Marc Lawrence
4 Units Nebraska
WAYNE ROOT
Perfect Play
10* Nebraska (+2) over Baylor
Millionaire's Club
4* NC State (+1) over Virginia Tech
3*
New Mexico (+5½) over UNLV
Teddy June
Bulls
Georgia Tech
Northwestern
Georgia
Special K
20* K Bomb NJ Nets Under
Accu Picks
5* GOY Toledo +17
Master Sports
5* Toronto -6
NHL Pro Picks
Philadelphia +138
NY Islanders +245
Atlanta +160
Chip Chirimbes
Duke at UNC
Pick: UNC +6
I truly am having difficulties believing that the defending National Champs who had one of the top recruiting classes in college basketball is an underdog at home and already has 10 losses on the season. The Tar heels most likely are headed to the NIT as the only way that the make the NCAA Tournament is to win the ACC playoffs. Still, having Duke walk on to your home court in Carolina has to get one psyched. Take NORTH CAROLINA!
Vernon Croy
NCAAB ACC Game of the Month
5* Take Miami Florida ATS
This pick falls into one of my top NCAAB systems and the Hurricanes are the better 3 point shooting team coming into tonight's game against the Yellow Jackets. The Canes are shooting 40.5% from beyond the arc at home this season and 49.4% overall as a team while the Yellow Jackets are shooting just 32.3% from beyond the arc on the road. The Hurricanes opponents are shooting just 39.4% against them at home this season and while being out-scored by an average of 19.4 ppg. Georgia Tech is just 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against the Hurricanes and the Canes are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games when favored at home by 3 points or less. Take the Miami Florida Hurricanes as my NCAAB ACC Game of the Month.
RON RAYMOND
5* Heat / Hawks Over 191
Scott Rickenbach
10* (TOP PLAY) Pittsburgh / New York Over
The Penguins will be fired up here as they blew a 4-1 lead at Washington on Sunday and lost 5-4 in overtime. That was the 7th time in their last ten games that the Penguins have gone over the total. Their offense, as usual, is a big threat and they were happy to see their power play get a marker against the Capitals. However, the Penguins problems relate to their own end of the ice. The Pens have allowed at least four goals in seven of their last ten games. Also, Marc-Andre Fleury is having an awful February in goal for Pittsburgh. Whoever is in goal for the Penguins will likely require a lot of support from the offense and the last time the Pens met the Isles that was no problem as Pittsburgh’s power play clicked all game long. Yes, Pittsburgh’s power play has struggled on the season but the Islanders are not likely to stand in their way. The last four times these teams have met the Penguins have averaged 4.5 goals per game. Also, in their last four home games against the Islanders, the Pens have averaged 5.5 goals per game and note that this is the posted total for tonight’s game.
With a strong effort expected from the Pens here (after Sunday’s disappointing finish) we have little doubt that they can combine with the Islanders to get over this total. The Isles come into this game with a boost of confidence after rallying to defeat the Predators last night. They scored with just 13 seconds left in regulation and then won the game in the shootout. The Islanders are currently on a 6-3 run to the over when facing a team with a winning record. Also, the Isles are 25-17 to the over the last three seasons when playing the second game of a back to back. Pitt is 46-34 to the over the last three seasons when they allowed four goals or more in their prior game. The Islanders have only allowed more shots on goal than their opponent in 3 of their last 17 games. In other words the Isles have been working hard and have been getting scoring chances but they’ve just not been scoring well. Facing a team that is struggling to defend their own cage, we won’t be surprised to see the Isles have another big scoring night just like last night but we certainly don’t anticipate the Islanders as being able to hold down this fired up Penguins offense. Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh as a *10* Top Play selection.
10* (TOP PLAY) UCONN
As followers have seen in recent weeks, we are now at the point in the season where it’s often beneficial to play against the teams that have exceeded expectations while playing on the teams that have fallen below expectations. The reason for this is because the markets end up to having to over-adjust. As a result, there tends to be exceptional value when you have a hot versus not match-up and that’s precisely what we have here. Connecticut is only 14-9 on the season and, in terms of ATS stats, they’ve been a money-burner this year. Conversely, Syracuse is 23-1 on the season and they have been a big money-maker this year! The result is a line like this that, in our opinion, is simply out of whack. If you look at these teams up and down the five positions on the floor, you will be hard pressed to argue that the Orange have the superior talent. Yes, Syracuse does have the better bench and, yes, they have been the far better team so far this season. But, in a game like this, where we are very confident that Connecticut is going to bring their A-game, we feel that getting double digits with a very talented Huskies squad is simply an exceptional value.
The last time these teams met was in the Big East tournament last spring and that was an unbelievable six-overtime thriller that the Orange amazingly won by ten points in the sixth overtime. The Huskies will seek to avenge that loss here and one shouldn’t make the mistake of putting too much emphasis on their uninspired effort against DePaul on Saturday. Connecticut did “just enough” to beat the Blue Demons but, clearly, they were already looking ahead to this game. Also, the Huskies will not be short on confidence in this match-up. Connecticut has won five of the last six regular season match-ups between these teams and the Huskies have also taken three of the last four meetings at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Even without coach Jim Calhoun (whom they’ve been playing hard for in his absence), the Huskies have the talent to possibly upset the Orange here. Make no mistake about it as the Huskies defense is right on par with that of Syracuse’s and don’t be surprised if a focused effort from Connecticut leads to a much stronger offensive showing than many are expecting here.
Note that the Huskies could catch a break with Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson still dealing with the after-effects of a hard fall against Providence last week. He’s only scored 13 points in his last two games. Also, the Orange are only making 65% of their free throws this season. Truthfully, Syracuse has been somewhat fortunate to close out a number of their recent games with a big margin of victory. The Orange have had to battle back from deficits and then rally to put the game away late. With the match-up issues here (UCONN is very talented) and their free-throw shooting woes, we will be shocked if the Orange are able to win this game by a double digit margin. Look for the Huskies to improve to 4-0 ATS on the season when they’re off of a win against a conference rival while Syracuse drops to 0-2 ATS this season as a home favorite of 9.5 to 12 points. The only straight up loss the Orange have this season came when they were an 11 point favorite against Pittsburgh and they lost the game outright by ten points. A similar result here would not surprise us at all as the Huskies come to play tonight and they are well-rested. This is just their 2nd game in 9 days so their heavy reliance on starters for their minutes is not such an issue here and we grab the line value. Play Connecticut plus the points as a *10* Top Play selection.
ASA
5* Columbus Blue Jackets +130 over San Jose
The Blue Jackets are a different team since their head coach, Hitchcock, got fired. Columbus has won their first two games since the coaching change and the combined score of the two victories was 6-1. Those wins came against Dallas and Buffalo and neither one of those teams is a slouch by any stretch of the imagination. The point is that this Blue Jackets team is refocused and refreshed and they’re catching the Sharks at the perfect time to upset them. San Jose can’t help but look ahead to tomorrow night’s showdown with the Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Looking ahead could prove costly for the Sharks because the Blue Jackets are 40-31 in home games with a 5.5 total. Also, the Jackets are well-rested here as they haven’t played since Saturday. Columbus is already 2-1 this season when playing with three days of rest. While the Sharks have taken their first two games against Columbus this season, only one of those games was played in Columbus. That was a tight early season loss for the Blue Jackets but they had previously won each of their last two home match-ups with San Jose. The Sharks suffered a home loss against Detroit last week Tuesday. That makes it virtually impossible for them to avoid looking ahead to tomorrow night’s showdown. Unlike San Jose, Columbus is fully focused on their opponent in tonight’s game and that means the Sharks will have their hands full in this one. That equates to huge home dog value with a Blue Jackets team that looks to remain undefeated since the coaching change
Paul Leiner
500* Phx/Port Over 210
100* Duke -5.5
50* NC State -1
25* Miami -1
Sal Devito
Double 5* Dogs of the Month
For my First 5* Selection I am playing on the New Jersey Nets plus the points over the Milwaukee Bucks. Tonight New Jersey returns home after a hard fought game last night vs the Cavaliers. Despite going into the toughest place to play in the leauge they kept it close much of the game but couldnt get the win but easily covered the 16+pt spread. In that game, New Jersey had their 2nd best shooting performance of the season hitting 51% of their shots, with Devin Harris out. Devin Harris returns tonight and I believe he will be instrumental in getting New Jersey over the "hump" He has been averaging 15.8 ppg and 6.3 apg. Last time they met Harris went 0-5 with just 5 pts and 5 turnovers. (Can't have a worse game than that) in a 98-76 loss. However note that New Jersey is 2-1 ATS as a home dog of 3.5 to 6 pts this year and New Jersey is 3-2 ATS in games played at Home vs Milwaukee over the last 3 seasons. New Jersey is 6-4 SU and 7-3 ATS vs Milwaukee over the last 3 seasons, and 19-9 Straight up Vs Milwaukee since 1996. We can't argue that New Jersey is in the toilet this year but if we look at their record ATS we find them at a respectable 6-1. The Nets are hungry for a win to satisfy their home crowd and I believe that the time is tonight. 5* New Jersey Nets
For my Second 5* Selection I am playing on the UCONN Huskies Plus the Points over Syracuse. Sorry to rain on your Parade Tony.. (He is going to this game to cheer on the Orange.) Tonight we have a Big East matchup, that should provide a memorable game. Syracuse comes in an almost perfect 23-1 vs a stumbling 14-9 UCONN Team. What this game comes down to is Line Value. Everyone is predicting a Syracuse blowout and why wouldnt they? Uconn hasnt scored over 70pts in their last 4 games, their coach is on medical leave as well. UCONN is 0-5 on the road and 1-4 against Top 25 teams. They ended their 3 game skid this last Sat with a 64-57 home win over Depaul. That being said their interim head coach is quoted as saying " It appears sometimes that we play to the competition.Thats what it is starting to look like, So Hopefully we will be jacked up to play against Syracuse. We're going up there with our destiny in our hands rather than in anybody elses hands." The Huskies have won 3 of their last 4 visits at the carrier dome and have taken the last 6 regular season meetings from the Orange. I expect a low scoring affair as both teams are excellent on Defense with the edge going to Uconn holding opponents to 38.2 shooting. UCONN is 2-1 ATS vs Syracuse over the last 3 seasons and is 1-0 in games played AT Syracuse. Take the Generous amount of Points.
Clayton Rice
3* Raptors
3* Missouri St
3* Duke