NCAA Basketball: 4 best bets for opening night games of 2021-22 season
By Ian Mumm
Northern Arizona @ Arizona -25
The Tommy Lloyd era kicks off for the Wildcats, after moving on from head coach Sean Miller during the offseason. After pulling in numerous transfers, Coach Lloyd gets to begin his tenure with a familiar non-conference opponent for the program: Northern Arizona. Fortunately, the team’s history against the Lumberjacks has been favorable winning 15 games in as many tries and lately, the winning margins have been growing increasingly.
Last season’s meeting resulted in a 96-53 win for the home team, but the Lumberjacks will see a much different version this year. Frontcourt star Azuolas Tubelis had not been thrust into the starting lineup just yet and the emergence of talented guard Bennedict Mathurin and Kerr Kriisa had not fully taken place. Despite the large turnover on this year’s roster, there is still considerable talent fitting of the Arizona name.
The Wildcats have improved length and possess disruptive factors to replicate the rebounding dominance and forced turnovers in this matchup last season. Northern Arizona has not established itself as a particularly potent offensive powerhouse and often struggle with issues of efficiency.
Matters won’t be any easier this go around seeing as the leading duo for the Lumberjacks in 2020-21, Cameron Shelton and Luke Avdalovic, are no longer on the roster. Finding a way to replace 29 points per game against a team that already makes life difficult isn’t going to make for an easy start to the season.
Arizona rolls and introduces its new cast of stars to the college basketball landscape.
Bet Arizona -25