To say that Drexel’s college basketball team has been riddled with injuries over the last couple of years would be an understatement. The Dragons started eleven different players over a span of thirty games last season, and Bruiser Flint’s squad had five players combine to miss 50 games due to injury. Despite the injury-bug, Drexel managed to be very competitive, losing eight games by six points or less. With two returning starters, including junior guard Damion Lee, coach Flint has good reason to be optimistic about the 2014-2015 college basketball campaign.
Drexel’s frontcourt is anchored by junior forward Tavon Allen and sophomore forward Rodney Williams, both of whom are capable of landing on the CAA All-Conference team this season. Williams was chosen to the CAA All-Rookie team last year after playing 20.8 minutes per game and averaging 5.0 rebounds. Coach Flint has not been shy in saying that his frontcourt is “way more athletic than the big guys that we’ve had over the last couple of years.”
Meanwhile, major questions surround St. Joseph’s following the departure of seniors Langston Galloway, Halil Kanacevic and Ronald Roberts Jr., all of whom guided the Hawks to the NCAA Tournament last season. All three seniors were voted to both the Atlantic 10 All-Conference team, and each scored more than 1,000 career points. This year’s offense is guided by senior point guard Chris Wilson, who only averaged 9.1 points per game last season and shot under 40% from the field.
Drexel is coming off a 65-48 loss to Colorado to open the season, which is significant in that the Dragons are 16-4 ATS at home after scoring less than sixty points on the road and 11-2 ATS at home off a loss by fifteen or more points. Meanwhile, St. Joseph’s lack of team chemistry at this stage of the year was best evidenced by its opening-season loss to Farleigh Dickinson (58-57).
Drexel applies to a very good 31-5-1 ATS early-season bounce-back situation of mine and the math still favors the Dragons despite the line move earlier this morning. Take Drexel on the money line and invest with confidence.
College Basketball Pick: Drexel (ML) (-135)