve Alford and the Lobos take on Arizona St in college hoops action. The Lobos are a 3 point favorite at home.

Coach Herb Sendek and his Arizona St Sun Devils open the season at Steve Alford’s New Mexico Lobos. The Lobos have a game under their belt this young season as they beat Detroit 63-54 on Saturday at The Pit as the Lobo’s home court is nicknamed. Both of these teams went to the postseason last year. Arizona St went to the NIT and were upset by Jacksonville in the first round. New Mexico went to the NCAA tournament but were beaten by Washington in the second round.

Arizona St has significant losses to replace especially on the front court. They do return 3 starters but 7 players either graduated or left the program early. On the frontcourt only 6’6″ Rihards Kuksiks and 7 foot sophomore Russian Center Ruslan Pateev return. Kuksiks only weighs 180 pounds and is too slight to to take the punishment associated with playing power forward. Pateev didn’t show much in his freshman year and is only keeping the center position warm until 7’2″ freshman Jordan Bachynski develops. Bachynski returns from a 2 year Mormon mission. He is raw but exceedingly talented. The Sun Devils expect this to be a learning year for him as he learns Sendek’s match-up zone system. The Sun devils are loaded at the guard position as they have 7 players in the guard rotation. The starters are set with senior Jamelle McMillan who will tkae over at the point and senior Ty Abbot will play the 2 guard. McMillan isa good passer who doesn’t turn the ball over that often. He does need to work on his shooting, especially from beyond the arc. junior college transer Brandon Dunson will back McMillan up. Abbott is a pre-season contender for Pac-10 player of the year. He is a great shooter from everywhere on the floor and even rebounds well for someone his size. He is only 6’3″. Trent Lockett, Corey Hawkins, Chanse Creekmur, and Keala King will compete for playing time as well. King is a freshman but might be the best of all the back-ups. The Sun devils are very young and could be in for a rebuilding year. Coach Sendek has 3 20 win seasons in his four years in Tempe so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they overachieved and won 17 or 18 games.

The Lobos are pretty young themselves. They return 3 starters from last year’s team including senior point guard Dairese Gary, junior shooting guard Phillip McDonald, and junior power forward A.J. Hardeman. Gary is the team’s only senior. The team does have to replace talented Roman Martinez and Darington Hobson. hobson was drafted by the Bucks in the second round of the NBA draft. Size could be an issue for the Lobos as 6’11” freshman Alex Kirk is the team’s tallest player. The Lobos do have a strong freshman class led by guard Kendall Williams, forward Cameron Bairstow, and freshman guard Tony Snell. Against Detroit, New Mexico struggled from 3 point range as they went 3-20 behind the arc. The Lobos also turned the ball over 18 times and only shot 39% percent for the game. The Lobos played great on defense holding the Titans to 31 percent shooting from the field, including 4 for 22 from 3 point range and the Lobos forced 22 turnovers. It is only one game and most teams are sloppy in their first games of the season.

It is difficult to handicap these early season college basketball games as we don’t know how teams will react and are still trying to build chemistry. The Pit is a very difficult place to play for opponents as it is very loud. I look for New Mexico to clean up the mistakes from the Detroit game. Arizona St is very young and we don’t know how they will react to such a hostile environment.