Hold your nose for this one. We are backing the St. Thomas Tommies tonight against one of the best teams in the nation with Marquette. The Tommies will without a doubt be outmatched in terms of talent, but this 25.5 point spread is where our focus is. The most important thing to know in this matchup is that these two teams play at complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of offensive tempo. Marquette plays as one the fastest tempos, and the Tommies play slow as molasses. To put this into perspective, Marquette averages 14.8 seconds per possession on offense. St. Thomas averages 20 seconds per offensive possession. It’s worth mentioning that the Tommies have won 3 straight, and have not lost any games this season by anywhere near a 25 point margin. St. Thomas starts 4 seniors and a junior. This is a scrappy and experienced team. If this game turns into a track meet with St. Thomas trying to play at Marquette’s tempo, this game could get ugly quick. However, if St. Thomas plays at their usual snail paced tempo, then we see a clear path to staying within the spread. Our model suggests this spread should be about 23.5. We will trust the model and take the 2 bonus points. Our wager is a half unit on St. Thomas +25.5.