I got a baby's brain and an old man's heart "I'm Eighteen" - Alice Cooper
Mercer Bears
88 84
FINAL Conference
Samford Bulldogs
Southern Conference · Hawkins Arena · February 17, 2024
Betting Lines
Spread SAM -9.5 Home covered
O/U 148.5 Over
Money MER +350 / SAM -500
Model Predictions
Spread Total MER win
Actual MER +4 172 Won
Massey SAM -10.4 (+14.4)
Massey Totals 151.1 (+20.9)
Bradley-Terry 7%
Weighted B-T 5%
Efficiency Plus ML SAM -8.3 (+12.3) 147.2 (+24.8) 21%
Baseline Tuned ML SAM -10.4 (+14.4) 146.6 (+25.4) 18%
Baseline ML SAM -9.0 (+13.0) 148.0 (+24.0) 20%
Baseline Plus ML SAM -9.3 (+13.3) 148.8 (+23.2) 21%

Predictions use only rating snapshots dated before tip-off. Parenthesised values are the signed error vs. the actual result. Model performance →

Last 5 Meetings

Feb 21, 2026 MER 8986 SAM
Feb 7, 2026 SAM 6949 MER
Feb 6, 2025 SAM 10079 MER
Jan 16, 2025 SAM 7574 MER
Mar 9, 2024 SAM 7057 MER

Team Comparison

Record & Ratings MER SAM
Overall 16-17 29-6
Conference 8-10 15-3
Home 10-6 18-0
Away 4-9 8-5
Neutral 2-2 3-1
Last 5 2-3 5-0
Streak L1 L1
Avg Pts For 70.4 84.5
Avg Pts Against 72.5 74.9
Massey -4.9 (#259) 8.9 (#64)
Bradley-Terry -0.77 (#252) 2.42 (#19)
W. Bradley-Terry -1.10 (#266) 2.57 (#36)
RPI 0.463 (#244) 0.596 (#34)
Shooting & Four Factors MER SAM
FG% 43.2% 49.4%
3PT% 33.9% 40.9%
REB / G 34.3 36.0
OREB / G 11.1 10.8
AST / TO 1.09 1.34
Four Factors — Offense
eFG% 48.4% 57.6%
TOV% 17.7% 18.0%
ORB% 30.4% 31.3%
FT Rate 17.1% 23.9%
Four Factors — Defense
Opp eFG% 50.9% 49.6%
Opp TOV% 18.6% 22.5%
DRB% 69.9% 68.3%
Opp FT Rate 28.4% 25.6%

Game Analysis

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