NCAAB: Saturday Terriers to bark, DePaul to stand tall @ the Hall

Furman +8 @ WOFFORD, 7 pmPick: Wofford -8

Two of the top teams in the Southern Conference meet on Saturday, as the Furman Paladins (15-3) visit the Wofford Terriers (14-4). These two have built a bit of a rivalry over the past few seasons competing at the top of the conference. Despite their similar records and what is seemingly a large spread, I am rolling with the Terriers here. Furman has started to come back to earth after their early top 25 national ranking, while Wofford is a team that can score in bunches, especially at home where leads tend to snowball. Furman’s rank of top 15 in Luck on Kenpom suggests their impressive record may not really be indicative of their play. They also average 14 points less on the road than they do at home. Furman is coming off a road loss to UNC Greensboro by 20 points, the same team that Wofford destroyed on the road by 30. The records between these two are similar, but I don’t think the play on the court will be. Take Wofford to cover the 8 point spread.

DePaul + 8.5 @ SETON HALL, 8 pmPick: Depaul +8.5

The Seton Hall Pirates (12-6) host the DePaul Blue Demons (10-6) in a Big East matchup on Saturday. Seton Hall is coming off an in-conference loss at Providence earlier in the week, while DePaul comes into this game off a home defeat at the hands of Butler. After such a demoralizing loss at home it may look easy to go against DePaul, but I am riding with the Blue Demons in this one. They beat Seton Hall at home by a point a couple weeks ago, and DePaul has shown the ability to be competitive on the road. A perfect example of this was when they upended St. John’s a week ago. In addition to DePaul’s competitive nature, Seton Hall has a tendency to play in tight games. Most of their games have been decided by single digits. Throw in the fact that the Pirates are an ugly 0-7 ATS as a home favorite, and I think the 8.5 points is way too much for a game that may be decided in the final minutes.