Thursday, December 09, 2004

Trap Games

This has been discussed to death in the chatterbox, but I wanted to get the story officially posted.

Here are nine "trap games" to look for, games that could result in upsets, closer-than-expected scorelines or unexpected blowouts:


Georgia Tech vs Air Force (Dec. 11 in Atlanta). The Yellow Jackets will just be done with exams and could get a tougher-than-expected test from the defending Mountain West champs (who won't be into finals week yet). ADVANTAGE: Air Force.


Gonzaga vs Georgia Tech (Dec. 18 in Las Vegas). The Zags will be dead, having just finished exams two days earlier, while Tech will be flying high with two games under its belt since its exam period. ADVANTAGE: Georgia Tech.


My take - yes these are trap games. Why - because they are really good teams. GT does have a history of having problems right after finals. Air Force runs a "Princeton" style offense, the same one that we seem to struggle with over teams like NCST (who we've lost 5 in a row to). I fully expect flat shooting and struggles by the Jackets in the 1st half. Don't ask me why - just one of those gut things. Hope I'm wrong. But in the end, we win the game. If this were a road game, I'd REALLY be worried.


On Gonzaga, this game could go either way. I DO worry about this one. We've only played one road game - and that was a one-point squeeker over UIC. So we'll see what happens.