St Mary's today has bitten off more than they can chew against BYU tonight. Let us first point out BYU's amazing home court advantage, they play in front of nearly 23,000 each night with is the 3rd biggest arena in college hoops. Now that their in the WCC this is a venue the likes of which that conference has never before seen. Most arenas in the WCC hold about 5 maybe 6 thousand, not BYU 23,000 for them. To say this will be a tough road test for St. Mary's is an understatement.

Next we would like to mention the tough scheduling spot for St Mary's, this is 3rd straight road game for them and to send a possible travel weary team into Provo is like walking into the lions den. Yes BYU had to travel back home from Virginia after the win over Va Tech, but we don't think that will be to big of an issue. That entire flight back those kids were on cloud 9 after a road win over an ACC team. BYU's confidence should be sky high and tomorrow is their first true big home WCC game. We are sure that the cougars have had this one circled for some time and should come in with high motivation. We are going to see a energized crowd and a fired up team of Mormons. On top of all of that they'll be looking to run St. Mary's out of the building.

Even post Jimmer BYU still plays at a very fast pace, and even a disciplined St. Mary's team could get sucked into a back and forth track meet from time to time. It can be easy to lose your head and game plan playing in front of 23,000. In their last home game BYU was subject to a bad loss against an LMU team they should have beaten by 20. That loss should make them focus more. If St. Mary's can go into Provo and win this game, or even keep it in single digits, we will give them a round of applause.. but we just don't see it happening.

NCAA Basketball Expert Free Pick BYU -3

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