It's Time For The Country To Respect Florida State As A Basketball School And True 'New Blood'
Back on the winning side with a 3-2 day yesterday, even with completely missing on Texas. Tough to argue with that one. Now we're here on the first Sunday of the season. Weird to have games on Sunday still, but we have a few good ones worth taking a shot on. But like I say in every blog here. I'm willing to take any and all feedback for how you want the daily picks blog set up. My goal here is to always show why my picks are just that and breakdown the biggest games of the day too. But if there's a better concept or way to put it out there, let me know. Let's get into today.
As always - all the lines come from the Barstool Sportsbook. Download the app here.
2021-22 Season Record: 15-12
It's time for the country to respect Florida State as a basketball school. Not only do they flat out stink at football, they are actually good at basketball. They refer to themselves as a 'new blood' and honestly I love it. I'm also a sucker for Leonard Hamilton. He goes out and gets decent recruits, fits it into this system he has where guys tend to play 20-25 minutes a game and then off to the pros they go. Not only that, but he's embraced the positionless basketball. He's embraced getting versatility and height and length and making it hell for opponents. I don't know how Florida keeps FSU off the glass. I don't know how Florida takes care of the ball - they are sloppy with turnovers. There's so much depth that FSU can throw out there, it leads to this pressure defense. At the same time, FSU is going to have a massive height advantage in the backcourt and wings. How will Florida be able to get shots up over that if Mike White is true to playing this 5-out pace and space type style (finally). I know it's a rivalry game. I know it's on the road. But I just love this FSU program and think it travels early.
Pick: Florida State -106
Sneaky good game here. Seton Hall looked pretty damn impressive in its first game without Mamu. Bryce Aiken finally looked healthy. They didn't even have Jared Rhoden. Now, here comes Yale, arguably the best Ivy League team. Now the key here is Yale is pretty stacked on the wing, led by Azar Swain. He shoots the shit out of the ball. It's also unclear if Rhoden is going to play and if he does how healthy will he look. Yale will take its time offensively and shouldn't be overpowered by Seton Hall's defense. They want to run some PnR. Run a little motion offense and pick the shot selection before Swain bails them out late.
Pick: Yale +12
Worth noting this game is in North Carolina. That said, I'm taking Princeton here. They are coming off a win over South Carolina. They have an absolute star in Jaelin Llewellyn - a former top-100 recruit at the point guard spot. Minnesota is arguably the worst major conference team out there. Princeton likes to space out offensively and give Llewellyn room to drive. Not only that, but they have shooting at basically every position. It's somewhat fun to watch because teams really have to decide to stay home or throw a double on Llewellyn off the drive.
Pick: Princeton +2
This is strictly a play where I think Drexel's offense matches up well against the zone. Listen, Syracuse is way better than Drexel. We're not arguing that here. BUT Drexel can shoot the shit out of the ball. We saw Zach Spiker really slow down tempo last year too and work for shots. It helps that Camren Wynter returned and gives them a star at point guard. They also return a 6'8" center who averaged close to a double double last year. More importantly they added some versatility and shooting on the wing through the transfer portal. Their defense does concern me, but if they hit enough threes they should stay inside that number. I like the fact that Wynter can create in the zone and still have some shooting versatility around him.
Pick: Drexel +16