College basketball is on the lunch menu in the East and for breakfast everywhere else as Eastern Michigan hosts Drexel at 11 a.m. ET. The host Eagles are favored by 12.5 points, with the over-under for total points scored set at 142.5. EMU fell short of a MAC title last year, but expects to compete for it again this season, while Drexel is aiming to turn around a subpar 2017-18 led by a talented backcourt and strong cast of newcomers. Before locking in your own Drexel vs. Eastern Michigan picks, you need to see what SportsLine's advanced computer model is picking.
This model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, has raked in the winnings for those following its picks. Over the past two seasons, the SportsLine Projection Model has returned over $5,200 to $100 players on its top-rated selections. Anyone who has followed it is up big.
Now it has a pick against the spread that hits in nearly 60 percent of its simulations. You can only see it at SportsLine.
The model knows Eastern Michigan returns a majority of its talent from last year's 22-win team that finished second in the MAC West and has higher expectations this time around -- such as its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998.
Four starters are back, including preseason MAC Player of the Year candidate James Thompson IV (14.5 ppg, 12.2 rpg), a hulking, 6-10 forward, plus 6-9 forward Elijah Minnie (16.8 ppg) and 6-2 guard Paul Jackson (14.9 ppg, 4.6 apg).
The Eagles can add another piece in four-star recruit Andre Rafus Jr., who decommitted from TCU to join coach Rob Murphy.
But just because EMU will compete for a conference crown doesn't mean it will cover a double-digit spread against Drexel.
The Dragons won only 13 games a season ago, but that was a four-game improvement from the year before, and 15 of their games were decided by five points or fewer. One of those was an 85-83 victory over Delaware in which Drexel overcame a 34-point deficit, the biggest in NCAA Division I history.
They have unproven but talented size down low, led by transfer 6-8 James Butler (Navy) and Tim Perry Jr., a 6-10 freshman. Alihan Demir of Turkey (10.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg), a 6-9 forward, will see an expanded role as the Dragons won't be intimidated by teams with size
So which side of Drexel vs. Eastern Michigan do you need to jump on Friday? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the Drexel vs. Eastern Michigan spread is hitting in nearly 60 percent of computer simulations, all from the model that has crushed college hoops.
