The betting line on today’s home game, at the XL Center, against the USF Bulls is 20 points. Now, it would be easy, after seeing the “Baby Bulls” lost their last game by that same margin, to go with the Huskies but, I’m going to take the points/Bulls and here’s why. We got physically, as well as emotionally beat up during the loss to Pitt and to the extent that Hasheem Thabeet is now nursing a sore  shoulder and ego. That said and even if we do get up by 20, “Jimbo” Calhoun would be nuts not to sit Thabeet and the other starters and simply because we have an extremely tough road game against Marquette this coming Wednesday. YES, that one is huge and trust me when I say we must have a healthy Thabeet if we are going to beat them at home. Moreover, the way we shoot foul shots (Did you get as sick as I did when Stanley Robinson missed the front part of that one and one and after Fields had just put Pitt up by three) makes it even tougher to lay this many points and no matter who the Huskies are playing. Additionally, Jerome Dyson was our best defensive guard and without him, I figure USF’s star guard, Dominique Jones, should have a good game. Sure, they only scored 40 points in their last game but, do you really think the Huskies are going to get jacked up for this game? Couple an obvious let down with the fact that “Jimbo” Calhoun needs to start playing some of the bodies currently just taking up space on the bench and I think you get, at best,  a 15 point margin of victory. By the way, how many Big East teams have we beaten by this margin? I think it’s one and DePaul was the victim. Furthermore, even though the Bulls have a lousy overall 8-17 record, they do have three Big East wins to their credit and that has to count for something.

I’m out of here! Sic Rick