One of the best performing teams in the early going of the 2007-08 college basketball season is Atlantic 10 preseason favorite Xavier
2007-12-14
One of the best performing teams in the early going of the 2007-08 college basketball season is Atlantic 10 preseason favorite Xavier. On Saturday afternoon, the Musketeers will face a tough and rare non-conference road game when they travel to Tempe to take on Arizona State.
Xavier held the role of a large favorite in the battle of the Queen City in holding off cross-town rival Cincinnati 64-59 as bloated 19-point favorites. Stanley Burrell and Drew Lavender are a dynamic senior guard tandem that makes the 8-1 (4-2 ATS) Musketeers preseason A-10 favorites. With character building wins over Indiana and Creighton. 69 senior Josh Duncan hurt his knee against the Bearcats; however coach Sean Miller expects to be ready. Xavier is an excellent three point shooting club and Arizona State is one of the few that can match them shot for shot. The Musketeers are 15-6 ATS versus good 3-point shooting teams making 37 percent or more of their attempts.
Herb Sendik will be facing one of his old assistants in Miller, who worked for him seven seasons at two different stops. Junior forward Jeff Pendergraph is the Sun Devils best player, playing with seven sophomores and freshmen in the rotation of nine. Arizona State was routed in two stiffest challenges against Illinois (77-54) and Nebraska (62-27) and will be facing the highest ranked non-conference to visit the Tempe campus since 1980 when they upset Ohio State on December 20. Sendiks Sun Devils are 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 games against a team with a 60 percent or higher winning average.
Arizona State will be fired up to make a name for themselves versus ranked opponent at home, unfortunately superior guard play from Xavier, who is 8-3 ATS off a spread loss, is more than they can accomplish.
StatFox Take Xavier by 5
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