{"id":10382,"date":"2010-11-07T22:51:11","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T03:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=10382"},"modified":"2010-11-07T22:51:11","modified_gmt":"2010-11-08T03:51:11","slug":"rhode-island-rams-vs-pitt-panthers-college-basketball-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/rhode-island-rams-vs-pitt-panthers-college-basketball-picks-10382\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island Rams vs Pitt Panthers College Basketball Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rhode Island Rams at Pittsburgh Panthers
\nMonday, 11\/8\/10, 7:00 PM EST; TV:\u00a0 ESPNU
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -10.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -11
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 136
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 136.5<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Pitt Panthers open up the 2010-11 college basketball season by hosting the Rhode Island Rams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rhode Island opens its season on one of the toughest courts in college basketball and will be looking to end a five-game skid against Pittsburgh on Monday night.\u00a0 The Rams will not be intimidated due to winning 89 games over the past four years, with never less than 19 in a season over that span.\u00a0 \u201cMy big think is the last three years we\u2019ve graduated seven starters,\u201d said head coach Jim Baron.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s a whole lot.\u00a0 We\u2019ve won a lot, but our biggest concern is who is stepping in and stepping up to fill those spots.\u201d\u00a0 The team is 20-46 all-time versus opponents from the Big East and under Baron, Rhode Island is a respectable 9-11 against the formidable conference.\u00a0 Even though this is a step up in class, this squad can\u2019t be discounted, brining in a 50-19 record versus out-of-conference opponents since 2006-07.\u00a0 The team is 8-8 ATS as an underdog over the last three years and the college basketball lines is now available.<\/p>\n

The Rams were unable to make the NCAA Tournament due to a 9-7 Atlantic 10 record, but the squad did reach the semifinals of the NIT.\u00a0 With 10 players back and a talented three-man incoming class, the team should be able to matchup well with opponents.\u00a0 In its 103 previous season openers, Rhode Island has posted an outstanding 83-20 winning percentage.\u00a0 Expect shooting guard Akeem Richmond to be a major player in this contest, hitting 81 three-pointers as a reserve a year ago, becoming just the third freshman in the history of the Atlantic 10 to connect on more than 80.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh opens its 104th season of men\u2019s basketball and the entire college basketball season on Monday.\u00a0 The Panthers are coming off a 25-9 season and finished tied for second in the Big East despite being picked to finish ninth.\u00a0 \u201cPeople didn\u2019t think much about us last year and we finished second in the conference,\u201d said senior forward Gilbert Brown.\u00a0 \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t change anything.\u00a0 We have high expectations.\u201d\u00a0 A win over Rhode Island would give Pitt its 14th consecutive season opening victory since the 1997 season.\u00a0 The program enters the game with a 70-33 all-time record in 103 season openers.\u00a0 Pittsburgh is 34-25 ATS over the last three campaigns.<\/p>\n

The Panthers have quietly become one of the best teams in the country since the turn of the century.\u00a0 Over the past nine years, the Panthers are 245-65 and have reached one Elite Eight and five Sweet 16s.\u00a0 Pittsburgh returns four starters and sixth man Gilbert Brown, as well as former McDonald\u2019s All-American Dante Taylor.\u00a0 They enjoy a homecourt advantage that simply can\u2019t be overstated, posting a 132-11 record in the history of the Petersen Events Center.<\/p>\n

Bettors will find that the Rams are 2-5 ATS in their last seven road games, while the Panthers are 6-0-1 ATS on Mondays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rhode Island Rams at Pittsburgh Panthers Monday, 11\/8\/10, 7:00 PM EST; TV:\u00a0 ESPNU Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -10.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -11 Opening Total:\u00a0 136 Current Total:\u00a0 136.5 Rhode Island opens its season on one of the toughest courts in college basketball and will be looking to end a five-game skid against Pittsburgh on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":9797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1444],"tags":[3733,559,3735,3734,3732,3736,606,3731],"class_list":["post-10382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-headlines","tag-akeem-richmond","tag-big-east","tag-gilbert-brown","tag-jamie-dixon","tag-jim-baron","tag-petersen-events-center","tag-pitt-panthers","tag-rhode-island-rams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10383,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382\/revisions\/10383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}