From the sounds of things, UMass is likely going to have its best crowd of the season. Students are back and there's buzz around a team with its best record in a while.

People are planning to show up to see if this Minuteman squad passes the sight test.

Unfortunately for UMass, this might be the worst time for it. If there's a bad matchup on the Atlantic 10 schedule for the Minutemen, especially without Cady Lalanne and Sampson Carter, it's Saint Louis. This UMass team is better and it's much more fun to watch than its recent predecessors. But nobody looks good against the Billikens. Rick Majerus is as good as anyone at neutralizing transition teams.

On top of that, without Lalanne, who has the potential to be one of UMass' best halfcourt players and has been a strong inside presence, the Minutemen are at a size disadvantage inside against a physical Billikens squad.

That said, among the many reasons I don't gamble on sports, is that I'm bad at predicting winners. But on paper this one looks like a tough one for UMass.