Great Lakes
Chicago at Boston
Play on: Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are having an outstanding year going 35-23 ATS this year, and are 28-20 ATS as a favorite this year. The Celtics is also 8-4 ATS vs Central division opponents this year. The Chicago Bulls are a dismal 2-10 ATS vs Atlantic division opponents this year. We look for the Boston Celtics to roll over the Chicago Bulls for the home ATS Win & cover tonight.
Jimmy The Moose
Game: Edmonton Oilers at Columbus Blue Jackets
Prediction: Edmonton Oilers
Reason: Edmonton has won 4 of their last 5 games while Columbus has lost 3 of their last 4. The Oilers are 4-1 in their last 5 vs. Wesetrn Conference opponents. The Oilers are 5-1 coming off a loss of 3 goals or more in their previous game. Columbus is 5-12 in their last 17 games overall. The Blue Jackets are 1-4 in their last 5 vs. Western Conference team's and they are also 0-6 in their last 6 home games. Edmonton is 6-2-3 in their last 11 visits to Columbus and the Oilers are 17-5-3 in the last 25 meetings overall between the clubs. Play on the Edmonton Oilers +
Vernon Croy
Washington Wizards vs. Toronto Raptors
Play: Toronto Raptors
Take the Raptors -5 as this pick falls into one of my NBA systems and the Raptors are still the superior team here at home even with out Chris Bosh. The Raptors are 6-2 ATS as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points and 33-12 ATS in their last 45 games against Southeast division opponents.
Marc Lawrence
Play On: Chicago Bulls
Note: The new-look Bulls invade Beantown looking to settle a score (or two) tonight. Roll the clock back to December of this season and you’ll see where Chicago took it on the chops twice against the Celtics, losing 92-81 at home on 12/8 and then again in a 107-82 embarrassment on this floor on 12/21. They’ll take the floor with a spiffy 24-12 ATS mark in this series, including 12-6 on this court. Boston, on the other hand, comes in off a duel Wednesday night with Detroit standing 6-14 SU & 7-13 ATS in games after playing the Pistons. It’s Friday, go ahead and start the night out with some Red Bull! KEY STAT: Boston is 1-6 SU and 0-7 ATS at home versus an opponent playing revenge from a same season loss of 20 or more points.
Dave Cokin
Cornell @ Penn
Play: Penn +7
Cornell is clearly superior to Pennsylvania. The Big Red are the first team officially into the Big Dance and they're trying for a perfect Ivy campaign. But these are unchartered waters for Cornell, as they're heading out as big road chalk in what is effectively a meaningless game. The Quakers have shown a little life down the stretch and I believe they'll have a decent chance to compete here against what could be a flat Cornell team. Penn plus the points.
Tom Scott
Cornell at PENN
Play ON:PENN
A look at the season logs for these two teams won't indicate that Penn has much of a chance here. However, and there's ALWAYS a however, a look at the series history, the disparate results of the last game played by each of these teams and the mental aspect of this contest, and it's a completely different story. In the series, Penn is 25-1 SU at home against the Big Red, including 18 wins in a row. In fact, the Quakers are 106-9 SU here in their last 115 Brain Chain games and were favored in all but FIVE of those games. After last weekend, you might think Penn should just mail this one in. The Phillies were soundly thrashed at Brown to the tune of 75-43 while Cornell was clinching its NCAA berth with a 86-53 beheading of Harvard. With the Big Red all packed up and ready to go Dancin', it's the Quakers who will be dancing tonight.
PREDICTION: PENN 74 - Cornell 70
Vegas Sports Pics
Bradley Braves (pk) over Creighton Blue Jays
Creighton (20-9, 10-8) vs. Bradley (17-14, 9-9) went 1-1 in last season's MVC tourney the loss coming to then No.11 SIU 53-51. Teams split two meetings this season home team winning each, Bradley 87-59 on 02/16. Creighton 111-110 in double OT on 03/01.
Delaware Blue Hens - 1 over Drexel Dragons
Drexel (5-13, 5-13) in CAA games ranks next to last in scoring and last with a minus 7.8 scoring margin. Delaware (13-16, 9-9) went 1-1 vs. Drexel this season, losing at home 62-60. winning at Drexel 67-63. Overall, the Blue Hens are 8-2 ATS last ten meetings.
Northeastern Huskies - 3 over James Madison Dukes
James Madison (13-16, 5-10) vs. Northeastern (13-16, 9-9) enters off what should be a confidence building 70-59 home win over (20-10) George Mason on 03/01. The Huskies are 7-1 last eight meetings including a 74-56 win in the '06 CAA tourney.
Teddy Covers Arena Football
Dallas -7
ANALYSIS: Revenge is an overused word and an overused concept in the betting marketplace. However, there are still some circumstances where revenge means something. In this game, it means a lot. Dallas was the best team in the league last year, going 15-1 during the regular season. But the postseason was a major disappointment as a number of unlucky bounces (quite literally) went against them in their opening round playoff defeat at the hands of Columbus, a crushing defeat for a franchise that fully expected to win the Arena Bowl. When Columbus comes to visit here in Week 2, Dallas will most assuredly be playing with a serious chip on their collective shoulders.
The AFL is a ‘quarterbacks’ league, with the best QB’s able to guide their team down the field for touchdowns on nearly every possession. The Desperados lost their star quarterback, Clint Dolezel, to injury last week. The Dolezel injury gives us tremendous line value this time around, allowing us to lay a very cheap price with the vastly superior ballclub. First and foremost, Dallas is the most talented team in the league, far more able than most to withstand an injury to their star quarterback. Secondly, the Desperados have a capable backup in Chris Sanders, a four year AFL veteran. Head coach Will McClay: “We have ultimate confidence in Chris Sanders. He's a very good quarterback….Maybe he isn't the same type of quarterback as Clint, but he can do some other things.”
Columbus came through the backdoor to get a pointspread cover at Colorado in Week 1, but make no mistake about it – the Destroyers are a good notch or two down from the 7-9 team that got hot in the playoffs last summer. They lost their top SIX receivers from last year’s squad in the offseason, along with their leading tackler, leading interceptor and leading sackmeister on defense. Despite not committing a single turnover in Week 1, Columbus was held to a modest 47 points, with the lowest yards-per-play average in the league. Kicker Mark Lewis missed all three field goal attempts and a pair of extra points. We’re looking at a great team facing a weak one here, and the great team has something to prove. Take Dallas.
Jim Feist.
SAN Spurs and DEN Nuggets.
Take "Under".
Who's going to control the tempo this game? You have a veteran defensive team in San Antonio against a younger, uptempo Denver squad. Recent history says the Spurs will control the pace. San Antonio is playing their third game in four nights so they don't want to get into a run-and-gun game with the Nuggets, especially in the thin Denver air. These teams have met twice this season and both sailed under the total, with Denver averaging 83 ppg. The last meeting in Denver, the Nuggets won 80-77 40 points under the total
Play the Spurs/Nuggets under the total
Tony Weston
We stick with the Western Conference and continue with another team from the Lone Star State as we absolutely love the San Antonio Spurs to destroy the Denver Nuggets.
Even though the Nuggets beat the Spurs SU and ATS earlier this year, winning 80-77 as 2 1/2 point favorites, that win snapped a five-game losing streak SU and ATS against San Antonio.
The Nuggets come into this game 5-5 SU and 3-7 ATS their last 10 games and 2-5 ATS their last seven.
And even though the Spurs are only 1-3-1 ATS their last five games, San Antonio has been dominant SU, going 15-1 its last 16 games. In those 15 wins the Spurs have won by an average of 8.5 points per game.
Now, early lines have San Antonio getting points.
Wherever the line settles, take the Spurs big.
3* SPURS (1* to 5* Scale)
Al McMordie
At 7:35 pm, our complimentary selection is on the Detroit Pistons. Detroit has been playing great ball this season and has the 2nd best record in the NBA. Not surprisingly, the Pistons have had very few slumps en route to its 44-17 record. And its best pointspread role this season is off back-to-back ATS losses. In that situation, Detroit is 10-1 ATS, with an average margin of victory of over 17 ppg. The Pistons have dropped their last two games to the spread (vs. Boston and Seattle), and I look for Detroit to rebound with a blowout win over the Knicks. Take Rasheed Wallace & Co.
Arthur Ralph
Super Pick: Phoenix Suns
900 Daily Play BEST BET: Pepperdine
Tom Scott
Cornell at PENN
PENN plus the points
A look at the season logs for these two teams won't indicate that Penn has much of a chance here. However, and there's ALWAYS a however, a look at the series history, the disparate results of the last game played by each of these teams and the mental aspect of this contest, and it's a completely different story. In the series, Penn is 25-1 SU at home against the Big Red, including 18 wins in a row. In fact, the Quakers are 106-9 SU here in their last 115 Brain Chain games and were favored in all but FIVE of those games. After last weekend, you might think Penn should just mail this one in. The Phillies were soundly thrashed at Brown to the tune of 75-43 while Cornell was clinching its NCAA berth with a 86-53 beheading of Harvard. With the Big Red all packed up and ready to go Dancin', it's the Quakers who will be dancing tonight.
PREDICTION: PENN 74 - Cornell 70
Alex Smart
Game: Columbia vs. Princeton
Prediction: Columbia
Columbia (14-13 ) enters into this road tilt against Princeton(5-21) primed and motivated to break a 12 game losing streak at this venue (dating back to 1996) . Im betting they break this long standing curse, and come out of this with a win . Final notes & Key Trends: Columbus is 7-0 ATS on the road this season .Princeton has failed to cover 13 of their L14 when the line is +3 to -3. Play on Columbia
Jimmy Boyd
NBA San Antonio vs. Denver
Take Denver Nuggets
1 Unit on Denver Nuggets -2.5 I like a rested Nuggets team coming off a big win over Phoenix against a Spurs team which just played last night. Denver is a sizzlin' 24-7 at home this season and I think they're up to the challenge tonight. The Spurs are 4-12 ATS in road games after playing a home game this season, 9-19 ATS in road games after 3 or more consecutive wins over the last 2 seasons, and just 12-17 ATS in all road games this season. Denver is 12-2 ATS in home games after a game where they made 12 or more 3 point shots over the last 2 seasons. The hot shooting has continued in these spots as the Nuggets have gone on to win by an average of 13.4ppg. The Spurs are 0-7 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog of 0.5-4.5 and 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games as a road underdog period. The Nuggets are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games as a home favorite. Lay the points.
Bryan Leonard
Washington Wizards @ Toronto Raptors
PICK: Washington Wizards
To say the Wizards should come out with a purpose tonight would be an understatement. The last time they faced Toronto the Raptors pounded them 122-83 for the largest margin of victory in Toronto history. Chris Bosh played a major role in that win and he will once again be out of the lineup tonight. Not only do the Wizards have that embarrassing loss to remember, but they also know they laid a brick the last time they took the court. Washington is off a 122-92 pummeling at the hands of Orlando. But before that outing the Wizards had won 4 of their previous 5 games with the lone defeat coming against the red hot Houston Rockets. Despite the last meeting against the Raptors Washington has won 2 of the 3 meetings this season. With Toronto off an easy 25 point win in Miami we can see the host not as intense and the visitor. An outright underdog win would not surprise.
PLAY WASHINGTON
JEFFERSONSPORTS
DENVER-1.5
Mighty Quinn
St. Peter's
RedZone Sports
Furman.
Madduxsports
Phoenix -4
Glen Mcgrew
Cornell
Joe Wiz
Golden St
Tennesse St
Huddle Up
Bobcats
Scott Spreitzer
Northeastern
Razor Sharp Sports
Bulls-Celtics Over
Cappers Access
Bulls
LT Lock
76er's -11
Michael Cannon
15 Dime –
WRIGHT STATE
Take Wright State over Valpo in the Quarterfinal round of the Horizon Conference tournament.
This is a quick rematch of last Saturday’s overtime thriller when Valpo blew a 13-point halftime lead but rebounded to win, 75-73.
Despite the outcome last week, I loved what I saw from Wright State in that game.
The Raiders have been accustomed to playing tight conference games this year, but they stepped out and throttled Detroit in the opening round of the Horizon tournament, 60-37.
That should give them the needed confidence to get by Valpo tonight.
The Crusaders are on a five-game winning streak, but they are just 4-9-1 ATS in their last 14 games.
Wright State has two of the league’s better clutch performers in guards Vaughn Duggins and Todd Brown, who each boast a positive assist/TO ratio and they both shoot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc.
The Raiders won the Horizon Conference Tournament last year, knocking off Butler, 60-55. Coach Brad Brownell has a good track record in these games, having also led UNC-Wilmington to the Colonial Athletic Association title a few years ago.
I like battle-tested Wright State in this spot, so take the Raiders for the win tonight over Valpo.
10 Dime –
GEORGIA STATE - 2:20 tipoff
Take the points with Georgia State this afternoon over William & Mary in the first round of the CAA tournament.
Don’t be fooled by the overall record of the Panthers. They are one of the more improved teams in the conference this year under new head coach Rod Barnes and they enter this game having won three of their last five.
Georgia State has started to find some offense since sophomore point guard Michael Moynihan moved into the starting lineup. He is averaging 15 ppg over his last five, fellow guards Leonard Mendez and Trae Goldston are each hitting better than 40 percent from 3-point range.
William & Mary enters this game having lost six of its last seven, going 2-5 ATS.
Georgia State is 7-3 ATS in its last 10 overall and will have revenge motive after blowing a 16-point lead versus the Tribe back in January and losing, 60-58.
Take the points with Georgia State as they stay within the number.
5 Dime –
SUNS
Lay the small number with the Suns tonight at home over the Jazz.
Even though Phoenix has struggled defensively, I can’t trust Utah in this spot.
The Jazz don’t have a defensive stopper to slow down Amare Stoudamire and forward Andrei Kirilenko is nursing a hip injury.
Utah has lost three of its last four road outings, including games to the lowly Timberwolves and Clippers by a combined 21 points.
If the Suns can jump on the Jazz early it could take the wind out of their sails.
Take the Suns minus the small number as they grab the home win and cover.