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THURSDAY'S FREE WINNER: WASHINGTON WIZARDS + 6 1/2
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W Virginia -16
MIKE WYNN
Free Pick: Detroit/Chicago Under 183
Mike Rose comp
TCU +7.5 (-110)
Thu Nov 8 '07 9:00p
Marc Lawrence comp
Game: Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors Nov 8 2007 10:35PM
Prediction: Golden State Warriors
Reason: Play On: Golden State Warriors
Note: Warriors host the Mavericks looking for their first win of the season. Sure, it's revenge for Dallas from being stunned in the playoffs last year, but the fact of the matter is Golden State is 20-4-1 ATS in the last 25 games in this series against the Mavs. Hungry teams playing with confidence are a lethal combination as underdogs. Grab the points here tonight.
Jimmy The Moose comp
Game: Philadelphia Flyers at New Jersey Devils Nov 8 2007 7:05PM
Prediction: New Jersey Devils
Reason: The Flyers will be playing on back-to-back night and there's a good chance their backup goalie starts this one. Philadelphia is 15-37 in their last 52 games vs. Atlantic Division opponents. In their last 8 games playing with 0 days rest the Flyers are 2-6. The Devils have struggled out of the gate but tonight's game is one they should win. They are the better rested team and are facing a Flyers team they have dominated recently. The Devils are 10-2 in the last 12 meetings between the clubs. The Flyers are 7-20-4 in the last 31 visits to New Jersey. Play on the Devils.
LT Lock
TCU+7' bought the half
Handicapper: Nite Owl Sports
Sport: College Football
Game: Louisville Cardinals @ West Virginia - Thursday November 8, 2007 7:30 pm
Pick: 3 units (Play of the Day) ATS: West Virginia -16 (-110)
Tonite the Louisville Cardinals visit Morgantown in a nationally televised game which many thought (in August) would be the decider for the Big East title and a guaranteed BCS bowl berth. However, Louisville lost two very important parts of the team that flogged West Va 44-34 last year (also in a Thurs night national TV game) – first, during the off-season they lost their dynamic head coach, Bobby Petrino, to the now “Vickless” Atlanta Falcons of the NFL, and second, they lost their defense, which was made evident in their first game of the year (vs a division 1-A team), when they gave up 42 points to Middle Tennessee State, as 38 point favorites. The Ville followed up that weak defensive effort with ones that were equally bad if not worse, yielding 40 to Kentucky, 44 to a Utah team which had been shut out two weeks before by UNLV, and the low point, 38 points in losing as a 37 point home favorite to a Syracuse team that has not cracked the 20 point “barrier” this year against any other team on its schedule, including “cupcakes” Buffalo and Miami, Ohio. Now they must face a West Virginia team which is not only averaging 41 PPG, as well as having the #3 rated defense and yielding an average of only 15 PPG, but is determined to avenge last year’s defeat which helped keep Mounties out of the BCS party. OK, enough bashing of Lousville’s suspect defense and discussion of the emotional revenge angle favoring West Virginia, except to say that revenge usually works best when the avenging team “has the horses” to do the job, which this year’s Mounties team certainly does.
Now for the “nuts and bolts” of why West Virginia should both win this game and cover the 16 point spread. Their “bread and butter” is running the ball, which they do to the tune of 300 YR per game for an average of 6.1 YPR, with QB White and RB Slaton doing most of the work behind an experienced, well coached and basically healthy offensive line. While Mounties prefer to run the ball and control the clock with time consuming drives, which will also keep the Ville’s high powered passing offense off of the field for large chunks of time, QB Slaton is enough of a passing threat to keep defenses honest, as he can “burn” them with all kinds of play action passes if they “load the box” and try to stop the run. Their offense is also ruthlessly efficient, with one of the best yards per point ratios (11.6) in college FB. For those not familiar with yards per point ratios, a YPP ratio of 11.6 means that this Mountie offense only has to gain 11.6 yards for every point it scores. So basically, we don’t see the Ville’s defense stopping or even slowing down the powerful and versatile Mountie attack very often during this game.
On the other side of the ball, even when Louisville QB Brohm and his offensive unit are on the field, we don’t see them doing too much “business” against a Mountie defensive unit that is much better than last year’s which gave up 44 points to Brohm & Company. This year West Va is holding opponents to 2.8 YPC and only 160 yards passing per game, while intercepting 11 passes and allowing only 7 TD passes. They also don’t give up many big plays, as evidenced by their yards per point ratio of 17.6 (meaning that a team has to gain 17.6 yards for every point scored against this Mountie defense), one of the best such ratings in college FB this year.
The vast difference between this year’s and last year’s West Va defenses can be illustrated by their comparative performances both years against a solid Rutgers offense which returned virtually all of its “core players” this year from last year’s 10-2 team. Last year, West Va beat Rutgers at home, 41-39 in overtime, but in doing so yielded 450 yards, including nearly 300 YP on 19-26 by Rutgers QB Teel. Fast forward to Mounties’ most recent game, at Rutgers on Oct 27, where in their 31- 3 win, they limited Knights’ strong offense to only 3 points and barely over 300 total yards, including just 128 passing yards on 14-30 passing with 2 INTs by Rutgers QB Teel. That really says it all about this year’s West Va defense. Another fact to be noted in this match-up of Louisville’s offense vs West Va’s defense is that Louisville has not been as productive on offense recently, scoring only 17 in its last road game at Connecticut, and just 24 at home vs an average Pitt offense in its most recent game.
Another factor of note is the coaches of the two teams, with Mounties’ Rich Rodriguez having a big edge over the Ville’s first year head coach Kragthorpe, former head man at Tulsa.
While many bettors will jump on the Over (64) in this game, based on some of the big scores put up this year by Louisville due to their strong passing offense and porous defense, and the high scores of the last two games between these two teams, I think that would be a mistake this year due to West Va’s strong defense. In fact, if you have access to individual team totals, we would even recommend a bet on under for the number of points to be scored by the Ville, as long as that number is 24 or higher, which is about what it should be, based on the game spread of West Va by 16 with a totals line of 64. While we expect West Va to score a lot of points, the individual team totals line for them will probably be about 40 points, which is just too high for an Over, especially for a team whose primary offensive weapon is the run.
The more that bettors analyze this game, the more apparent West Va’s strengths and Louisville’s weaknesses will be apparent. That, plus the fact that it is an ESPN national TV game, should result in a fair amount of “action” on the Mounties, pushing up the line to 17 or higher by game time. So, a word from the wise (nite) owl, get in your bets on West Va at your earliest opportunity, while the line is still a manageable 16 or 16.5, at least not more than the key number of 17.
North Star Sports Service--hockey
PHILADELPHIA +120
PITTSBURGH +154
PHOENIX +113
CALGARY -155
By Drew Gordon, Featured Handicapper
Take Washington plus the points over New Jersey in this NBA match up.
2♦ WASHINGTON
JOHN MARTIN
Take Brigham Young Cougars
1 Unit on BYU -7 BYU is one of the best home ATS teams in the nation. They get an overrated TCU team in MWC play tonight on their home turf. The Cougars are 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 home games overall. A big reason is the fact that they are giving up just 9 points a game on their home field. The Cougars are 13-4-1 ATS in their last 18 conference games. BYU is scoring over 32 points a game at home while compiling an average of over 420 yards of total offense. BYU is 14-4 ATS against good defensive teams that allow less than 320 yards of total offense. TCU is in for a surprise when they see how dominant this BYU offense is up close and personal. Cash in with BYU at home.
BILL YOUNG / BLACK WIDOW
NCAAF
TCU vs. Brigham Young
Take Over
1* on TCU/BYU Over 46 TCU and BYU have really picked it up offensively over their last 3 games. The Horned Frogs are averaging 32 points a game while BYU is putting up a nice 34 points per game in their last 3 contests. The last 2 meetings between these schools have gone OVER the total. BYU is 10-2 OVER off a win against a conference rival the last 3 seasons. Patterson is 6-0 OVER the Total in road games off 2 or more consecutive UNDERS as the coach of TCU. These offenses are in their prime this season so get ready for a shootout boys and girls.
Take the OVER 48 points
John Fina
November 8, 2007
Selection: Washington Wizards +6.5 (-110)
Today the Washington Wizards will be on the road as they take on the New Jersey Nets. We will side with the Wizards plus the points. The Wizards have yet to win a game this season, however, we see them turning things around tonight against an overrated Nets team. We understand that the Wizards have struggled on offense this season (a part of which was their strength last season), but let's keep in mind that this team still has many key offensive players (Arenas, Butler and Jamison). All players/teams have bad runs (this is what is happening to the Wizards), but the bottom line is this Wizards offense is strong. In this case, the value is with the underrated Washington Wizards! Take the Washington Wizards +6.5
LT Profits NBA
Wash/NJ under 2*
LT Profits NBA
Wash/NJ under 2*
Rose NCAAF
WV 5*
Smart NCAAB
Oklahoma 2*
JB NBA
Chicago 1*
AJ Apollo NBA
Chicago 3*
AJ Apollo NBA
Chicago 3*
Smart NCAAF
TCU/BYU under 2*
Ben Burns **MAIN EVENT**(Louisville/West Virginia) $40.00
Ben Burns has simply OWNED the BIG EAST once again this year. Back on 10/13, Ben cashed his Big East Main Event as Louisville upset Cincy. Five days later, Ben BURIED THE BOOKS with his 2007 BIG EAST GOY on Rutgers over USF. That followed his 2006 BIG EAST GOY on Louisville over West Virginia. The same teams meet again tonight. BE THERE!
LOUISVILLE
Ben Burns' Divisional Game of the Month *15-5 L20 NHL reports - Thursday
As he has done for a decade, Ben Burns continues to crush the books with his NHL selections. Ranking as the #1 hockey handicapper in the history of the longest running hockey monitor (BigGuy.com) on the Internet, Ben is DOING IT AGAIN this season. The "hockey legend" has cashed 15 of his last 20 reports & his Divisional G.O.M. goes today.
New Jersey Devils
INDIAN COWBOY'S NBA GAME OF THE YEAR: DALLAS vs GOLDEN STATE
Play: DALLAS -7.5 (GOY)
Wayne Root
Chairman - TCU
Millionaire - Bulls