Joel Tyson
Gave you a Sunday comp play winner on Toronto in the NBA.
Gave you a Monday comp play winner on Villanova in college last night.
For Tuesday, going to take the points with the Timberwolves at Philly.
Both teams have won 4 in a row, but the against the spread scales are tipped in Minny's favor, as Philly is just 6-18 against the spread at home this year.
In the series, the underdog is 14-3-1 against the spread the last 18 series meetings, and the road team is 7-3-1 against the spread the last 11 meetings.
Also note; Minnesota has won 5 of the last 7 series meetings straight up.
I am taking the points.
3♦ MINNESOTA
Pete Angelo
Tennessee at Vanderbilt
The winner of this game claim sole possession of second place in the SEC East. And since the Volunteers visit No. 1 Kentucky on Saturday, I'm guessing there might be some distractions with the Volunteers.
In the first meeting, after the Volunteers led 35-31 at halftime, the Commodores turned in their best half of the season, outscoring Tennessee 54-41 en route to an 85-76 victory.
Now, at home, Vandy will have the crowd on its side and should be able to put this one away early.
1♦ VANDERBILT
Chuck O'Brien
Five straight complimentary winners after hitting Kansas over Texas on Monday. No. 6 in a row will come Tuesday as the Thunder take down the Blazers in NBA action.
Portland was poised to make the proverbial “leap” this season, and while the team is still a respectable 30-23 this year, injuries have robbed the Blazers of a much better record. The biggest injury is the hamstring ailment that point guard Brandon Roy is dealing with. Roy, who won’t be back until after the All-Star break, has missed 12 games because of the injury, and while the Blazers survived early on, they’re now just 3-5 in their last eight games, including 2-3 at home.
On Saturday, Portland caught a huge break against the Lakers when Kobe Bryant was a late scratch with an injury, and yet the Blazers failed to take advantage of that break, losing 99-82 as a 3½-point home underdog. Now they have to face Kevin Durant and the red-hot Thunder, who have won five in a row, including back-to-back road wins the last two games. Not only back-to-back road wins, but back-to-back wins as a road favorite!
Behind Durant, who has now scored at least 25 points in 24 straight games and is averaging 30 ppg, the Thunder are now 8-4 SU in their last 12 road games and 11-2 ATS in their last 13 on the highway. And even their road losses have been impressive (Oklahoma City’s last three road losses – at Cleveland, Memphis and Dallas – came by a total of four points).
Oklahoma City is the better team, the healthier team and the more confident team. And with the way Durant is playing – and with no Roy on the floor to check him – you can’t pass up the Thunder in what is pretty much a pick-em situation.
4♦ OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Jeff Benton
I scored yet another easy freebie winner Monday as Villanova (5♦) hammered West Virginia, getting the outright upset. That’s now four straight and seven of eight in the free-play department. For Tuesday, I’ll head back to the college hardwood and lay the points with Georgetown over Providence.
No letdown for the Hoyas this time around. You may recall that last week – just four days after dismantling Duke 89-77 as a two-point home underdog, a game played in front of the president and vice president of the United States – Georgetown fell flat against South Florida, losing 72-64 as a 12½-point home favorite.
The Hoyas righted themselves Saturday, handing Villanova its first Big East defeat in dominating fashion (Georgetown jumped out to a 19-point halftime lead and rolled to a 103-90 victory as a two-point home chalk). I’m banking that the Hoyas learned a valuable lesson from last week’s loss to South Florida – meaning I don’t expect them to still be floating on cloud nine in the wake of the Villanova victory the same way they clearly were after pounding Duke.
If I’m right and Georgetown does come into this contest fully focused, Providence doesn’t stand a chance, simply because they can’t match the Hoyas’ athleticism. The Friars have lost five of their last six games (2-4 ATS), and they have just one “quality” win in Big East play (81-66 over UConn at home). But the Huskies are clearly down this season. Besides, they went to Providence just days after scoring a monster upset of then top-ranked Texas – think Hoyas coach John Thompson III hasn’t spent the last couple of days showing his team tape of that one while explaining how UConn fell into a letdown trap?
Georgetown has won three straight meetings with Providence, and the road team has gotten the money in the last four series battles. Throw in the fact the Friars are in ATS slumps of 2-9 at home, 8-22 as a home underdog, 7-19 as a home underdog of less than seven points and 7-16 versus winning teams, and this one’s a no-brainer. Georgetown’s talent edges show big in this game and the Hoyas roll by double digits.
6♦ GEORGETOWN
Matt Rivers
Michigan State
I really do like the Spartans here as I think they are very very cheap at the Breslin Center, with or without Kalin Lucas. The reason why I can’t make this a real pay play is because Matt Painter’s experienced Boilermakers are awesome and scare the living bejesus out of me anywhere and at anytime.
Purdue is a senior laden squad that has a great chance to go very deep into the tournament this season. They have a great starting five and players that can play with the best of them in Hummel, Moore, Grant, Kramer and Johnson and can kill you in so many ways. With that said though Tom Izzo’s Spartans are not exactly chopped liver and at home should be just too good in this thing.
Michigan State went to the Finals last season and returned a ton this season. Even if Lucas does not play guys like Morgan, Summers, Allen, Green, Roe, Lucious and on and on and on can definitely fill the slack here at home. The road is a far more difficult task as we just saw at Illinois but being back home in East Lansing is a monster advantage here for the Spartans.
Purdue’s great but Michigan State is as well and they never lose at home as pretty much all of Sparties losses have come on the road and against high quality competition. This is a blue collar team that comes to play pretty much every game and when on their home floor losing seems to be pretty impossible. They don’t exactly pummel opponents but State grinds out games and is just too good in the end.
I expect the Boilers to compete for sure as they are too good to just get blitzed but after 40 minutes we will see one more indication of the home court being too tough in the rugged Big 10.