BricksIt Weekly
Battle of the Boulevard
Lipscomb takes the Boulevard, and the ASUN finds a pulse
An 88-75 win over Belmont is the best result yet for a reshaped, eight-team league that spent most of its first week cashing guarantee checks.
By the Hardwood Bricks desk
The ASUN's first week was mostly an exercise in travel. North Florida went to UCLA and Miami. Queens went to Oklahoma State and BYU. Stetson went to West Virginia, Jacksonville went to Florida, Bellarmine went to Indiana, and the scoreboards came back about how the budgets said they would.
Then Belmont drove down the Boulevard to Allen Arena, and Lipscomb won 88-75. The Bisons were 11-point favorites against their crosstown rival and covered. It came four days after a 78-77 escape against SIU Edwardsville and a road start at Southeast Missouri State and Iowa that went 0-2. Two straight wins have pulled Lipscomb to 2-2, and the model has them third in the league.
Who's first is the interesting part. The model likes West Florida, the league's newcomer, best of all: 133rd nationally, ahead of every other ASUN team. Take that with some salt. The Argonauts' margin is inflated by two blowouts of non-Division I teams (127-42 and 110-59), and the model has little history on them. Still, they lost at Florida International by only 10 as 16.5-point underdogs, and that's a real result.
The best guarantee-game showing belongs to FGCU, which lost at Georgia 80-72 as an 11.5-point underdog. Jacksonville handled Kansas City by 18 at home. Stetson is 0-3, and North Florida has been outscored by 27 a game, all on the road.
Lipscomb gets a real test at Western Carolina on Saturday night and goes to Purdue on Tuesday. West Florida has the busiest week in the league: Alabama A&M tonight, Cleveland State tomorrow afternoon, Green Bay on Tuesday.
FGCU's best loss
Losing 80-72 at Georgia doesn't go on a banner. Covering an 11.5-point number in Athens is still the best road showing by an ASUN team so far. FIU visits Alico Arena on Friday in a game the model calls 78-77.
Queens keeps its date book full
The Royals have played at Oklahoma State and at BYU. They lost at BYU by 16, half a point worse than the closing number. Wofford comes to Charlotte on Saturday, and the model has Queens by eight.
Bellarmine's three-state week
Indiana, Miami (OH), then a home win over Franklin. Northern Illinois, the team that just won at Dayton, visits Knights Hall on Saturday. The model calls it a coin flip.
Circle it
FIU at FGCU, Friday, 7 p.m., ESPN+. A Florida rivalry with no conference on the line and a one-point model spread.
By the numbers
The pecking order
Our model's rating for every ASUN team: points better or worse than an average Division I team over 100 possessions. Record alongside.