#664 ASA PLAY ON Towson -3 over James Madison, Saturday at 8 PM ET - Love this spot for a veteran Towson team. They have 2 losses this season, both to top 60 teams on the road. They lost @ St Mary’s by 7 and just lost @ South Carolina by 26 points as a 7 point dog so a very poor performance. Now they get a chance to bounce back Saturday at home vs a James Madison team that is going through massive changes. The Dukes lost their head coach Mark Byington to Vandy and they return only 11% of their minutes from last season. New head coach Preston Spradlin is dealing with 7 new transfers in their top 8 players. JMU is 2-1 on the season but in their only road game they lost by double digits at Norfolk State who ranks outside the top 200 per KenPom. Towson has a huge edge in continuity which is extremely important early in the season as most teams are trying to mesh their new players (see James Madison). The Tigers return 4 starters from last season and 82% of their minutes (3rd most in the country) are back from a team that was 20-14 last year. Towson struggled shooting in their 2 losses but those were vs high level defensive teams both ranked in the top 75 in defensive efficiency so far this year and for the season last year. Now they are in a comfortable spot at home facing a JMU defense that currently ranks 355th in eFG% defense vs Ohio & Norfolk State so we look for the Towson offense to look much better on Saturday. The Dukes have relied heavily on the 3 point shot early in the year with 62 attempts in their 2 games vs Division 1 opponents. Now they are on the road vs a Towson team that defended the arc very well last season and it allowing just 27% from deep this year vs St Mary’s and South Carolina. Always more difficult so shoot well on the road in an unfamiliar arena and JMU should struggle. We like Towson to play with a purpose after a loss earlier this week and they cover this short number at home where they’ve won 21 of their last 23 games.