Closest to the Pin Round 3: Temple
Update: Saturday, December 10 (Game Results). With the Cat’s 67-78 loss to Temple, we congratulate six VU Hoops readers who took medals in this round. Gold Medal: novasmu (68-78), earning 2.5 points; Silver Medals: JDW71 (67-74), Johnnyb1 (71-78) and Old School (68-75), earning 1.5 points; Bronze Medals: Scott0220 (68-74) and jtc123 (67-73) earning 0.5 point each.  Our updated leader board is provided below.
VUHoops vs. Vegas: Based on the average predicted scores of the VUHoops Crowd and the posted Vegas line, we would have lost $200 by betting ‘Nova  +4.0 (loss) and the Under (loss). The details follow. With the double-loss, we are now down $200 for the season.
| VU Hoops | Vegas | Bet | Actual | Result | |
| Spread | ‘Nova -2.0 | ‘Nova +4.0 | ‘Nova +4.0 | ‘Temple by 9 | LOSS |
| Total | 140.0 | 143.5 | UNDER | 145 | LOSS |
Leader Board After 2 Rounds
| Reader | Points |
| Scott0220 | 5.5 |
| Bstep011 | 2.5 |
| chuck st.petersburg | 2.5 |
| Nervous Nelly | 2.5 |
| novasmu | 2.5 |
| Steph | 2.5 |
| Dom | 1.5 |
| JDW71 | 1.5 |
| Johnnyb1 | 1.5 |
| NovaCat94 | 1.5 |
| Old School | 1.5 |
| Rick19 | 1.5 |
| stats | 1.5 |
| TimW | 1.5 |
| Jimdribble | 0.5 |
| jtc123 | 0.5 |
| Stevie V | 0.5 |
Update: Saturday, December 10 (10:00AM) A total of 66 VUHoops readers posted predictions, with 21 (32%) picking the Owls to win. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 71-69 (a margin of 2.0 points and implied over/under of 140). The Vegas odds makers pick Temple to win, but the spread has dropped since yesterday by 1.5 points to 4.0 points and the over/under has increased by 1.5 points to 143.5 points, implying a final score of 70-74.
Scatter Plot of Predicted Scores
Window Opening: Thursday, December 8, 9:30 PM The window is now open for our readers to post their predicted final scores for Saturday afternoon’s game at Temple (5:00PM, ESPN2) in the third round of our Closest to the Pin Contest. Scott0220 stands alone in first place; click here to see full leader board.
Villanova (5-3) is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #54 by Kenpom.com. The Cats have a RPI of 110, a SOS of 101, and score an average of 76.0 PPG while giving up an average of 68.1.
Temple (5-2) also is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls, but is ranked #38 by Kenpom.com. The Owls have an RPI of 41, a SOS of 84, and are scoring an average of 74.9 PPG while giving up an average of 68.6 PPG. Of their seven games so far, Temple has played two teams with a sub-100 RPI, beating Wichita State (RPI 22) 78-74 while losing to Purdue (RPI 61) 77-85.  Temple and Villanova have had one common opponent – Penn, which both teams defeated (Villanova by 8 and Temple by 6).
Be sure to read Brian’s game preview.  We’ll post the Las Vegas spread / over-under on game day. Good luck!
Special Note: When posting predictions, be sure to:
- Use a consistent handle / ID so that we can keep an accurate running leader board over the course of the season. Obviously, score predictions posted by anonymous readers cannot be accepted.
- List your predicted score for Villanova first, followed by the score for the opponent (e.g., Cats 100, Temple 75)
