SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2010 - NCAA FREE PICK
Wichita State Shockers (22-6) at Utah State Aggies (21-6), 11:59 P.M. EST, TV: ESPN2
The Wichita State Shockers, the second-place team in the Missouri Valley Conference, travel west to take on Utah State, the first-place team in the Western Athletic Conference, in an ESPN Bracketbusters matchup at Logan, Utah.
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The two teams have not played since 1995 at the Maui Invitational. Wichita State won in overtime.
Wichita State arguably drew the toughest Bracketbuster matchup of all the teams involved, traveling to play what has become, quietly, one of the nation’s top mid-major programs in Utah State. The Shockers may also have to do without power forward Gabe Blair, who is nursing a bruised left thigh. Wichita State is getting some great production out of its bench right now in center Garrett Stutz, who is averaging 11.7 points over the last three games, and backup point guard Demetric Williams, who played 22 turnover-free minutes in a win over Evansville on Wednesday. They’ll need both to step up if they want to have any chance of winning against the Aggies.
What Utah State coach Stew Morrill has done in 12 years with the Aggies has been nothing short of amazing — 10 straight years in the postseason, including six NCAA Tournament appearances. Morrill is methodical in his approach to basketball, and permits little room for error. The Utah State offense is an exact machine — no motion, no freelancing — and the number of offensive sets could rival that of a football playbook. Six-foot-nine junior Nate Bendall averages 25 points and 13 rebounds per game and could have a field day with the Shockers, who have noone — repeat, noone — that matches up with him.
The odds makers have the Aggies at -7-point favorites.
Wichita State has looked like a team running on fumes the last two weeks, including a back-breaking loss at Evansville followed by squeaking out a win over the Purple Aces on Wednesday, a game followed by a minor meltdown from coach Gregg Marshall. Utah State is coming off a 67-61 win over Louisiana Tech in which it hit 46.6 percent of its shots and turned the ball over seven times.
Look for Utah State to rise up and thump Wichita State in front of a rabid home crowd and a national audience to secure an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. Aggies win by 12.
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- Wichita State is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games
- Wichita State is 20-5 SU in its last 25 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Wichita State’s last 6 games
- Wichita State is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
- Utah State is 9-2 ATS in its last 11 games
- Utah State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Utah State’s last 9 games
- Utah State is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games at home
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