Sean Higgs
Florida Intl vs. Florida Atlantic
Play: Over 50.5
Your FREE PLAY today will be going OVER the total in this Friday night Sun Belt battle. We have a 2-8 and a 2-7 team facing off! Both teams terrible, but I will lean on the over here. Florida Atlantic got blitzed 41-7 last year in this game, and I am sure they would like to get a little bit of revenge for that. Both defenses giving up 30+ a game. We will go OVER the 50.5
Black Widow
Golden State Warriors +1.5
The Minnesota Timberwolves have simply been decimated by injuries. It's a big reason why they lost to the lowly Charlotte Bobcats at home last time out. Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Chase Budinger will be out for an extended period of time. Meanwhile, Nikola Pekovic, Brandon Roy and Jose Barea are all out for this game tonight against the Golden State Warriors with various injuries. I believe the Warriors are one of the most underrated teams in the league this season. They are off to a 4-4 start that includes impressive road wins over the Clippers and Suns. Stephen Curry is healthy, and this is a young team that is only getting better in head coach Mark Jackson's second year on the job. The road team has won three straight and six of the last nine meetings in this series between the Warriors and Timberwolves, so home-court advantage is irrelevant. The Warriors are 19-7-1 ATS in their last 27 road games. Golden State is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600. Minnesota is 5-16 ATS in home games after scoring 90 points or less 3 straight games since 1996. The Timberwolves are 3-15 ATS in home games against Pacific division opponents over the last 3 seasons. Take Golden State and the points.
Chuck O'Brien
Both of these Sunshine State rivals have had disappointing seasons, so it shouldn't come as any surprise to see them at each other's throats tonight, in a physical scrap at FAU Stadium.
Florida International comes into Boca Raton after snapping a seven-game losing streak with a 28-20 win over South Alabama. That should provide enough momentum for this game, against a team just as weak offensively as South Alabama.
FAU has the 105th-ranked offense an checks in with the 106th-ranked scoring offense that averages just 20.1 points per game. Florida International's offense is eighth in the Sun Belt, so stopping the Panthers shouldn't be too hard either.
Two of the last three meetings have stayed under.
Florida Interntional has stayed under in two straight, and comes in on addtional under runs of 6-1 in November, 11-2 after an ATS cover and 16-5 against losing teams. In the meantime, Florida Atlantic has stayed low in 12 of its last 15 home games, 9 of 13 after an ATS covers and 7-1 after winning on the field.
Play this one low.
2♦ UNDER FIU/FAU
Craig Davis
Free play winner on Providence plus the points last night in college hoops.
Friday's free play is the Oklahoma Sooners.
Tonight's game will mark the sixth matchup (head to head) between OU and UT Arlington, but just the first away from Norman. The Sooners won each of the first five contests: 89-57 in 1968-69, 71-64 in 1976-77, 101-76 in 1986-87, 81-63 in 1997-98 and 89-60 in 2006-07. The Sooners' average margin of victory is 22.2 points in this series. You see why I'm starting to like them even more?
The Sooners are coming off an 85-51 season-opening home win over ULM on Sunday while the Mavs (who went 24-9 last season) are entering tonight's contest off a 62-60 home win over Cal State Bakersfield.
Yeah, maybe I'm falling victim to the big school vs. small school phenomenon, but I don't care. I've seen both teams play a little and I believe the Sooners will be a lot better than people think.
The only thing that scares me for OU tonight is their recent road record. 1-9 in true non-conference road games over the past three seasons. Yikes.
All 12 Sooners who played Sunday vs. ULM scored at least 1 point, and I think that's going to be a big bonus for our side tonight as the Sooners might have to go to the bench early.
Take Oklahoma as your free play of the day.
3♦ OKLAHOMA
Jeff Benton
35-22 freebie run coming into Friday.
Friday's freebie comes in the NBA, take the Houston Rockets as the small road underdog at Portland.
The Blazers are normally strong on the home floor, but this season Portland has dropped their last three both straight up and against the spread in Rip City.
I don't see them ending the skid tonight, as the Houston Rockets are most definitely improved with the addition of the bearded-wonder James Harden in uniform, and Houston does come to the pacific northwest with wins in two of their last three straight up.
The Rockets have had past success in Portland, as Houston sports a three game winning streak on the Rose Garden hardwood, and they have also gone 4-1 against the spread the last five series meetings in Oregon.
The visitor has won five of the last six series meetings outright, so stick with the trends and back the Rockets.
1♦ HOUSTON
Chris Jordan
My free play is on the Under in the Hawaii/Air Force clash in Colorado.
Hawaii arrives in Colorado Springs with a 1-8 mark, with the only win being a 54-2 win over Lamar. That's the same Lamar team that is out of the Southland Conference and likely got caught up in being on the island. Those two teams play again now, my money is on the Cardinals.
Fact is the Rainbow Warriors have been atrocious, and are clearly a shell of what they used to be. Their offense ranks 117th in the country, and is 110th in scoring 19.5 points per game. Hawaii hasn't scored more than 27 points in any other game besides the Lamar contest, and now it's on the mainland and in high altitude.
That doesn't mean I'm ready to lay all those points with the Falcons, though. Air Force runs the ball, and doesn't do much else with the ball. That means a lot of running clock, which means not a lot of points, just a lot of time management.
I'll play this one low and look for it to stay in the 50s.
3♦ UNDER Hawaii/Air Force
Matt Rivers
Friday's free play will be to lay the road wood with the Thunder as they look to get back to their winning ways against the young New Orleans Hornets.
OKC had their five game winning streak abruptly halted on Wednesday, as Memphis took it to the Thunder in a 10-point win on Oklahoma City's home hardwood.
I expect Oklahoma City to be a bit prickly tonight when they face a New Orleans team that is working their way through injuries to both Eric Gordon and big man Anthony Davis.
New Orleans has covered the past pair of series meetings, but they were getting double-digits in both of those covers. That is not the case tonight, and the fact of the matter is the Thunder is on a four game series win streak, and they have won eight of the last nine series meetings overall with seven covers in those nine games.
Have to expect the cream to rise to the top tonight in the Big Easy.
Oklahoma City to make it five in a row straight up versus New Orleans, and to make it an 8-2 spread run the past ten series meetings.
4♦ OKLAHOMA CITY