Fargo’s North Texas at Oklahoma State Picks
November 11, 2008
Matt Fargo just keeps making money for his customers with his expert college basketball picks. Here we’ll take a look at his pick on the North Texas/Oklahoma State game. The college basketball lines show Oklahoma State favored by 10.5 points. Let’s see what Matt has to say about the match up. You can get more great free basketball picks all season long right here from the best handicappers in the nation.
7* College Hoops TOP PLAY No Doubt BLOWOUT Oklahoma St. is coming off a convincing win in its opener against Texas-San Antonio and it gets tested for the first time. However, this should not be much of a test as the Cowboys have big edges with very favorable matchups. Head coach Travis Ford won his first game with the program so that pressure has been listed and even though he was not the coach a year ago, this is a big one for the Cowboys. They went into Denton last season and were upset by North Texas so there is some payback to take care of.
North Texas lost some huge talent for the second straight season. The Mean Green lost steady point guard Ben Bell, post player Keith Wooden and team leader forward Quincy Williams. They return two starters and their strength is the backcourt which is not an advantage tonight. Sophomore Josh White and senior Collin Dennis are both listed on the preseason All-SBC First Team and while that is a huge honor, a lot of it is by default as the Sun Belt is lacking in guard play this season.
North Texas is going to thrive against a lot of teams with that backcourt edge but not tonight as the Cowboys are a small-ball team as they will be starting a four-guard lineup. Byron Eaton is a solid point guard while wings James Anderson, Obi Muonelo and Terrel Harris are all extremely solid. Those four players scored 60 of the Cowboys 76 points in that opening game so it is evident that guard play is the strength. When facing a big team, Oklahoma St. will have some issues but North Texas cannot take advantage of that.
The Cowboys have has this game circled for a while as have some of the aforementioned players. Eaton, Harris and Muonelo were dominated by the North Texas backcourt and combined to shoot 7-of-25 from the field, attempted just two free throws and had more turnovers (seven) than assists (six). They have remembered it and while ford has downplayed the revenge factor, he has used that game to motivate his players. Look for the Cowboys to avenge that loss and roll tonight. 7* Oklahoma St. Cowboys