Brandon Shively
Charlotte Hornets vs. Indiana Pacers
Play: Indiana Pacers -2
I like the Pacers as a small favorite in this game. The Pacers come into this game playing on 3 days rest which will help them tremendously in this game as they are 18-7-1 ATS in their last 26 games playing on 3 or more days of rest. They have now won 3 of their last 4 games as well, including wins over the Bulls and the Heat. The Pacers are still a good rebounding team and are the better rebounding team than Charlotte in this game. Indiana is getting some help at the guard position now with Rodney Stuckey back in the lineup.
Charlotte is 1-5 SU on the road this season. They are giving up 104 ppg on the road and the Pacers have the better defense in this game. Also for the Hornets, they are dealing with some injuries with Gary Neal and Kidd-Gilchrist. These were the #3 and #4 scorers on the team. Lance Stephenson is making his return to Indiana and I look for the Pacers to keep him on lock down tonight and have to think the crowd will be hyped for this game as well.
Let's take Indiana tonight as this is a great value play for a team that is playing with great team chemistry currently and I think that with them playing on 3 days rest will prove to be the difference in this one.
Steve Janus
Los Angeles Clippers -4.5
The Clippers haven't lost back-to-back games in the regular season since February of last year and I look for them to come out with one of their best efforts of the season following Monday's ugly 89-105 loss at home to the Bulls. The key here is that Orlando comes in having covered the spread in 7 straight games, which has this line a lot lower than what it should be. The Magic's strong run has all come against Eastern Conference teams, which has them overvalued against the Western Conference elite. Orlando is just 10-37 in their last 47 against the Western Conference. The Magic also aren't going to be able to sustain their hot touch from the outside. They have made a ridiculous 47.3% of their 3-point shots over their last 7 games.
Key Trends - Clippers are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 road games off a loss, 15-4 ATS in their last 19 off an upset loss as a favorite and 15-5 ATS in their last 20 as a road favorite of 3.5 to 6 points.
System - Road favorites who are a good offensive team (98-102 ppg) against a poor defensive team (98-102 ppg) after allowing 100+ points in 2 straight games are 73-34 (68%) ATS over the last 5 seasons.
Andrew Lange
Austin Peay at Samford
Play: Samford +3
Very game effort by Samford last time out in a 63-56 loss at Pittsburgh. The Bulldogs amazingly outrebounded the Panthers but more importantly, as first-year head coach Scott Padgett, put forth a tremendous effort. This of course coming of the heels of an 80-40 loss at Purdue. Don't want to put too much stock in one performance but on the same token, Austin Peay has no business laying -3 on the highway. The Governors have been getting progressively worse under long-time head coach Dave Loos who hasn't had a winning season since 2011. Defensively, Austin Peay ranked 10th out of 12 in the OVC last year and it showed in a dismal 12-18, 6-10 record. As a favorite last season, APSU was a consistent moneyburner losing outright in close lined games against fellow bottom feeders Eastern Illinois and SIUE. They were also laying this exact same price at Samford last season and were blown out 85-63. Samford is a completely different team but the overall talent level for both of these squads is on equal footing. When it's bad vs. bad laying road chalk becomes a low percentage play as we take the generous +3.
Wunderdog
Wake Forest @ Arkansas
Pick: Under 156
Wake Forest and Arkansas have both gotten off to a quick start in the early going. These are teams that have relied on their best player, both forwards, as Arkansas' 6-11 forward Bobby Portis dropped 24 points in the opener. The Demon Deacons' top performer, has recorded a pair of double-doubles. This will be a matchup that may negate some of the scoring, as the primary option for both teams will have an equal opposing force going against them. As a result, the scoring options will likely come deeper into the shot clock at times with not as selective of shots. Wake has been 10-3 to the UNDER after holding their last opponent to under 50 points. They are also 6-1 to the UNDER outside the conference in their last seven, while Arkansas is 7-3 to the UNDER in their last 10, going back to the end of last season. This one stays UNDER.
WNBA Picks
Pepperdine -3.5
The first game we like today is Pepperdine at San Jose State , the Waves looking for a 3-0 start and a second win in one week over a Mountain West Team, Pepperdine comes from a 76-61 win against Cal Lutheran,there is plenty of room for improement as they started ice cold with their shooting , only 37% in the beginning,the Waves hope for their Star Stacy Davis who had 18 points and Lamond Murray Jr who had 16 and a double double, we go with the Pepperdine Waves tonight, and so this is our first selection for today:
Wake Forest/Arkansas Under 156.5
Our second game we like today is the UNDER in the Arkansas/Wake Forest game, although the Razorbacks scored 98 in their opening match against Alabama State and Wake Forest put up 80 against UNC Ashville i think there is way too much love for the OVER here, surely the Razorback have a realistic chance to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 this year but it might need a few more games to make adjustments, both Teams can score but Wake Forest has lost 4 of their TOP scores and rebuilding,with Danny Manning they have a new Coach who is experienced enough to get them on track but overall they have lost quality, i am not sure if they can hang with Arkansas tonight,again 156.5 points is way too much for 2 Teams who might be a bit overrated on offense
Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAY
Buffalo / Kent State Under 44: Low total for a MAC game, but when the weatherman is predicting more inches of snow than this total, you have to expect a low scoring game. This Kent State offense offense has been horrible this year in much better conditions than tonight, as they have averaged 15 ppg overall and just 10 ppg on the road, while scoring more than 20 points just once all year. In these conditions they may get shutout. LOL For Buffalo they put up 55 points on an Akron defense that looked like they had given up but this offense was not clicking before that having scored 14 in each of their two previous games. The Under is 16-5 in Bulls last 21 home games vs. a team with a losing road record and 5-0-1 in Golden Flashes last 6 conference games. Bad weather and poor offense should keep this one in the 30s.
Andre Gomes
San Antonio +2
This is obviously a great match up between two of the teams that are supposed to be title contenders. However, San Antonio is clearly closer to the level of contenders than Cleveland is right now. The Cavaliers' offense has been quite good at times, but San Antonio's defense is already playing at a very high level at the moment and they will be able to limit Cleveland's offense a lot tonight.
On the other hand, San Antonio's offense has been disappointing on this early season, especially because their perimeter shots aren't going in. They are creating their usually good looks on the perimeter, but for some reason the balls aren't going in. However, we're sure that they will start going in and that very well may happen tonight, as Cleveland's defense has been lacking organization on the perimeter this season.
With the Spurs' defense being able to limit Cleveland's offense a lot, especially with Leonard once again guarding Lebron, I believe San Antonio will generate good offense against the Cavs' average defense, giving them the win in here. Therefore, I'll be taking San Antonio tonight.