Been a little busy and haven't posted much lately, but here are 3 plays for a boring sports night.
Rider over St. Peter's.
* These two teams just played each other on February 1st. Although the score was 80-76 in favor of Rider, it was not as close as the score would indicate. At half-time Rider was up 11 and controlling the game. St. Peter's was shooting way over their head while draining some 3-pointers, hitting 46% of their 3-point shots. On the other side of the ball, Rider only hit 28% of their three point attempts. However, overall shot percentages for the game were 52% to 42% in favor of Rider. I can't see St. Peter's duplicating their success from 3-point land tonight.
Rider has beaten St. Peter's 7 consecutive times dating back to February 2000. They seem to have their number. In a revenge role, St. Peter's has not been good. In fact, they are 1-10 ATS seeking revenge at home during the past 3 years. Add to this St. Peter's 1-12 ATS record in conference home games over the last 3 seasons and you have a good case for playing Rider tonight.
Brown over Harvard.
* This fits into a system that says to play home favorites of 6 points down to a pick 'em after winning 2 consecutive games by 10 points or more. Teams in this situation this year are 20-9 ATS and over the past 3 years the record stands at 85-51 ATS. Another stat that supports Brown is that after a road loss, Harvard has covered only 4 of their last 16 games while Brown has covered 5 of 6 after a road win this season. Brown is on a roll right now and senior Earl Hunt should provide the Bears with plenty of points to help his squad win and cover tonight.
Columbia over Princeton.
* Certainly not expecting an outright victory, but I'll look for an ATS win. Columbia does have the 2nd best defense in the Ivy, giving up an average of 61ppg. So, taking the generous points at home seems like the way to go. Columbia is 5-0 ATS at home vs. Princeton since 1997 and the recent games between these two have been low scoring and fairly close.
I'll play these three and look to go 2-1 at worst.
Good luck if you decide to play.