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George Washington (5PM ET USA) – I got all the personnel news right in my plays on Tuesday but we settle for a split as Utah Tech gets it done but Loyola-Chicago fails to get by a short handed St Joseph’s team.  I’m not done picking on the Saint Joseph’s Hawks, I think yesterday’s loss was more a result of Loyola-Chicago being inept than it was St Joe’s being the better team and I’ll pick on the Hawks again here when they face the George Washington Colonials in Atlantic 10 Tournament action at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Fair warning I will most likely play against St Joseph’s until they are out of the A10 Tournament but I expect that to be a non-issue after today because I’ll be shocked if they get by George Washington here.  I was right about Ejike Obinna being out yesterday and during the broadcast they announced he’s officially done for the season.  St Joe’s did get Kacper Klaczek back yesterday but he’s nothing more than a warm body right now as coach Billy Lange admitted Klaczek is nowhere near 100 percent and that was apparent when he played 27 minutes against Loyola-Chicago and didn’t score a point.  It’s pretty clear St Joes was using the banged up Klaczek as a decoy more than anything yesterday but George Washington got to see that as well so I’ll be surprised if we see much of Klaczek here.  That right there is the starting front court for St Joes so, like yesterday, it will be up to the St Joe’s guards to knock down shots and take over this game.  The problem for St Joe’s here is that’s not really what happened yesterday, Lynn Greer had a big game which is why the Hawks were able to escape with a win but the reason Loyola-Chicago lost had a lot more to do with the fact they went 7 for 25 from three and turned it over 15 times than it did St Joes beating them.  George Washington is a FAR superior team, St Joes is going to need more than a big game from Greer or one of their guards to win here and I simply don’t see how an undermanned Hawks team gets past the Colonials here.

Not only is George Washington a significantly better team than Loyola-Chicago this season it’s even more the case right now as the Colonials closed out A10 play with some of their best and most consistent ball of the season.  George Washington had won four straight before losing a competitive game to VCU in their regular season finale.  These teams split the regular season meetings but Klaczek was a big contributor in the first game while George Washington couldn’t buy a three in the second meeting (which was at St Joe’s) so I think that’s deceiving this THIS St Joe’s team isn’t fully representative of the team the Hawks fielded in the first two meetings with the Colonials.  George Washington has also had the extra prep time here, the Colonials are rested and have had time to game plan for St Joseph’s trio of guards while the Hawks were busy scrambling to figure out what personnel they had available against Loyola-Chicago.  If St Joseph’s played just about any other team under those circumstances they would have been knocked out yesterday but that’s just how horrific Loyola-Chicago has been this season and the Ramblers remained true to form yesterday.  Because of Loyola’s shortcomings, St Joseph’s will have to play another game and the beneficiary of that will be a George Washington team who should handle business and move forward with a win here.

The most surprising part of all of this is where this game was priced when the line opened.  George Washington is so clearly better than Loyola-Chicago so it’s shocking to see them essentially the same number against St Joseph’s on a neutral floor.  St Joe’s could be getting credit for a win yesterday but I think that’s flawed as it was Loyola-Chicago that lost yesterday’s game more than it was St Joe’s winning it.  Either way George Washington is superior, the Colonials have a great coach in Chris Caputo who is way ahead of schedule with this program in his first season and I expect him to have his team motivated to make some noise in this tournament.  Drawing banged up St Joe’s is an absolute gift and I think George Washington cashes in on that here.  Play on George Washington -120 for 4% (or 4 units)