Just what the Doctor ordered? A home game

Who plays?: Mt. St. Mary's (3-4) plays just its second home game of the season as Navy (7-2) comes to the ARCC.

What's at stake?: The Mount and Navy have played a spirited series since the Mount went to Division I. The Mount is still the favorite in the NEC and Navy is off to a hot start and among the top choices in the Patriot, so this is a big game as far as mid-majors are concerned.

When is tipoff?: Tuesday evening at 7:00PM

Where is the game?: The game is at the Knott ARCC. The Mount and Navy played the first game in the building. If you can't make it to the game, WTHU-AM Thurmont 1450 will have the radio call. Steve Stofberg and The Mouth of the Mount Roy Sigler bring you the action on the Mount Radio Network.

The Analysis: Navy lost its opener, then won seven in a row before losing to Virginia Tech on Sunday evening after leading at halftime. The Mount started strongly with three wins in five games, but had a road trip to Connecticut that they'd like to soon forget.

Rankings: Mt. St. Mary's (113 RPI, 170 BBState.com, 165 kenpom.com, 142 Sagarin)
Navy (178 RPI, 183 BBState.com, 161 kenpom.com, 172 Sagarin)

Advantages for Mt. St. Mary's: The Mount has the more athletic basketball team and can run by the Midshipmen if all goes right. Being back at home should help the Mount out. Obviously, the Mount needs to shoot the ball a little better, but their athletic superiority can lead to better chances.

Advantages for Navy: Even with the loss on Sunday, the Middies are probably the more confident of the two teams. Riding a seven-game winning streak before the loss to the ACC team had to do wonders for Navy. Still the most impressive of those wins was probably over 1-6 Penn, so this team hasn't been tremendously challenged. The Middies might have a size advantage with 6-11 Mark Veazey, 6-8 Adam Teague and 6-4 Kaleo Kina. Kina averages 20+ points and 6 rebounds a game and will probably get Kelly Beidler as a matchup. Both Veazey and Teague have been effective early in the season.

What to expect?: I'm not giving up on this team. And I don't think they've lost their confidence. I expect exactly what I was expecting on Saturday, the best performance of the season from the Mountaineers. I think they'll get up and down the floor and score a lot of points. I also expect a solid defensive effort. I'm looking for that stat stuffing performance from Jeremy Goode and a fine effort for Jean Cajou. But overall, a total team effort that ends in a 78-66 Mount win.

Any additional links about the game will be posted here as I see them:

Last pre-exam game for the Mids

Another game of note according to ELORatings Blog