AC Dinero
George Mason vs. Va Commonwealth
Play: George Mason +16.5
There is always the risk that any team you back vs VCU can't handle its pressure. But George Mason knows this team pretty well from its days in the Colonial Conference. Statistically, they are practically even, with an edge yo VCU in the turnovers and bench production. But 16 points is alot, so take them
NHL Predictions
St Louis Blues -½ -110
The St Louis Blues come into tonight's game winning 6 straight since a loss in Calgary on December 23rd before the Christmas break. The Blues gave up late goals in that one and eventually lost in a shootout in a game that they should have won. Since that time though they've out scored opponents 27-12 going 6-0. The Blues are now 30-7-5 on the season and 13-4-3 on the road. Calgary has lost 5 of 6 games since their win vs St Louis, and during that span they've been out scored 19-5 including being shut out 4 times. They haven't reached 30 shots on goal in their last 7 games, and in 3 of those games they didn't even manage 20 shots on net. The Flames are just 15-22-6 on the year and 7-11-3 at home. St Louis is 9-2 in their last 11 road games vs a team with a home winning % of less than .400, 4-1 in their last 5 road games, and 47-19 in their last 66 vs a team with a losing record. Calgary has lost 4 straight at home, and are just 8-25 in their last 33 vs a team with a winning % above .600. They are also just 1-6 in their last 7 after scoring 2 or less in their previous game. You could make an arguement that we've got the current best team in the NHL (8-0-1 last 9 games) vs the current worst team in the NHL (2 wins in last 11 games) in tonight's game. I like the odds on the Blues to win this one in regulation time.
Anaheim Ducks -½ +114
The Anaheim Ducks look to stay strong as we move closer to the Sochi Olympics. Corey Perry has been a fixture for the Ducks this season and will look to be a fixture for Canada in a months time. Perry and the Ducks will be out in Nashville tonight against a Predators team that is in a bit of an identity crisis. Coming into the season with Pekka Rinne the Predators looked primed to be a defensive force for another season. Rinne was placed on the IR early in the season, so it has been a balancing act between offense and defense for the Predators thus far. But one thing is certainly true, the Preds have slipped severely on the defensive end. They are now allowing 2.89 goals per game. You figure the Predators to be in the 2.20 to 2.40 range so that is quite the transition. While the offense has showed glimmer of promise at times, they are still the same anemic offense they've always been, averaging only 2.39 goals a game. The offense has never really been there for the Preds, but without the crutch of the defense to help them out it has been tough going. Nashville has dropped 7 of their last 10 games, but came up big against the Sharks in their last outing. Will they be able to defeat the Sharks and then turn around and beat the Ducks? It'll be tough. The Predators are floundering, but on the other hand the Ducks have won 8 of their last 10 games, doing it it in impressive fashion. They are a well rounded bunch that are one of the better teams in the NHL with a posted record of 32-8-1-4. The Ducks are unbeatable at home, but are still a solid 14-8-0-3 on the road. I like Anaheim to continue their winning ways, taking care of the sinking ship that is the Nashville Predators fairly easily.
Wunderdog
Auburn at Ole Miss
Pick: Auburn +7.5
Auburn's success on the basketball court pales in comparison to what they have done on the gridiron. But, the Tigers have shown improvement at 8-3, winning their last four including wins vs. Clemson and Boston College. Ole Miss comes in with a 5-3 record on their home court, and losses to Dayton and Oregon here are understandable, but they also lost here to Mercer. One problem for the Rebels is that two of their top three scorers, and players taking a lot of shots are both shooting well under 40% for the season. The Tigers have a two-headed monster in the back court with K.T. Harrell and Chris Denson providing the punch, as they both drop in 19+ points per contest. The difference is that they are both shooting over 50% and they certainly can keep the Tigers in the hunt here. Play on Auburn.
Hollywood Sports
Oklahoma City at Denver
Prediction: Under
Oklahoma City (27-8) enters this game coming off a rough 112-101 upset loss in Utah. The Thunder are definitely missing Russell Westbrook who is out with an injury through mid-February. Furthermore, the Under is 27-13-2 in Oklahoma City's last 42 games after a game where they scored at least 100 points. Denver (17-17) has played 6 straight games Under the Total against teams with a winning percentage over 60%. And in their last 12 home games, the Nuggets have played 9 of these games Under the Total. Take the Under in this one.
Joe Gavazzi
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets
Play: Oklahoma City Thunder -3½
Streaky Nuggets have turned it around a bit with a recent 3-0 SU record following their 3-11 SU slide. But, tonight they are facing the wrong opponent on the wrong night. It has been an automatic play for us in recent years to play on OKC following a defeat. That log now stands 34-12 ATS, including 5-2 ATS this season. With a record of 7-4 ATS as road favorite, we must ride our meal ticket with OKC/loss.
Joe Duffy
Marshall vs. Texas-San Antonio
Play: Marshall -8
Marshall has struggled without Elijah Pittman. They actually started out 3-0 with him. He was benched for the second half against Penn State and suspended after that game. Starting with the PSU contest, they are 1-4 against the spread without him.
Pittman was averaging 21.4 points per game and was the only returning starter from a 2012-13 roster that was purged in the offseason.
UTSA is not a very good team, but they have a rare winnable game at home. The Herd is currently 0-7 away from home this season and has not won away from the Henderson Center since Feb. 20, 2013, in an 82-70 win over UCF. Marshall is 2-21 away from Huntington since the start of the 2012-13 season.
True, Keon Lewis is questionable for UTSA and they are also very young. But young teams always play much better at home and this is a battle of two such teams.
Chris Jordan
My free play for tonight is college hoops, as I take a look at Clemson laying the cheap number to Florida State. Something about these two schools, and I think Tajh Boyd and Jameis Winston, right? Neither star quarterback have anything to do with this game, and this certainly isn't football.
And though Florida State has won four of its last five games overall and has won four straight in the series, I think this is a great spot for the Tigers to take advantage of a potentially distracted team that might have gotten caught up in the BCS National Championship.
These two generally put on a good show, and if you remember, last season all three meetings were decided by five points or less. And since we're talking about a damn good Tigers defense this season, you watch, the 'Noles will struggle staying consistent on offense tonight. Clemson leads the ACC in field-goal percentage defense (.351) and is tied with FSU in blocked shots.
The Tigers are too tough at home, where they've won all seven games thus far. I expect them to make it eight in a row with the win and cover tonight.
5♦ CLEMSON
Jeff Benton
Thursday freebie is the Florida State Seminoles plus the basket at Clemson.
Not exactly sure what happened to Florida State at home on Saturday when they scored just 50 in a 12 point home loss to Virginia, but suffice it to say an 0-2 start in conference action is not what Leonard Hamilton's crew needs this Thursday night at Clemson.
Prior to that Saturday "toe-stub", the Seminoles had won 4 in a row, so I can see a bounce-back effort against a Clemson team that they have defeated the last 4 times they have faced one another.
The Tigers are off to a 10-3 start, winning all 7 at home with a 2-0 mark in lined home games, so you can assume this one will not be a blowout either way, but it is hard to ignore those 4 straight State wins, and the Sems 3-1 spread mark during their current series streak.
Florida State has also covered 8 of their last 11 games overall, that includes 5 covers in their 7 road games thus far.
In a tight one, side with Florida State.
2♦ FLORIDA STATE
Craig Davis
Thursday night's free play winner is the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Denver Nuggets.
I'm taking the Thunder tonight in a rare situation... coming off a loss. Dating back to last year, OKC has only lost back-to-back games nine times... meaning they don't react well to losses, and whoever their next opponent is better be ready for a brawl.
The Thunder dropped a double-digit loss at Utah (which is unthinkable), but played the game without Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. This obviously opened things up in the lane for the Utah bigs to control.
Not tonight. Vegas isn't stupid. They realize Ibaka should be back... but even if he isn't, the rest of the players will pick up the slack --- and I'm not talking about just Kevin Durant.
You'll see Stephen Adams and Reggie Jackson pick up their games. Nick Collison should play some solid minutes.
I'm not sure what it is about this team and coming off a loss, but 90% of the time they bounce back with a win... even against a team like Denver.
The Nuggets are good at home, and while it seems like a bad spot for OKC, Vegas still thinks of them as a pretty solid favorite --- and on the road.
I agree with them. Take OKC as the road favorite as your free play of the day.
2♦ OKLAHOMA CITY
Brad Wilton
Let's go with the Auburn Tigers plus the points in Oxford as they take on a Rebels team that continues to be a money-burner at the ticket window.
Ole Miss is just 1-3-1 against the spread in their lined home games this year, and they come into this game with straight up losses in 4 of their last 7 straight up, so any win the Rebs can procure will be a good win.
Auburn is 8-3 straight up, and they have won their last 4 games coming into this one, including wins over Boston College and Clemson, so I definitely give the Tigers a shot at the cover in this conference game.
Ole Miss has won the last 4 series meetings straight up, but Auburn has been able to hold their heads above water against the spread with a 4-2 mark the last 6 times the schools have played.
Take the points as Ole Miss gets their much-needed win, but Auburn gets the cover with the points.
1♦ AUBURN
River City Sharps
Memphis +6 1st Half
This appears to be a good angle tonight to jump on the visiting Tigers, especially for the First half line. Memphis had an embarrassing loss this weekend to Cincinnati while Louisville opened up their conference season 2-0 with a win at Rutgers. There is a really good angle of playing against home favorites when their opponent suffered an upset loss of 15 points or more as a favorite in their last game. Couple that with the fact that Memphis could create some matchup problems with Behanon now gone for the cardinals and we think you will see a fast start from the visitors. Everyone is this town today is talking about Bobby Petrino and Cardinal football (which really irks Ricky P) and we think the first half is a nice spot to back the Tigers.
Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAYS
Oregon/ California Over 150: Yes I can pick an Over. LOL The Ducks play a high paced uptempo game and it has resulted in 165.5 ppg being scored in their games this year, with the over going 10-2 in their lined games this year. Oregon scores a solid 91.3 ppg at home and while Cal does allow just 67.3 ppg on the road, they also allow teams to shoot 45.5% away from home. The Cal offense is not great and they do average 62.3 ppg on the road, but they should be able to blow that number away vs an Oregon team that has allowed 76.1 ppg overall and 72.6 ppg at home. The Cal Bears are not a full uptempo team, but still their games have averaged 140.6 ppg on the year and if they have any hopes of winning this one they will have to play uptempo, because Oregon will score plenty on their home floor. look for this one to possible hit 160 points.
Arizona -1.5 over UCLA: The Bruins have won 3 in a row vs Arizona, but that should really have the Cats focused in this one. They are the top team in the nation right now, winning all 15 of their games so far and they have been playing out of their minds on the defensive end of the floor of late, allowing just 43.5 ppg in their last 4 games. The Bruins do average 87.6 ppg on the year, but in their two losses vs a couple of solid defensive teams (Duke & Missouri) they were able to muster just 67 ppg in the two games. UCLA is coming off a big emotion win over cross-town rival USC, but I don't feel they were nearly as good as they looked in that game. They will not come close to 100 r even 80 in this game. Arizona has revenge on their minds for 3 straight looses to the Bruins and they should get it here with another complete game at both ends of the floor.
2 UNIT PLAYS
Michigan -5.5 over NEBRASKA: The Cornhuskers are 7-0 at home this year, but really have beaten just one team of note here and that was Miami. Nebraska comes in off a 3 game road trip, in which they lost the 3 games by an average of 18.7 ppg. Nebraska is really struggling on offense right now, having scored less than 60 points in each of their last 3 games and will find the going tough vs a Michigan team that has allowed 60.5 ppg in their last 4 games (all wins). Nebraska just doesn't have the offense to keep pace with a surging Michigan team, that has won 4 in a row.
Louisville/ Memphis Under 148.5: The cardinals have not been playing great defense of late, but now that are back home, where they always play great defense. At home this year, the Cardinals have allowed just 57.3 ppg on 37.7% shooting. The Memphis Tigers are a very good offensive team, but struggle vs another tough defensive team in Cincinnati their last time out and I expect this Louisville defense to have similar success. On Offense, Louisville is very good just like the Tigers, but Memphis is pretty solid on the defensive end, allowing just 69 ppg on the year. Both teams are pretty bad from long range and both teams really suck from the charity stripe. I expect the tempo to be a bit slower here and that along with strong defensive play should keep this game in the lower 140's at best.
1 UNIT PLAY
Northwestern/ Iowa Under 135: The Wildcats play at one of the slower paces in the nation and they come in struggling on offense, having scored just 57 ppg in their last 7 games and they have topped 58 points just once in those games. Now they face an Iowa team that has allowed just 60.3 ppg on 30.3% shooting on their home floor. Iowa does average 86.1 ppg on the year, but the Cats have played solid defense this year, allowing just 64.4 ppg. This should not be an uptempo game and that has me looking at this one being played in the 120s.
Harry Bondi
MEMPHIS (+11) over Louisville
Today's free pick is strictly by the numbers. Some teams match up well against each other and , as a result, usually play close games. That is certainly the case when Louisville and Memphis clash. The underdog has gone 7-0 ATS their last 7 meetings with an average margin of victory of just six points so lets take the double digits with Memphis and look for another tight one between these bitter rivals.
Ian Cameron
Marquette at Xavier
Play: Xavier -4
The Xavier Musketeers have flown under the radar this season despite a 12-3 SU, 9-4 ATS start. And we know they have owned a very strong home court advantage at the Cintas Center at 11-0 SU, 7-2 ATS. Xavier notched a pair of home wins to open Big East play against St. John’s and Butler winning each of those games by 10 and 11 points respectively. The Musketeers have gotten terrific point guard play from Semaj Christon who is averaging 14.7 points per game and 20 assists without committing a single turnover in the team’s last three home games. They’ve also done a good job of preparing for conference play by facing a litany of quality foes in non-conference play: Tennessee (twice), Iowa, USC, Cincinnati and Alabama.
Marquette was put through the ringer themselves in a difficult non-conference schedule with games against Wisconsin, San Diego State, New Mexico and Arizona State. But the Golden Eagles didn’t exactly pass those tests with flying colors. They were 0-4 SU in those games all away from home and when you combine that with their ugly 67-49 road loss at Creighton to open conference play, it leaves the Golden Eagles as an unproven commodity.
Marquette has struggled with consistency especially forward Davante Gardner who has been criticized at times by head coach Buzz Williams for not always playing hard and not always being consistent. Williams made the move to insert him into the starting lineup against DePaul and moving Jamil Wilson to point guard. Gardner responded with a 28 point effort but duplicating that effort on the road against a much better team is still a major question mark. It’s one thing for the Marquette lineup juggling to result in success at home against DePaul but it is a totally different scenario for it to lead to similar results on the road against a quality foe.
Xavier is on a perfect 5-0 SU and ATS run and it includes some really solid wins at home against Butler, St. John’s, Wake Forest and Cincinnati – each of those wins coming by double digit margins. The Musketeers also went on the road and beat Alabama 77-74 as 4.5-point road dogs. Marquette hasn’t been able to get the job done on the road this season and the price is short enough to step in with a recommendation on the surging home side.
OC Dooley
Charlotte +3
For those not aware host Texas El-Paso has been forced to kick off three members of their team (all guards) including LEAD SCORER McKenzie Moore due to gambling allegations. That opens the door for the Charlotte 49ers who after spending eight seasons competing in the Atlantic-10 draw have come back home so to speak. Charlotte was actually one of the original members of Conference USA back in 1995 and due to radical realignment are back as a league member. So far this season Charlotte is 4-2 SU/ROAD where the average point scored by the offense (75 ppg) has been stellar. Even though they have been cast as an underdog this evening Charlotte has defeated Texas El-Paso in this series three in a row outright and I look for that pattern to continue in this evening’s national cable-cast