Andrew Powers Guaranteed Selections
COLLEGE HOOPS POWER PLAY WINNER
Ball St +3
The Consensus Group Guaranteed Selections
PERFECT 9000* ACC CONFERENCE GAME OF THE YEAR
Boston College +4
Seabass
200* Spurs ML
100 * Arizona State, Cal Irvine
50* Mizzouri, California
20* ND, Duke, Loyola Chic
20* Bruins Under, Redwings Over
Nick Parsons
LOUISVILLE
Opposite Action Plays
JAMES MADISON
Bob Balfe
NJ NETS
IndianCowboy
4 Unit Play.Take the Miami Heat +3.5 over the Houston Rockets
Man,the Heat are primed for an outright win here. Please note, that you will need a drink of Jack on the side here as you will get a heart burn/you will have jittery nerves throughout this game. But, the Heat are once again primed for an outright win here. Look, the Miami Heat are good. This is the same team that defeated the Lakers Outright at home, nearly defeated them again on the road, defeated the Spurs outright on the road and defeated the Cavs outright at home. This goes without saying that this team recently got revenge against the Bucks who won outright on the road to avoid being swept for 3 straight games against the Bucks. The Heat have covered 4 in a row including winning some incredibly difficult games such as defeated the Timberwolves who had covered 7 straight coming into that game, defeating the Kings in ARCO that not even the Lakers could do and defeating the Bucks on the road. This team now plays a Rockets team that defeated them at home earlier this year by double-digits. You don't think this Heat team remembers that game back 11/24 where they lost 98-107. Now, the Heat were banged up in that game and they were not healthy. Consequently, they lost. But, now things are different. With Marion, Beasley, Wade, Haslem and and Chalmers, this team is getting it done plenty. They have increased depth and the youngest coach in the league (also, first Filipino coach in the league ever) who is on this team's behinds constantly. The Rockets on top of all that will be without the services of McGrady and Artest which mainly effects their depth more than anything else. I'll take the Heat on the short lay as it a short lay for a reason as 67% of the public is on the home town Rockets as well not realizing the dynamics that are going on with this game. The Rockets just lost a close game to the Lakers at home and I think they likely drop another one here as well as the Heat will get up for this game and I think will have enough firepower to get it done. The Heat have covered their last 4 games while the Rockets are just 1-5 ATS over their last 6 games and and 1-6 ATS over their last 7 games as a favorite.
4 Unit Play.Take Illinois +7.5 over Michigan State
My only regret in this game is the fact that I didn't' catch it at 8 points. In fact, if you check with your local or other books for that matter, you might very well indeed catch it at 8 points, but I have to roll with 7.5 as that is what I see currently. In fact, I thought the line might go up to +8.5 given what the public will do so I laid off selecting this game till'now. But, alas, we are saddled with the 7.5. No worries though as I have the Illini winning outright at a percentage of 40% and falling within 3.5 points with a chance of 18% and thus, I have us covering this game by a strong 58% to 61% chance which I will take any day to help us go 5-1 on the week in our college ball PODs as we just do 1 pod per day. I love the Illini. Their coach is one of my favorites, with Alex Legion transferring from Kentucky, this team is deeper, healthier and who says that this team doesn't have game? What if I told you I have Illini as a higher Power Ranking (PR) team than Michigan State? Can you believe the fact that Illinois who has won at Vanderbilt Outright, who has won at Purdue Outright is a top 20 power ranking team while Michigan State is a top 25 power ranking team? Illinois is led by sound guards, have depth in relation to their big men and is a sound free throw shooting team. Look, if Ohio State can be competitive on the road against Michigan State, you better believe this team will be more than game in a conference match up against Michigan State. Illinois is a solid 4-1 ATS over their last 5 road games and Michigan State is 1-6 ATS when facing a 7-12.5 spread at home as they are in the public eye, the Fighting Illini fight for the cover here and we will take them at the 7.5.
Sports Bank
500 Southern Mississippi
SPORTS UNLIMITED
10* ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK
5* Louisville
4* Buffalo
4* Southern Mississippi
4* Arizona State
Executive
600 Baylor
DAVE MALINSKY
5* Phily -1.5
4* Orlando/Denver over 209.5
Special K
20* Iowa State
Auburn
Michigan
Dr. Canada
Boston Bruins vs. Washing Capitals over 6
Chicago Blackhawks vs. St. Louis Blues over 6
Minnesota Wild -150
Detroit Red Wings vs. San Jose Sharks over 5.5
KBHOOPS
NCAAB
5* Michigan -4 -130 (Would play up to -5.5. I am personally buying back to around the opening #)
5* Iowa State +16
5* Clemson -2 -120
NBA
5* New Orleans -2.5 **POD**
5* Jazz +5
Dr Bob
2 Star Selection
**CLEMSON (-2) over Wake Forest
Two of college basketball’s final 3 unbeaten teams square off here and the home court advantage for Clemson should be the difference. The Tigers aren’t quite as good as Wake Forest, but Clemson applies to a very good 89-34-3 ATS situation that plays on the home team when two very good teams get together. My ratings favor Clemson by 2 points, so the line is fair, and the one part of the Tigers’ game that isn’t good (they allow a mediocre 34% 3-point shooting) won’t be exploited by a Wake Forest team that only attempts 12 3-pointers per game and only makes 34% of those shots. I’ll take Clemson in a 2-Star Best Bet at -2 points or less.
2 Star Selection
**MICHIGAN STATE (-7 ½) over Illinois
Illinois is a very good team but Michigan State is 60-27-1 ATS at home when not favored by more than 11 points in Tom Izzo’s tenure, including 52-19-1 ATS since February of 1997. Michigan State is an even better 31-3 ATS when favored from 4 ½ to 9 ½ points at home, including an easy win last Saturday over a Kansas team that is comparable to Illinois. My ratings favor the Spartans by 9 ½ points and I’ll take Michigan State in a 2-Star Best Bet at -8 points or less.
2 Star Selection
**Boston College (+4) over VIRGINIA TECH
Boston College has lost 3 consecutive games, all at home, since beating then #1 North Carolina on the road earlier this month, but the Eagles should rebound on the road today. Boston College is an incredible 70-38-6 ATS in all road games in 12 seasons under coach Al Skinner and teams coming off 3 consecutive home losses are good bets as road underdogs. The Eagles, in fact, apply to a solid 73-35-3 ATS situation that is based on that premise. My ratings favor Virginia Tech by 3 ½ points using a standard home court advantage, but the fair line on this game is Hokies by 1 ½ points after adjusting for how well Boston College plays on the road. I’ll take Boston College in a 2-Star Best Bet at +3 points or more.
3 Star Selection
***Ball State (+3 ½) over CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan is a horrible team that has been even worse in their last 7 games without leading scorer Chris Kellerman and there is just no way that the Chippewas should be favored by 4 points over Ball State in this game. I know that Ball State is without their top scorer Anthony Newell, but the Cardinals won without Newell on Tuesday and his 40.7% shooting won’t be tough to replace. Using all games for both teams would result in Central Michigan being favored by ½ a point in this game, but the Chippewas have been 4 ½ points worse than their season rating in 7 games without Kellerman and my ratings favor Ball State by 3 points even after adjusting the Cardinals’ rating down by 2 points for Newell being out (even though I don’t think they’ll miss him that much). Ball State has lost 7 games this season and all 7 of those losses have come against teams that are at least 10 points better than Central Michigan is, so I just don’t see them losing to the slumping Chippewas today. Ball State also tends to play better on the road than they do at home and the Cardinals are 6-2-1 ATS under coach Billy Taylor as a conference road dog, which is much better than their 10-21 ATS mark in all other games. In addition to the line value, Central Michigan applies to a negative 31-87-5 ATS weak home court situation and I’ll take Ball State in a 3-Star Best Bet at +2 points or more and for 2-Stars from +1 ½ to -1.
The Animal
4½* TEXAS A&M