B.C. went down at home to the Yellow Jackets a few weeks back. Their offense never got going in that game and they settled for jump shots while also being virtually nonexistent on the glass.
Despite dropping that contest by eight and never really being in any position to win or control the game, they enter Atlanta on wednesday as only 2.5 point underdogs. A large reason for that is the uncertain status of Trae Golden.
The senior point man for GT played 18 extremely unproductive minutes against Virginia in their last outing as he continues to be recover from a groin injury. This offense has looked lost at times without him, and he was instrumental in defeating the Eagles up in chestnut Hill back on January 21.
Golden finished with 24 points in that game. But his bigger contribution was controlling tempo and also completely locking down B.C. point guard Joe Rahon on defense. Olivier Hanlan and Lonnie Jackson were the only consistently effective scorers for Steve Donahue’s club that night.
I expected the Eagles to be 4.5 point dogs in this game, but the number is obviously considerably lower than that. Vegas has an inkling that this B.C. team is the more valued position as a road dog when playing a mostly inept offensive team such as G.T.
But to dilute the spread as much as they have is a bit surprising. B.C. is still a very weak defensive team and Georgia Tech has athleticism and interior stability that will not be duplicated by the Eagles.
The value at this figure is on the home favorite, assuming there is no unknown injury news at this time. Looking at this game on paper, I saw the Eagles as being a valuable pick should they be receiving something north of five. That is obviously not the same.
Situationally speaking, Georgia Tech is also hard to touch here. they come off Virginia and have this game prior to playing Duke at home next week. It’s hard to say that a 3-8 conference team is going to look past anyone, but given the way they jaded the Eagles in the first game, that is certainly plausible.
I intend to wait and see where this line settles, but it is awfully fishy seeing where it opened. These two teams are for the most part going nowhere (although they could pull an upset or two in the ACC tournament). Still, from a gambling angle, this opening line is quite intriguing and this is one game on the Wednesday card that does happen to interest me.
