South Florida vs Seton Hall: Big East Tournament Predictions
Written March 10, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz
When you talk about the Seton Hall Pirates, the first thing that should come to your mind is “The most underrated team in the Big East.” Jeremy Hazell averages 22.5 PPG, Robert Mitchell averages 14.7 PPG and Eugene Harvey averages 12.7 PPG. When you break down the Pirates you might begin to scratch your head and think why a team with three pure scorers, a decent front line and nice athleticism is only two games over .500 for the year with a 16-14 record… Well, The Hall does have quality wins over USC, Virgina Tech, Georgetown and Cincinnati. They score at an alarming rate. The question with Seton Hall is always what type of defensive energy will they bring to the table. Seton Hall is 16-9 ATS this year and 8-2 in their last 10 games. Seton Hall averages 14 more points a game then South Florida, this game is The Hall’s if the right Pirates team shows up. The Seton Hall Pirates are 4.5 point favorites over the South Florida Bulls.
With the exception of the horrid Depaul Blue Demons, South Florida is the worst team in the Big East with the worst scoring attack….They shoot under 40% from the field, under 30% from 3-point land, a whopping 60% from the free throw line scoring a total of 59 points per game. While Guards Chris Howard and Dominique Jones have showed some spunk (most memorable in the win over Marquette), they just simply do not have the athletes to match up with a high potent Seton Hall offense. If South Florida is able to slow this game down and keep it in the high 50’s they will be able to keep it close and perhaps bore their way to a victory. When you are a slow moving team who uses all the shot clock and wants to make the whole game into a half court set, you must have explosive scorers. While Dominique Jones is no slouch, he is not enough. Here are some of South Florida’s losses for you to chew on… @ Virginia, @UAB, @UCF, Vs Niagara, Vs Wright State(Neutral Site).
Prediction: This game has classic mismatch written all over it. Seton Hall is a more explosive team, they score at a much higher pace, they are much more athletic, they have more quality wins, better quality losses and just flat out should own this game from start to finish… Bobby Gonzalez has his team headed in the right direction, The difference Maker will be Jeremy Hazell in this game and South Florida’s inability to do as much as contain him. The two teams met one time this year with it resulting in a 75-60 win for Seton hall. A major thing to note in that game is only four players scores for South Florida and three of them (Gilchrist, Sanchez and Jones) had 58 of the 60. South Florida out rebounded The Hall by 14 boards and still lost by 15 points.. Hazell will be to explosive, Eugene Harvey will be the general controlling every aspect of this game, Robert Mitchell will do a little bit of everything and Seton hall will cruise in this one. Consider this line a gift. The pirates are a dangerous team and whoever they end up meeting in the second round will have a very tough game on their hands.. Also, remember while South Florida is 16-13 ATS this year Seton Hall is 16-9. South Florida will play tough and make the score more respectable then it was near the end. In this game though, it will be the Jeremey Hazell Show.
Final Regular Season records
South Florida 9-21
Seton Hall 16-14 (four of those wins over high quality teams)
Bookmaker Odds: Seton Hall -4.5
Jordan’s Pick: Seton Hall -4.5
Final Score Prediction:
Seton Hall 76
South Florida 67
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If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- Seton Hall vs Syracuse: Big East Basketball Tournament Predictions
- Florida vs Auburn: SEC Tournament Picks & Predictions
- 2009 Big South Conference Basketball Tournament Predictions
- Florida State vs Wisconsin: NCAA Tournament Predictions
- South Florida vs Florida State College Football Spreads
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