Denver will attempt to build on the momentum of Saturday’s big win over Northern Colorado — which felt like a breakthrough for the struggling Pioneers — when it hosts winless Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-10, RPI #263, BBState #315) tonight at Magness Arena. I can’t find a point spread online, perhaps because Vegas can’t be bothered to adjudicate between two such bad teams (at least on paper; Denver is RPI #297 and BBState #266), but I’d imagine DU would be a high-single-digit favorite. A win would put the Pioneers on their first winning streak of the season (their three wins thus far have been sandwiched between losing streaks of 4, 2 and 3 games) and give them considerable momentum and confidence heading into Christmas Break and the start of Sun Belt play on December 30.
Unfortunately, I once again won’t be there, thanks to a sore throat, cough, stuffy nose, and general nasty cold that I caught from Loyette. (Ah, the joys of having a kid in preschool!) Thus, a win would run Denver’s home record while Brendan & Bally are absent to 3-0, compared to 1-3 when we’re there. But I’d rather risk continuing that apparent “jinx” than risk the real jinx of getting Coach Scott or any of the players (or fellow denizens of press row) sick right before the holidays. Plus, I need to recuperate! But I’ll be watching from home on Pioneer Vision. I don’t know if I’ll do an organized “liveblog,” but at a minimum, I’m sure I’ll post a few tweets, which will be on the LRT Live page, as well as my Twitter stream. Game time is 7:00 PM Mountain Time.