Steve Janus
Illinois +8½
Great value on Illinois at home +8.5 over Ohio State. The Buckeyes are overvalued in this matchup after their 29-point win at Iowa on Saturday. Even with the win Ohio State is just 2-2 on the road with a horrible 1-3 record against the spread. Illinois is getting no credit at all despite coming into the game with a 14-3 record. The Illini are just 3-5 against the spread at home, but all of those losses came in games they were favored to win. The Fighting Illini are a perfect 10-0 at home this season.
Not only will Illinois be motivated to win as underdog in front of their home crowd, but they will be out for their first win against Ohio State in over 3 seasons. Last year the Buckeyes barely held on for a 73-68 win at Illinois. To give you an idea of how inflated the line is tonight. Ohio State was favored by just 3-points in that game last year. Take the points!
Bryan Power
Houston @ Charlotte
PICK: Houston -3
The records show that two bad teams are meeting tonight in Charlotte, but in my opinion, the Rockets are the vastly superior team here. Plus, they are also getting healthy. The return of PG Kyle Lowry is huge. He was second in the league in assists per game (10.0) before a bruised right foot has kept him out of the last few games. SG Kevin Martin has also been upgraded to probable here after dealing w/ the flu. Meanwhile, Bobcats' third leading scorer Corey Maggette is out indefinitely w/ a hamstring injury. Charlotte played last night, losing to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden 91-87, but covering a generous pointspread. After taking awhile to get this number posted, the linesmakers aren't being nearly as generous tonight. Houston's schedule has been pretty tough thus far as they just completed a home & home w/ OK City, which was preceded by games against the Clippers, Lakers, Hawks, Grizzlies, Spurs and Magic. They have been off for two days now after that brutal stretch. While this has led to some pretty brutal defensive numbers for the Rockets, there is still one team allowing more PPG this year, and that would be Charlotte at 104.1 PPG. What a coincidence!
FREE NHL PLAY FOR 1/10/2012: We're going to play the UNDER 5.5 goals between the Vancouver Canucks and the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. This is the 3rd game in 4 nights for the Canucks, all of which have been in different cities. Roberto Luongo has been solid of late between the pipes for Vancouver, but their offense has not been firing on all cylindars in this trip. And while Lightning Goaltender Dwayne Roloson has been struggling all season, he's dominated the Vancouver Canucks throughout his career. Roloson spent the majority of his career in the Western Conference, has 16 wins and five shutouts versus the Canucks - his strongest numbers vs any opponent. The Lightning are returning home from an ugly road trip through Canada where they only managed to score 5 goals in three games. The under is 9-4 in the Lightnings last 13 games as a home underdog of +110 to +150. The under is 3-1-1 in Canucks last 5 overall, and 6-2 in their last 8 when playing on 0 days rest. We expect a low scoring affair in this matchup. We'll take the UNDER 5.5 goals. OUR FREE PICKS ARE CURRENTLY 138-74-1. Sign up today to receive them daily via email.
Dave Price
1 Unit on Iowa +14
The Hawkeyes are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall, 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a double-digit loss at home, 9-4 ATS in the last 13 in this series and 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings at Michigan St. We'll take the points.
Jeff Alexander
1 Unit Miami Hurricanes +16
Miami has given North Carolina plenty of trouble recently. The Tar Heels have won 8 straight in the series but none of their last 4 wins have come by more than 7 points. In fact, the last 2 wins have come by just 3 and 2 points respectively. I expect Miami, who is 26-10 ATS in its last 36 games as an underdog of 10 or more points to keep this one closer than the odds makers think. Take Miami.
Rocketman
Louisville @ Providence
Play: Louisville -8.5
Louisville is 15-4 ATS since 1997 on the road when the total is 130 to 134 1/2. Louisville is allowing only 59.2 points per game overall this year and 60 points per game on the road this season. Louisville is 7-1 SU and ATS overall in this series since 1997. Cardinals are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600. Cardinals are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a SU loss. Cardinals are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 vs. Big East. Cardinals are 39-18-1 ATS in their last 58 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. Cardinals are 40-19-1 ATS in their last 60 road games. Friars are 6-13 ATS in their last 19 games overall. Friars are 8-21-1 ATS in their last 30 games following a SU loss. Friars are 14-39 ATS in their last 53 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. Friars are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600. Friars are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600. Friars are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a ATS loss. Friars are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games. Friars are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games vs. a team with a winning SU record. Friars are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 vs. Big East. Cardinals are 7-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings. Favorite is 7-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings. We'll recommend a small play on Louisville tonight!
Rob Veno
Dallas at Detroit
Play: Dallas -6.5
It’s very difficult to back the Pistons and their list of negatives at this point. The team is in a horrendous scoring slump averaging 76 ppg over their last four contests. They are playing tonight for the fourth time in five days and shorthanded to boot with Rodney Stuckey (30.5 min pg, 10.8 ppg, team leading 4.8 apg) and Charlie Villanueva nursing injuries. Detroit has lost its last four games by 16, 23, 23 and 16 points. Compounding their potential fatigue issue this evening is the fact that Dallas is finally rested having the previous two days off for the first time this season. Dallas has bounced back from a rough 1-4 start by going 3-1 its last four and covering the pointspread in all three victories. The temporary loss of point guard Jason Kidd (lower back injury) isn’t likely to bother the Mavericks much in this game as veteran Delonte West, who is an exceptional defender, can check Pistons rookie starter Brandon Knight. West also fit in well offensively last Saturday night scoring 12 points and dishing out four assists. Dallas’ depth (also recently added PF Yi Jianlian) should be a major factor here. Dallas now views every game (especially the winnable ones) as must wins because of their slow start in this shortened season. Figure them to get this one rather easily.