Posted at 4:40 PM EST. Odds subject to change.

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Swisher Gymnasium, Jacksonville, FL

Queens +135 over Jacksonville

7:00 PM EST. Jacksonville is 0-3 in the conference but they are over .500 overall with a 9-8 record and that misleading mark has them wrongly favored here. Jacksonville’s non-conference Strength of Schedule (SOS) ranks 272nd in the country, which is 216 positions worse than Queens’ SOS, which ranks 56th in the country. Jacksonville has played marshmallow after marshmallow and that’s after losing a bunch of its players from last year. 

It’s the perfect time to get behind Queens, as the team has lost six of their last seven games and they are unrecognizable to begin with, meaning few have even heard of them. They also have just two covers in their last seven games. Queens is 1-2 in the ASUN and 7-11 overall but we’re not going to put too much emphasis on that. Instead, we’ll put more emphasis on Queens 56th ranked non-conference Strength of Schedule (SOS). This is a Royals’ team that has played a plethora of tough Division I teams, including Clemson, Duke, SIU, Marshall, High Point (ranked 127th) and Richmond to name a few.   

Queens made the transition last year from Division II to the big show and it was clear Queens was no ordinary transitioning program. The Royals knocked off Marshall, which went on to its best KenPom finish since 2012, in a high-scoring affair that set the tone for the rest of the year. Heading into 2023-24, the Royals look poised to climb the standings of the competitive ASUN. Program pillar Kenny Dye has graduated, but five key upperclassmen return to lead the charge and usher in a promising crop of newcomers.  Queens might have snuck up on its opponents last year, but this year’s opponents — both in the ASUN and in non-conference play — are now on notice. 

It’s safe to say nobody outside of the Queens program expected the Royals to rattle off 18 wins, compete at a high level in the non-conference slate, and finish 10th out of 14 teams in the best ASUN of all-time. Even KenPom was a bit too low on the new D1 program, as Queens nearly cracked the top 200 when the dust settled at the end of the year. Despite the advanced notice, these Royals won’t be any easier to defeat. Featuring a more experienced roster with better athletes, Queens might not just hold its own in conference play — the Royals may even contend for an ASUN title and today we get them at a real discount.

Sherwood

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