#132 R.P.I. University of Alabama Birmingham vs. #139 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

If I were a betting man –I’d wager this is NOT what the Emerald Coast Classic organizers, nor their fiscally savvy suits wanted.

As they had to be (silently) cheering for an NC2A bracket busting rematch between U.A.B. and Iowa State; as the Blazers ended the Cycloes season –and numerous office-pools, during March Madness ~7 months ago.

Now, and instead U.A.B. draws our beloved Hokies at ~3:30pm, maybe a tad later depending upon the duration of the two lowercase games before.

Or right about when Frank Beamer may or may not see his Hall of Fame coaching career coming to an end. And here is the kicker; all of my pre-season mag’s have U.A.B. ranked much higher than I’d ever imagined. So microwave some Turkey and stuffing leftovers and let’s get on with this mini-me truncated due to time constraints preview…

U.A.B. at a glance:

• 17th in Swats at 7.5 bpg!
• 21st in 3-point percentage allowed @ 25%
• 51st in defensive rebounding
• 65th in FG percentage D allowed at 38.4%
• 286th in Turnover Margin @ –2.8
• 318th in 3-point percentage @ 27.1%
• no injuries listed (thank coach God)

Blazers Returning Starters=all (although one of the five is now a Sub’)

Al.Birmingham Strengths:

• a 6’8” 241 lb. P/F who is netting you 16.8 ppg and 9.5 rpg from 57% shooting? Yah; I’d say that might just be a strength and so would soph. #3 Chris Cokley of U.A.B. As last seasons C.U.S.A.’s 6th man of the year award winner is prolly now in the C.U.S.A.’s top-5, overall! Chris is a 2-time Ga. AAA state champion in hoops, and he seems to be one of those overlooked kids in the Scout/Rivals no kid left behind era. From what I could see on Saturday nite? Chris is very really super strong upstairs as he looks like a De who traded in his cleats for sneaks.

  

• Defense! Lotta player bio’s mentioned individual defending and/or shot-blocking as the stats bear out above. An inordinate amount in point of fact.
• after that things are cut-in-half or more, as scoring, rebounding and nearly everything else goes.

(in betweens)

• Robert Brown: yes, our 6’5” 187 lb. r-Sr. shooting-G Robert Brown is a 1st string all-Conference U.S.A. pick pre-season, except for one thing. He does not know it –or show it, yet. Neither does  his 8.8 ppg, his three-n-a-half assists and rebounds alike, nor his 28% from downtown. Robert did however torch the post-season last season; so you have to think he is bigger than this; just, not, yet.
• Nick Norton: 5’10” 165 lb. bankrupt man’s Jeff Hornacek of a Pt.Guard in his second year who is 3rd team all-Conference U.S.A., and too, just does not know it, yet. Nick is said to be a shooter, a defender, a distributor and not, I retype, not a penetrator from the One spot. Nick has been chilly to start 2015, although his distribution is ok enough at a team leading 4.8 apg to go with 6.8 points. That and Nick sports a Greg Brady throwback ‘fro. Where is Sam the Butcher when we needs him? ; )

U.A.B. Weaknesses:

• William Lee, all-Conference U.S.A. pre-season section with 4.8 rpg and 4.3 points is something south of all-Conference U.S.A. status for the 6’9” 21o lb. springy P/F. This from perhaps the most highly recruited basketball player in U.A.B. history, and the Alabama State Mr. Everything wining anything and everything as individual awards go in scholastic terms. (and it ain’t his head, his 3.5 G.P.A. says so!)
• Turnovers and not being overlooked –that ain’t helping as every one is now up to play U.A.B. Accordingly, several previews point out that coach Jerod Haase team’s tend to play too fast for their own good and indeed be sloppy in their handles, passing and basketball possession integrity.

 Blazers Bench: ( depth=6, and do mind that 11 Blazers log 11 mpg or more; i.e. fatigue will not be a Blazer problem, could be a Hokie issue)

Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… that in addition to running outta publicative time, … 3 of the 4 Emerald Coast Tourney team’s that I just watched just looked pretty dang chilly, down in Florida for Thanksgiving Break. Poor things. ; )

As only Iowa State had a real feel for the new(er) gym at Destin Florida; which had me wondering if the Cyclones may have gotten there a day earlier? Nevertheless, everyone should have a better feel for the lines-of-sight and depth-perception(s) after a full game in charge down in the Northwest Florida State College gymnasium; up along the Gulf Coast in the westernize panhandle of the sunshine state.

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Now, and if you had asked me to pick this game a few weeks ago? I’da prolly picked U.A.B., as they are picked by every single per-season magazine I own to finish 1-2 or 2-1 in Conference U.S.A. terms. This makes them at least a fringe Big Dance team and that prolly makes them the favorite, at least on green and gold (U.A.B. colored) paper.

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Right now? It really is hard to say; as I’m not sure which U.A.B. tagline I believe. Either/or…

Either U.A.B. was a fluke last year that is therefore o-ver-ra-ted this campaign; or, U.A.B. is just not playing well at all, and will actually snap outta this early season funk to eventually go on an in-conference binge.

That may or may not come to fruition, though for my $0.o3 in the game of life, I just saw a middle of the road to lower end Big-12 Illinois control the U.A.B. nightcap game from start to finish. That does mean 3 less hours of rest as well for the 3 wins vs. softies and 2 L’s vs. power conference foes’ Blazers. That and I gotta kinda wonder if anyone might just want a piece of transfer Robert Brown here? Maybe that’s too long ago, though I doubt it hurts Hokie motive either.

Somebody has gotta win this one, so, ergo, to wit, I’ma gonna pick the more balanced hoops squad and the basketball club that prolly gets to bed just a little earlier as well.  (though not by much and not with a lotta confidence in a foreign gym; either)

Happy Thanksgiving+2!!!

(52% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=67, U.A.B.=65

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**