Bellarmine @ FLORIDA GULF COAST
Bellarmine +130 over FLORIDA GULF COAST

Pinnacle +125 BET365 +130 SportsInteraction +125 5DIMES +125Bookmaker +126

Posted at 4:30 PM EST. 

Bellarmine +125 over FLORIDA GULF COAST

7:00 PM EST. There are certainly worse places to coach college basketball than Fort Myers, Florida, Michael Fly’s home since 2010. A longtime helper to Andy Enfield and Joe Dooley, Fly paid his dues to earn the chair he’s in now. During Fly’s tutelage as an assistant, 20 win seasons became par for the course. His fingerprints were all over that impressive stretch run from 2013 to 2018, but since then, the Eagles have nosedived under Fly’s tenure as boss. What gives? One might point to last summer’s roster overhaul and the relative inexperience as the iceberg that sunk last season’s ship. A partial pass is warranted here – but roster management falls under the umbrella of a head coach’s job responsibilities, regardless of the extraneous circumstances. 

Now, it’s year 3, the make-or-break season for newly appointed coaches looking to make their move. By all accounts, this Eagles’ rendition is not only healthy but also largely similar to last year, with seemingly zero outbound transfer or graduation impact.  No one expects Fly to recreate the ‘Dunk City’ magic circa 2015 on an annual basis but when things don’t look like they are improving, we have to attack. The Eagles have pedigree, they’re 5-2 this year and they’re playing a team that just joined the Division I ranks for the first time. FGCU looks almost too good to be true here spotting a porkchop to a program nobody has ever heard of. 

This expansion era of college hoops paved the way for a few programs and Bellarmine is among them This is a team that is just 3-5 on the year but have played the 101st ranked Strength of Schedule in the country. They lost by just nine to Chattanooga and by just 12 to Notre Dame. Bellarmine just lost back-to-back games to Lipscomb (best team in the conference) and lost by just five and seven points respectively.  

The Knights are the epitome of a “buy low” squad After covering three of their first four games, the Knights caught a surging Lipscomb team at the wrong time last weekend. The shorter Knights had no answer for Ahsan Asadullah in the second game of the back-to-back series. Now, they must dig themselves out of an 0-2 hole in the Atlantic Sun standings. Offensively, there isn’t a tougher team to prepare for than Bellarmine. Scott Davenport’s perpetual motion offense, infused with well-timed back cuts and inverted forwards who can step away from the paint, will be a nightmare for unsuspecting conference foes. The lack of size and athleticism will take its toll on the defensive end, but opponent 3-point shooting regression should eventually take hold – currently, teams are hitting 44% from long distance against Bellarmine, a rate that is sure to trickle down as the season matures. 

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Our Pick

Bellarmine +130 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.60)