NapaDuke wrote:

St. Bonaventure vs Duquesne Prediction 1/18/25 College Basketball Picks=14pxHome  =14pxCOLLEGE-BASKETBALL Picks Chris Ruffolo  January 18, 2025 6:27 am Duquesne (8-9) vs St. Bonaventure (15-3) Game Info: Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 2:00 pm (UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse)Betting Odds: Duquesne +1.5 -- Over/Under: 128 Click Here for the Latest OddsWhere to Watch: ESPN+ The St. Bonaventure Bonnies and the Duquesne Dukes meet Saturday in college basketball action from the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a St. Bonaventure vs. Duquesne prediction.St. Bonaventure RecapThe St. Bonaventure Bonnies come into this game looking to build off of their 63-49 win over Richmond last time out to improve their record to 15-3 on the year. After this game, St. Bonaventure will head back home for a matchup with George Mason.Bonnies Back On TrackChance Moore leads the Bonnies in scoring and rebounding with 14.9 PPG and 7.7 RPG while Noel Brown has 12.7 PPG with 4.9 RPG. Melvin Council Jr. has 14.2 PPG with 5.3 RPG and 4 APG while Dasonte Bowen has 11.1 PPG with 3.8 RPG and a team-high 4.2 APG to lead the Bonnies in the assist department and Lajae Jones also has 10.8 PPG with 5.7 RPG to cap off the scoring in double figures for St. Bonaventure up to this point in the year. Jonah Hinton also added 8.9 PPG as well for the Bonnies this year. As a team, St. Bonaventure is averaging 72.9 PPG on 46.2% shooting from the field, 33.5% from three, and 73.9% from the foul line this season.  Why the St. Bonaventure Bonnies will win

• St. Bonaventure has won eight of its last nine day games.
• Duquesne has lost three of its last four day games at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse following a road win.

Duquesne RecapThe Duquesne Dukes come into this game looking to add on to their 73-65 win over George Washington last time out to improve to 8-9 on the year. After this game, Duquesne will welcome the Dayton Flyers to town.Dukes Win Back-To-Back Games And 6 Of Last 7Tre Dinkins leads the Dukes in scoring with 11.4 PPG while Jake DiMichele has 10.9 PPG and Jahsean Corbett has 10.2 PPG with 5.9 RPG to lead Duquesne in rebounding and to round out the trio of double-digit scorers for Duquesne up to this point in the season. Kareem Rozier has 7.2 PPG with a team-high 3.8 APG up to this point in the year. As a team, Duquesne is averaging 69.2 PPG on 43% shooting from the field, 34.6% from three, and 64.8% from the foul line this season.Why the Duquesne Dukes will win

• Duquesne has won each of its last six day games at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Total Points Facts

• Each of St. Bonaventure's last 12 day games against the Atlantic 10 Conference have produced a total of 129+ points.
• Each of the last four games between St. Bonaventure and Duquesne at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse have produced a total of 120 or fewer points.

St. Bonaventure vs. Duquesne PredictionI’m on the Bonnies here. St. Bonaventure went through a mini two-game skid but got back on track and while Duquesne’s run to get back to where they are now after such a horrendous start to the year is nice to see, I don’t know if it can continue here when the Bonnies are the clear better team by a fair margin. Duquesne has had their moments but at a short price given the Bonnies’ solid run of form this entire season and how it just seems to keep rolling on, I have to do the same and back the Bonnies to get it done here.    ReplyForward Add reaction

I didn't see a game thread started so I cut and paste some info. Go Dukes.

Last edited by NapaDuke (Yesterday 5:24 pm)

Thank you.  The game is on Sportsnet Pittsburgh today.

Thank you Napa! It's been a busy week. Apologies for not getting the thread up!

KenPom:
#139 Duquesne
#74 Saint Bonaventure

BartTorvik:
#116 Duquesne - 61
#57 Saint Bonaventure - 64

Haslametrics:
#55 Duquesne - 61
#136 Saint Bonaventure - 66

Duquesne Preview:
https://goduquesne.com/news/2025/1/17/mens-basketball-dukes-host-bonnies-for-red-out.aspx

Thank you Napa and Bluffhunter. Lets go Dukes!

Good to be up 9, better when it was 13. Edwards on again.

The re-ignition of Edwards is something else.  Big props to that kid.   If only the Steelers had the grit and ability to get up off the mat this team has, they’d  still be playing. 

GO DUKES!!!!

Last edited by townsonkid (Yesterday 3:55 pm)

CityDuke wrote:

5 straight against the Bonnies sure feels nice. When these Dukes share the ball like they did tonight, we are so fun to watch. We are so balanced, so deep, and so versatile. All this without Dimichele too! Can’t wait to get him back.

Towards the end they showed DiMichelle on the bench with the walking boot back on - apparently he suffered a set back in his recovery.  At this point I would hope for a redshirt.  While some players might not want to give up the year or could go into the portal anyway I'd guess he would NOT be in that category.

BEST TEAM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR 75-57

Just got back from the game. Really great crowd. Edwards was great.  It's not just the great shots, but he's quicker and got important rebounds. A very strong performance by the whole team today, and Coach Dru is out coaching some very good coaches in this winning stretch. St.B.'s center is a truckload and never got in foul trouble. Our bigs did a great job keeping him  in check. We really just beat a very hot team and their fans came in force. Every kid on our team had a great day. Typically, the refs did us no favors.  Dayton isn't going to be excited about facing this team right now.  

Last edited by NapaDuke (Yesterday 5:06 pm)

NapaDuke wrote:

SkepticAl wrote:

CityDuke wrote:

5 straight against the Bonnies sure feels nice. When these Dukes share the ball like they did tonight, we are so fun to watch. We are so balanced, so deep, and so versatile. All this without Dimichele too! Can’t wait to get him back.

Towards the end they showed DiMichelle on the bench with the walking boot back on - apparently he suffered a set back in his recovery.  At this point I would hope for a redshirt.  While some players might not want to give up the year or could go into the portal anyway I'd guess he would NOT be in that category.

BEST TEAM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR 75-57

I had that same injury from over training to run in my first marathon years ago. It does take a long time to recover and it took orthotic designed high arched insoles to stretch the facia back to a good arch. I'm not sure what the boot does, but it did take months for me to get over it. As a retired pharmacist, I found that I take a turmeric based produce called Theracurum and it's very effective as an anti-inflammatory for injured tendons. It's exceptional for tennis elbow too. Maybe the trainers might want to take a look at that product. 

Eat of a lot of fresh turmeric we grow and it's helped combat my inflammation after a dozen surgeries on my knees. shoulders, etc...Grounding or earthing have helped immensely as well. So many natural plant sources out there to combat everything.
 

I didn't see the preview until after the game, but nice job Napa. I'll also credit Rayrich for being the first to say this team is better than last year's. You've been saying it since the transfers first came in. I really didn't see it at the time since we were losing so much in Dae Dae and Trey. I also was nervous about Dru stepping into a conference loaded with good coaches without any experience. Obviously I have to hope it continues, but at this point I'm comfortable crediting you for great foresight.

There's a reason they don't give awards out halfway through the season, but Dru has to get some consideration for coach of the year. Who could have imagined that as even a remote possibility a little more than a month ago? As for the lack of a go-to scorer, that's looking like an asset rather than a liability. Opposing defenses can't focus on one guy, and we aren't dependent on any one to win games. It's a true team, and I'm thrilled with how it has come together. After winning in Brooklyn last year I dropped everything to get to Omaha because I didn't know when the Dukes would be back in the tournament. It was a great experience, and I certainly have no regrets, but it's looking like my assessment was terrible. With our horrible non-conference it seems like everything rests on our performance in the A-10 tourney again. Even if it doesn't happen this year though, I love the direction the program is heading and I'm confident we'll be dancing again before too long.

Earlier in the season I was lamenting the fact that Dru was probably guaranteed a few years regardless of performance. Now I'm worried about other programs trying to take him away. I didn't notice it at the time, but I now think bringing him in as an assistant was what flipped the switch on Dukes basketball. I thought at the time that he was a Dambrot clone since they had been together so long. There are definite similarities, but I'm noticing now with him in the head position that they are outnumbered by their differences. While we're still primarily a man-to-man team, the switches to zone have been very timely and thrown off opponents countless times this year. We still play at a very slow tempo for the most part, but that makes the rare times we attack in transition more effective because the defense doesn't see it coming. The biggest thing is the attitude of the team. You can talk all you want about the team being a family, but it is usually just talk. This team really seems to buy into it, as last year's did. The players seem genuinely happy with each other's success. That team first attitude started under Dambrot, so perhaps I'm giving Dru too much credit, but it took several years to show up under Dambrot.

I also send a lot of credit to Dave Harper. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous of today's students seeing the night and day difference from my years on the Bluff (2000-2004). I'm very happy that the administration bought in to his vision though. Seeing full seats, the red out, and hearing the "we want fries" chant was fantastic. It's certainly not worth the 18 points that were the margin today, but the atmosphere has to give the Dukes at least a few points a game. Seeing the players rush over to high five their fellow students after the game is a great sight too.

luckymcd wrote:

 While we're still primarily a man-to-man team, the switches to zone have been very timely and thrown off opponents countless times this year.

I've noticed that also.  One of those instances happened in the second half when the Bonnies had cut into the lead.  The Dukes switched to a zone and SBU wasn't expecting it.  They passed the ball around then got off a forced shot inside.  We got the rebound and came down the court to score.  Before long we were rebuilding the lead.  A very satisfying win today.
 

luckymcd wrote:

I didn't see the preview until after the game, but nice job Napa. I'll also credit Rayrich for being the first to say this team is better than last year's. You've been saying it since the transfers first came in. I really didn't see it at the time since we were losing so much in Dae Dae and Trey. I also was nervous about Dru stepping into a conference loaded with good coaches without any experience. Obviously I have to hope it continues, but at this point I'm comfortable crediting you for great foresight.

There's a reason they don't give awards out halfway through the season, but Dru has to get some consideration for coach of the year. Who could have imagined that as even a remote possibility a little more than a month ago? As for the lack of a go-to scorer, that's looking like an asset rather than a liability. Opposing defenses can't focus on one guy, and we aren't dependent on any one to win games. It's a true team, and I'm thrilled with how it has come together. After winning in Brooklyn last year I dropped everything to get to Omaha because I didn't know when the Dukes would be back in the tournament. It was a great experience, and I certainly have no regrets, but it's looking like my assessment was terrible. With our horrible non-conference it seems like everything rests on our performance in the A-10 tourney again. Even if it doesn't happen this year though, I love the direction the program is heading and I'm confident we'll be dancing again before too long.

Earlier in the season I was lamenting the fact that Dru was probably guaranteed a few years regardless of performance. Now I'm worried about other programs trying to take him away. I didn't notice it at the time, but I now think bringing him in as an assistant was what flipped the switch on Dukes basketball. I thought at the time that he was a Dambrot clone since they had been together so long. There are definite similarities, but I'm noticing now with him in the head position that they are outnumbered by their differences. While we're still primarily a man-to-man team, the switches to zone have been very timely and thrown off opponents countless times this year. We still play at a very slow tempo for the most part, but that makes the rare times we attack in transition more effective because the defense doesn't see it coming. The biggest thing is the attitude of the team. You can talk all you want about the team being a family, but it is usually just talk. This team really seems to buy into it, as last year's did. The players seem genuinely happy with each other's success. That team first attitude started under Dambrot, so perhaps I'm giving Dru too much credit, but it took several years to show up under Dambrot.

I also send a lot of credit to Dave Harper. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous of today's students seeing the night and day difference from my years on the Bluff (2000-2004). I'm very happy that the administration bought in to his vision though. Seeing full seats, the red out, and hearing the "we want fries" chant was fantastic. It's certainly not worth the 18 points that were the margin today, but the atmosphere has to give the Dukes at least a few points a game. Seeing the players rush over to high five their fellow students after the game is a great sight too.

Thank you Luckymcd. I just saw the depth and talent that was brought in. Think this team can be even more special than last years. Just keep it going man.