Happy New Year, everyone. It's a great sports day to usher out 2011 and usher in 2012: there's UK-UL at noon, the Maryland game at 2:00, and then college football to close things out. I could be here all day. In fact, I probably will be.
Anyway, the reason you're here is Maryland-Samford, which tips at 2:00. TV is CSN for the locals, but that means it should be on some regional sport networks elsewhere; check your local listings. If not, it's also broadcast on ESPN3 (subject to blackout, of course).
I didn't preview Samford, but there isn't too much need to do so: they're pretty bad. They have only one DI win all season, a two-point victory over Texas-Arlington, and have already dropped games to Sam Houston St., Western Carolina, and Jacksonville. They're not a particularly imposing bunch, but be warned: for all of their other flaws, they shoot the ball pretty decently.
Random Baseless Prediction: Nick Faust breaks out of his slump a little, hits two three-pointers. Airballs another, but baby steps.
Prediction: With the additions of Alex Len and Pe'Shon Howard, I'm starting to get a little cocky. Maryland by 13.
I was considering making today's game a "guess the starting 5" thing, but there aren't enough variations to do that. Let's stick with the individuals, and in fact the guy I mentioned above: Faust. Give me your guess on how many points he scores, with total number of airballs as the tiebreaker. I'm saying 8 points, only one airball.