#748 ASA PLAY ON 8* St Mary’s -2.5 over Indiana, Thursday at 7:20 PM ET - Horrible spot here for IU. They played a physical grinder on Tuesday night vs Wyoming and a game that didn’t end until almost midnight ET. The Hoosiers pulled off the win to move on and then had to travel 2,300 miles to Portland and face a tough defensive St Mary’s team in a game that tips just 43 hours after IU beat Wyoming. On top of that, they were supposed to fly out to Portland at 1 AM and weren’t able to take off from Dayton until after 4 AM. They didn’t land in Portland until late morning on Wednesday and have to play in 36 hours. Indiana had some built in advantages on Tuesday include a huge home court advantage as the Dayton Arena (150 miles from Bloomington) that was filled with Hoosier fans. The Cowboys also turned the ball over almost 30% of the time leading to 16 more shot attempts for Indiana and they game still was undecided late. We were on IU in that game but this one is a whole different animal. St Mary’s is rested (off since March 8) and they play fantastic, physical defense. They rank 9th in the nation in defensive efficiency and they have size and defend the interior very well which is where IU needs to be able to score. The Hoosiers don’t have great shooting guards and they score only 25% of their points from the arc (318th nationally). Not only are the Gaels a top notch defensive team, they are the better shooting team as well. They also make almost 76% of the FT’s and rarely turn the ball over. St Mary’s is 1 of 3 teams this season to beat Gonzaga along with Bama & Duke. The Gaels also finished 3-2 vs WCC NCAA teams sweeping San Francisco and losing twice to the Zags. Really good situation for St Mary’s and we’ll lay the small price.