MR EAST
NCAAB TUESDAY PLAY OF THE DAY
KENT ST. @ MIAMI,O.
3 UNITS: MIAMI,O.
The Kent St. Golden Flashes come in here as a dog with their 10-5 mark, backed by 5 wins in their last 6. The Redhawks, have been seeing red all season, at just 3-11. So why is the 3-11 team the favorite here, vs an apparently hot team winning 5 of their last 6. It's because the Red Hawks have played a much more difficult schedule, and for the most part, has been on the road, and in just about every game against much better teams. They lost by 2 at Kentucky, by 4 at Cincinnati, and by 3 at Xavier. At home they lost to Dayton by just 7, and beat a solid Wright St. team, and also dropped a 2 point decision at Colorado. The bottomline is the record is very decieving, and the Redhawks will finally matchup vs someone on equall footing. Golden Flashes not road warriors, at 7-15 ATS in their last 22 roadies. I'm going with Miami,O. in this one.
BRANDON LANG
40 DIME - HOFSTRA PRIDE - Coming right back with the Pride tonight.
Not only did they deliver the 25 dime winner on Saturday at Old Dominion but they will deliver a 40 dime winner for me tonight.
In last years meeting at Hofstra, a better VCU team needed 33 points from Eric Maynor to get the 66-62 win. Maynor as you can see scored half of Rams points and they still struggled for just a 4 point win.
What made the Pride's effort even more amazing is their leading scorer from last year and best player this year Charles Jenkins went 5 of 23 from the floor and as a team Hofstra shot just 31% and still only lost the game by 4.
Both teams return 4 starters from their repsective squads last year, but the difference in this game tonight is no Eric Maynor getting VCU 33 points.
Furthermore, they match up tremendously well versus VCU and catching them at home off a confidence building loss at ODU, I fully expect them to win this game tonight.
Some will see an 11 point loss at ODU last Saturday but I see a team that was down as many as 17 in the first half, battled back to a 5 point game in the 2nd half and a chance to cut it 2 but the 3 ball in transition came up short.
Watching the game I was very impressed with the Pride's play against the 2nd best team in the league and now catching VCU at home is the perfect spot for them to get a big home win.
Hofstra's 2 home losses were to the best team in the league William and Mary 48-47 and to NC Charlotte by 8, the same Charlotte team that went into Louisville and beat the Cardinals.
You are getting great line value here with Hofstra off the success of VCU the last couple of years in the NCAA tourney which saw a big win over Duke but trust me folks, Maynor has moved on the the Utah Jazz and head coach Anthony Grant has taken his full court up tempo style to Alabama.
The bottom line is Hofstra is the better team and catching points at home and when you find a game on the college board where the linemaker has flat out made the wrong team the favorite, it's time to hammer home a big time winner.
Jump all over Hofstra at home to take care of VCU and deliver a 40 dime winner for me tonight.
FREE SELECTION - FLORIDA GATORS
Sam Martin
5* BIG TEN GAME OF THE WEEK
Illinois
Nick Parsons
10* BIG-TEN BEATDOWN
Illinois
CHARLIE SPORTS
500* Orlando @ Sacramento Over 207
500* Northern Iowa -13
500* Purdue -9
30* Houston +3
20* Kansas State -9
20* NC State +9'
10* Kent St +2
Washington -5 Free Play
Tim Trushel
20* Wake Forest
BIG AL
Penn St at Illinois
Pick: Penn St +9
At 9 pm, our selection is on the Penn State Nittany Lions + the points over Illinois, as PSU falls into a 153-68 ATS system of mine that plays on certain road underdogs of more than 8 points off back to back SU/ATS losses. Penn State dropped its previous two games (both at home) to Michigan (64-55) and Wisconsin (63-46), and is off to an 0-3 start in Big 10 play, but has been terrific over the years as road dogs off back to back SU/ATS losses (18-9 ATS since 1990). Additionally, the Nittany Lions have dominated this series vs. Illinois of late, with a 4-1 record straight-up, and a 6-0 ATS record since March 2007 (and 9-1-1 ATS over the last 11 meetings since February 2004). Granted, the Illini are off to a 3-0 start in Big 10 action, but they are on a poor 1-5 ATS streak, and have covered just five of their previous 19 lined games, including 0-5 ATS when they're off a win, and their foe is off a SU loss. Last year's meeting at Assembly Hall between these two teams was one of the worst-played games in recent memory, with Penn State emerging on top, 38-33, despite the fact it shot just 28 percent for the game (Illinois wasn't much better at 30 percent). This game will undoubtedly be at a faster pace, but I still look for another close game, and wouldn't be surprised if Penn State won for the 4th time in a row here at Assembly Hall. Take the points.
Wayne Root
Vegas Legend - FSU -9.5
Joyce Sterling
Sacramento +3.5 vs Orlando
NC St. @ Florida St. UNDER 130
Wyoming @ TCU OVER 145.5
BLACK WIDOW
6* Widow Wiseguy Lakers/Spurs Western Conference GAME OF THE MONTH L.A. Lakers +3.5
The Lakers catching points against the Spurs tonight is an absoulute gift. L.A. has lost 2 of their last 3, so this team is highly motivated led by the best player in the league in Kobe Bryant who doesn't settle for anything less than getting the best effort from his teammates. The Lakers are 25-10-2 ATS in their last 37 games as a road underdog. The Spurs are 1-10 ATS in their last 11 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600. The Spurs are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record. The Spurs are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games as a home favorite of 0.5-4.5. These last 3 trends going against the Spurs add up to a 20-2 (91%) ATS Angle backing the Lakers tonight. Take the Lakers and the points.
5* Wiseguy CBB GAME OF THE NIGHT Bradley +13.5
Northern Iowa is a great team, there's no questioning that. But after their 14-1 start to the season, their lines are starting to get inflated and that's certainly the case tonight against Bradley. 7 of the last 8 meetings in this series have been decided by 13 points or less. The Panthers are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games as a favorite of 13.0 or greater. Bradley is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 meetings at UNI. The road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings, and the underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings. These teams have played a very competitive series in their history, and this game will be much more competitive than this line indicates. Take Bradley and the points.
4* Pistons/Wizards UNDER 199
Detroit was hoping to add offense to their team in the offseason with the signing of Ben Gordon, but it just hasn't happened for them this season. The Pistons are scoring only 91.5 points/game in what had been another dreadful year for this franchise. Detroit has lost 13 straight games and have failed to score more than 98 points in any of those 13 contests. With this total set nearly at 200 points, the clear value is with the UNDER tonight. 3 of their last 4 meetings with Washington have resulted in 194 or less combined points. Detroit is 18-6 UNDER (+11.4 Units) after allowing 55 points or more in the first half in 2 straight games since 1996. The UNDER is 4-1 in Pistons last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400. Take the UNDER 199 points here.
Fantasy Sports Gametime
100* Play Texas A&M (+9) over Kansas State
Texas A&M has won 14 consecutive games after allowing 55 points or less in two straight games and they are only allowing 62 points a game on defense this season. Kansas State has lost 7 consecutive games against the spread coming off a conference loss and they have also lost 3 of the last 4 games after having won 12 of the last 15 games.
100* Play Kentucky (-3.5) over Florida
Kentucky is a perfect 16-0 this season and they are averaging over 82 points a game on offense this season. Florida has lost 12 of the last 16 games as an underdog and they have also lost 8 of the last 11 games against the spread coming off a conference road loss.
50* Play LA Clippers (+5) over Memphis
Memphis has lost 26 of the last 35 games when playing in the month of January and they have also lost 27 of the last 38 games when playing with two days of rest. Memphis has lost 12 of the last 16 games coming off a loss by three points or less and they are allowing 104 points a game on defense this season.
KBHoops
5* Purdue -9 *POD*
4* Colorado +4.5
3* Sacramento Kings +4
NHL PRO PICKS
NY Islanders +134
Dallas +160
Carolina +130
San Jose -104 (bet to win 1 unit)
Nick "BookieKiller" Parsons
Detroit +5.5
For a number of different reasons I believe the value in this game is on the Pistons:
The stumbling Pistons try to avoid losing 14 straight games in a single season for the first time in nearly 30 years tonight.
With a 104-95 victory over Golden State on Dec. 12, Detroit (11-25) won its fifth in a row to move within one game of the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons appeared to be getting their season on track, but they’ve lost all 13 games since with injuries playing a major role.
After coach John Kuester criticized his team’s intensity following Saturday’s 104-94 loss to Philadelphia, Detroit allowed its most points of the season in Monday’s 120-87 defeat in Chicago; expect a more concerted effort on both sides of the ball after that embarrassment.
Detroit has been playing horribly lately, no doubt, but it can take solace in the fact that it always plays Washington tough; 6-1 SU its last seven vs. the Wizards regardless of location.
On the other side of the court: Washington (12-23) lost 121-98 at Cleveland on Wednesday - the day Arenas was suspended indefinitely by the NBA for bringing guns to the Verizon Center and related incidents - but has since defeated Southeast Division-leading Orlando (104-97 on Friday) and nearly upset New Orleans two days later.
In Sunday’s 115-110 loss to the Hornets, there were four ties and eight lead changes in the fourth quarter before New Orleans went up for good with 2:49 remaining.
Remember, Washington is also struggling mightily in many ATS categories; 2-4 ATS its last six overall, just 2-6 SU its last eight and 4-11 ATS its last 15 at the Verizon Center.
Bottom line: The Pistons are desperate and in this case I believe it will work in their favor; expect Washington to continue to digress without their "all-star" in the lineup.
Look for DETROIT to move to an awesome 7-1 ATS its last eight vs. Southeast division opponents and for Washington to fall to 2-8 ATS vs. Central division opponents and 3-9 ATS its last 12 after scoring 105 points or more!
7* PISTONS
Opposite Action Plays
SA Spurs -3