Sports Picks & Predictions

Illinois-Chicago +1

Wright State is fighting for position in the Horizon League, but tonight they'll be doing so without two of their best players. Cole Darling and Reggie Arceneaux are both expected to miss tonight

South Dakota +4.5

There are still a couple BracketBuster games to be played today, and this is one of them. South Dakota from the Summit League will take on Montana State from the Big Sky Conference.

While the Summit League isn

Kentucky

Temple pk

LaSalle and Temple meet tonight in a huge game for both teams NCAA Tournament chances. If you look anywhere around the web, you

Ohio St. -5

The Ohio St. Buckeyes were absolutely crushed at Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon. Thad Matta

St. Louis -2.5

The VCU Rams are a terrific team, but I like the value on St. Louis here because it seems like the oddsmakers are overlooking a solid team in the Billikens.

St. Louis has some very high quality wins this year. The Billkens have beaten Butler, New Mexico, and Valparaiso all by double digits at home this season.

VCU

Michigan State pk

The Michigan State Spartans may have the single best coach in college basketball. It

Arkansas Razorbacks +1

The Arkansas Razorbacks are terrible away from home, but they are an extremely dangerous team on their home floor. Coach Mike Anderson moved from Missouri to Arkansas a couple years ago, and this matchup should be hotly contested.

Arkansas has proven they are able to raise their game when there is a lot on the line. The Razorbacks dominated Florida in their biggest home contest of the season thus far.

Missouri is certainly a talented team, but the Tigers haven

Buzz Williams has done a really good job with the Marquette Golden Eagles basketball program.

This is now a proud program that is tough to beat at home. Marquette is unbeaten at home so far this year.

Granted, they haven't played teams quite as good as Pittsburgh, but they have taken care of business in a big way. 13-0 is no small feat.

Pittsburgh has been up and down this year. The Panthers looked pretty bad at times earlier this year, but they have played better of late.

Still, Pittsburgh doesn't have anyone dominating on their roster, and Marquette can really play solid defense.

The Panthers are often forced into bad shots late in the shot clock against strong defenses, and that should happen here.

Remember, Marquette actually beat Pittsburgh 74-67 in overtime at Pittsburgh earlier this season.

The style of game that both these teams play generally lends itself to a close game. In what should be a close game, I like taking the home team, especially when I get points.

The underdog is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings between these two. Take Marquette.

7* Play on Marquette +2

Denver

Northern Iowa +2

The Missouri Valley Conference is once again one of the most dangerous in the entire country. Don't be surprised if you see a Missouri Valley team do some damage in the NCAA Tournament.

These mid-majors are battle-tested thanks to a very tough conference schedule.

That team that does damage in the NCAA Tournament could well be the Creighton Blue Jays, but I don

Kent State

Michigan St. +1.5

The Michigan Wolverines are an excellent team, and this play is in no way a fade of their ability. It's all about how tough winning on the road is in the Big Ten.

Winning on the road in the Big Ten against a quality opponent this year is extremely difficult. East Lansing is one of the very toughest places in the conference for visiting teams.

Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans started the year looking a little sloppy, but as they seem to do every year his team is rounding into form at the right time of the year.

Michigan State has won nine of their last ten games overall. They are 14-0 at home this year. Michigan State is the best rebounding team in the Big Ten, and I think they'll control the glass in this one.

As good as Michigan may be (they are good), I just don't see how they can be favored against the Spartans on the road. Michigan State's defense should make it tough for the Wolverines offense to get open looks in this contest.

The home team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings between these two.

Michigan State is 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 following a win. Take Michigan State.

Good Luck, Razor Ray.

8* Play on Michigan State

Weber State

Delaware -7.5

The Old Dominion Monarchs visit the Bob Carpenter Center on Monday for a CAA matchup with the Delaware Blue Hens. ODU is coming off of a hard fought overtime loss to Northeastern while Delaware picked up a 79-72 road win over George Mason on Saturday.

The Monarchs have played substantially better since Jim Corrigan was promoted to interim head coach. Old Dominion emerged with a shocking win at Drexel before almost knocking off the conference leader, Northeastern. Expect a flat performance from the Monarchs here.

ODU has managed to shoot above 40 percent from the floor over their past three games after failing to do so in their previous eight games, meaning a regression to the mean is due.

The Monarchs already dropped an 84-72 home decision to the Blue Hens this season and Delaware turned the ball over a whopping 21 times in that game. Without all of those wasted possessions, the Hens would have ran ODU out of the building.

The Monarchs are just 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games and a terrible 3-13 ATS in their last 16 conference games. Take Delaware.

Good luck, Razor Ray

8* Play on Delaware Blue Hens -7.5

California +13.5

The 7th-ranked Arizona Wildcats host the California Golden Bears on Sunday. Arizona is coming off a 73-
66 win over Stanford, while California dropped their last game to Arizona State, 66-62.

Arizona

Notre Dame +5

The 25th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish host the 11th-ranked Louisville Cardinals on Saturday. Notre
Dame is coming off a 63-47 loss to Syracuse, while Louisville beat Rutgers their last time out, 68-48.

These teams have played some very tightly contested battles over the last few years, going to overtime
in four of their last five meetings.

The Irish are 13-3 on their home court this season. Jack Cooley recorded his fifth double-double in the
last six games on Monday. Cooley averages 14.8 points per game for the Irish, and ranks fifth in the country and tops in the Big East with 11.3 rebounds per game.

Expect a bounce back performance from the Irish who rank 11th in the nation in shooting percentage, but shot just 34.6 percent from the field against the Orange.

Louisville is 5-2 on the road this season, but they

Cincinnati -1.5

The 17th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats host the 23rd-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday. Cincinnati is
coming off a 54-50 loss to Providence, while Pittsburgh beat Seton Hall their last time out, 56-46.

Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh on their home court on New Year

Kansas -4

The Kansas Jayhawks were in line to become the top-ranked team in the country last week. Kansas proceeded to lose at home to Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State is a talented young team, so that loss can be excused. The Jayhawks then lost to a terrible TCU team on the road earlier this week.

After the TCU loss, Bill Self was extremely critical of this Kansas team. He even went as far to say that he wished he could start only 3 players to prove a point.

Bill Self is a very good coach, and my guess is that this Kansas team will learn a big lesson from their loss at TCU.

Oklahoma is a solid team, but they are nowhere near as talented as Kansas. I would have given Oklahoma a better chance of covering the spread here if Kansas hadn

Penn -1

The Pennsylvania Quakers host the ale Bulldogs on Friday. Pennsylvania is coming off a 71-69 loss to Cornell, while Yale dropped their last game to Dartmouth, 71-62.

The Quakers are 2-1 ATS in conference play, and appeared destined to go 3-0 before a double-digit second half lead faded away against Cornell, before the Big Red hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

There were some positives to draw on as the Quakers hit on 50 percent of their shots from the floor, and 12-of-24 shots from beyond the arc. Fran Dougherty

Texas A&M +3

The Texas A&M Aggies host the 20th-ranked Missouri Tigers on Thursday. Texas A&M dropped their last game to Kentucky, 72-68, while Missouri is coming off a 91-77 win over Auburn.

Missouri has been perfect at home, compiling a 13-0 record, but they've been a different team entirely when playing on the road. Missouri is winless in four road contests, with three of those losses coming against SEC opponents.

The team

Detroit

Old Dominion +13

At 7pm in the Daskalakis Athletic Center, in Phili its Old Dominion vs. Drexel.

Old Dominion fired long-time coach Blaine Taylor earlier this week. The Monarchs had a lot of success in the past few years, but Taylor

Stanford +10

The Arizona Wildcats host the Stanford Cardinal on Wednesday. Arizona is coming off a 79-65 win over Washington State, while Stanford beat Oregon State their last time out, 81-73.

The Cardinal have been on a surge of late, winning three in a row and four of five in Pac-12 play. The team has shot 57.4 percent from three-point range over their last three contests.

Junior forward Josh Huestis was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after posting averages of 15 points and 13 rebounds per game and hitting on 68.8 percent of his shots from the field in a pair of wins over the Oregon schools last week.

The Wildcats get this game at home, but they

George Washington

Michigan

Hawaii +6.5

The Titans have lost at home to mediocre teams several times this year. Fullerton scores a ton of points, but they don

UW -4

We were on UW Thursday night vs. Arizona in an underdog spot with a 5* free play and they delivered for us with a 4 point loss to Arizona. We're going to ride them again on Saturday night as a -4 favorite at Hec Ed vs. ASU.

Washington did so many things right vs. Arizona. They held them 35.1 field goal percentage, they shut down the Arizona 3-point shooters by limiting them to 3 of 18 (.167) shots behind the arc, they also forced 17 turnovers. They were just really unlucky. It's sports, it happens. The Huskies committed several costly errors, that's what did them in.

Yes the Dawgs have lost their last four to drop into the middle of the pack in the Pac 12 but this is still a team that boasts a ton of talent. Most folks nationwide feel Washington (12-9, 4-4) is streaking in the opposite direction. We don't. They'll right the ship. We have a lot of faith in Lorenzo Romar. He's one of the best coaches in the Pac 12. He knows how to get his team right. He does have his finger on the pulse of his team.

Watch for CJ Wilcox to step up big tonight. The junior guard has carried UW this season, averaging 18.6 PPG, he's been struggling of late, shooting 37 percent from the field, but we expect him to get going. UW have a solid defender in Scott Suggs, at 6-6 he will match up against Carrick Felix, and do just fine. The x-factor will be Aziz N

Siena +4.5

The Manhattan Jaspers were a huge surprise and a team that covered the spread very consistently last year. That was a year ago though, and things are completely different for them this year.

The biggest difference is that Manhattan is now playing without star George Beamon. Beamon averaged 19 points per game last year, and he was the man who ran this offense.

Without Beamon, the Jaspers are averaging only 57.7 points per game this year. They had an usually good shooting percentage in their early season 75-55 win over Siena.

I don

Alabama -5

The Alabama Crimson Tide host the Arkansas Razorbacks on Thursday. Alabama is coming off a 54-53 loss to Tennessee, while Arkansas was blown out by South Carolina their last time out, 75-54.

The Crimson Tide have stepped up their game at the defensive end of late, limiting their last four opponents to an average of 50.3 points per game. This game begins a stretch for Alabama in which they

Butler +2.5

The Butler Bulldogs have proven time and again that they aren

New Mexico

Marshall

Creighton

SIU Edwardsville -7

SIU Edwardsville isn

Butler -5

The Butler Bulldogs had one of the best wins of the college basketball season last Saturday.

In their next game at LaSalle during the week this past week they were beaten by one point on a shot with two seconds left. This Butler team has been in a lot of close ones.

Rotnei Clarke is the Bulldogs best scorer by a mile. He has been out the last few games, but he is expected to be back for this one.

Having a guy who can shoot the ball as well as he can really opens up the court for everyone else. With Clarke on the outside spreading the floor, everyone else can get to the rim.

Temple is a pretty good team, but they haven

Iowa State

Colorado

Creighton

Oklahoma

Florida Atlantic

Mississippi

Xavier +2

I

Idaho

VCU

UMass +12

The UMass Minutemen and St. Louis Billikens couldn't be more different. UMass is all about running and scoring in transition, while St. Louis is all about slowing the game down and winning with ball control and defense.

St. Louis is the home team here, so they may win the battle for pace in this one, but even if they do, this is a very big number. St. Louis is a team that doesn't typically blow teams out. They actually lost at home earlier this year to Santa Clara, and they struggled recently with North Texas.

UMass has proven they can win on the road this year. The Minutemen are 4-0 away from home this year. Granted, they haven

Washington +7

The Cal Golden Bears and Washington Huskies have played in quite a few very spirited games over the past few years. These teams are similarly matched as far as talent level this year.

Cal may be slightly more experienced, but Brandon Smith isn

Wyoming -4

The Wyoming Cowboys host the Boise State Broncos on Wednesday. Wyoming is coming off a 59-56 road win over SMU, while Boise State beat up on Walla Walla their last time out, 106-39.

Wyoming has started the season at 13-0 and that has earned them a spot in the national rankings. The Cowboys haven't been in the national rankings since the 1987-88 season, and are off to the best start in school history.

The team

Mississippi State -1.5

The Mississippi State Bulldogs host the South Carolina Gamecocks on Wednesday. Mississippi State is coming off a 97-46 win over New Orleans, while South Carolina is coming off an 80-69 win over South Carolina State.

The Bulldogs seemed to solve all of their problems shooting the ball against New Orleans. The team shot a season-high 56.5 percent from the floor in that gamewhile holding New Orleans to just 33 percent shooting.

The Bulldogs have compiled a 4-1 record at home this season, scoring an average of 69.0 points, while allowing only 49.4 points per game at Humphrey Coliseum.

South Carolina has built up an impressive base record, but they

William & Mary +4

The Towson Tigers host the William & Mary Tribe on Wednesday. Towson is coming off a 69-66 win over Drexel, while William & Mary dropped their last game to George Mason, 73-66.

The Tribe have been the model of efficiency in the early part of the season, converting on 47.4 percent of their shots from the floor, while limiting opposing shooters to a 40.2 percent clip.

They should be able to continue their efficient play at the Towson Center, where the Tigers are 0-2 this season.

Towson will have a tough time keeping their emotions in check, as the team is coming home for the first time after a stellar road trip in which the team pulled off three upsets, including an overtime win over Oregon State as 14-point underdogs, and an upset of Drexel as 10-point underdogs.

The team hasn

Pitt +1

The Georgetown Hoyas host the Pittsburgh Panthers on Tuesday. Georgetown is coming off a 49-48 loss to Marquette, while Pittsburgh lost their last time out, 67-62 to Rutgers.

The Panthers had an eight-game winning streak in the works before dropping back-to-back games to open Big East play. The team showed a lot of heart against Rutgers, clawing back from a 14-point deficit to give themselves a shot at the comeback down the stretch.

Talib Zanna was only able to muster nine points and one board against the Scarlet Knights, so a bounce back game can be expected from him. Senior guard Tray Woodall has turned the ball over only once in two Big East games, while also chipping in 11 points and eight assists against Rutgers.

Georgetown had a ton of trouble scoring against Marquette. A stellar performance from Markel Starks in which he recorded 18 points and seven assists wasn't enough, largely because the team received ZERO points from their bench and made only seven free throws.

The Hoya

The Michigan Wolverines are playing as well as anyone in the country right now. Trey Burke showed how good of a point guard he is last year, but now he has plenty of talent around him and that is a dangerous combination.

Michigan

Northern Colorado -3

Sometimes you just have to make a play based on line value. Northern Colorado certainly isn

Rutgers +7

Write-up coming soon...

9* Play

San Jose State -3

Idaho has been a bit of a disappointment this season. The Vandals haven

Louisiana Tech -4

The Denver Pioneers are a decent team, but recent history tells us they really struggle to pick up wins away from home. Denver is one of those teams that can rack up a ton of wins at home and have a terrible road record.

Denver is a team that relies heavily on jump shots. The Pioneers shoot an extremely high amount of shots from behind the three-point line.

That works fine against subpar defenses, but against good defensive teams like Louisiana Tech, relying on those long distance shots isn

BYU -19.5

The BYU Cougars have historically been a very good team at home. BYU has put beat downs on a whole lot of teams on their home floor. The Marriott Center is a terrific environment for basketball.

Northern Arizona is in the weak Big Sky Conference, and they are one of the worst teams in that league. Northern Arizona has been blasted on the road several times this year.

In their last game they were beaten 98-51 by Colorado.

NAU has many problems, but the worst of their problems is that they play terrible defense. Opponents get easy looks right around the rim far too often.

Colorado actually shot 67% from the floor in their win over the Lumberjacks last game.

BYU has a lot of interior strength, and that should be a big problem for Northern Arizona here. Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws are two stars for the Cougars, and they should put up big numbers in this one.

Both of them are averaging 20 points per game this year.

BYU is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 against the Big Sky Conference. Northern Arizona is 0-6 ATS in their last 6 against the West Coast Conference.

Take BYU -19 as a 7* play.

George Mason +5.5

George Mason and Richmond will square off in an intrastate battle Saturday afternoon. These two teams don

Wake Forest -1

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons aren

Evansville +12

The Butler Bulldogs picked up a historic victory against the Indiana Hoosiers last weekend. Butler was able to knock off the #1 ranked Hoosiers in a raucous environment.

You have to assume that there will be a little bit of a letdown in this one for Butler.

Evansville is a middle of the line Missouri Valley team. The Purple Aces have a star in guard Colt Ryan.

Ryan will definitely be one of the best players on the floor in this matchup.

I expect him to be able to break down the Butler defense and get open looks for himself and his teammates. Evansville only lost by 7 at Colorado State earlier this year.

Colorado State is a quality team who has a good chance of making the NCAA Tournament this year.

The public is pounding Butler in early betting in this one.

I think this is a situation where the public ends up being on the wrong side. Evansville is 21-9-1 ATS in their last 31 games.

Take Evansville Saturday as a 7* Play.

Montana -2

The Sacramento State Hornets host the Montana Grizzlies on Friday. The Grizzlies won each of the meetings between these teams last season, including a 29-point win at home.

Montana defeated Northern Arizona 62-56 to open their Big Sky schedule. The Grizzlies won the Conference championship a year ago, and entered the season as the favorites to do so again. The team finished 15-1 inside the conference last season, and are clearly the team to beat again this year.

Senior guard Will Cherry led the team in scoring a year ago. He missed the first seven games of the season but returned for the last two, and is ready to return to a bigger role. Cherry made his first start of the year and saw 35 minutes of floor time against Northern Arizona.

Sacramento State is getting a lot of credit in this game for having a better record than Montana, but their schedule has been far more favorable. Their first Big Sky win came against a bad Montana State team, and they

BYU +7.5

The BYU Cougars have a lot of experience on this year

Portland State -7.5

The Portland State Vikings host the Idaho State Bengals on Thursday. The Vikings won each of their meetings with the Bengals last season by double-digits.

The Vikings are just 2-5, but don

Montana -1

Northern Arizona simply isn

Illinois St. +4.5

The Illinois State Redbirds have proven they are a very solid team on multiple occasions this year. Illinois State led Louisville for almost the entire game, and they only lost to the Cardinals by three on the road.

Louisville is a top five team. Illinois State also beat a very solid Drexel team on the road.

The Missouri Valley Conference continues to be one of the best smaller conferences in the nation.

Illinois State has the play makers to win the Missouri Valley Conference this year, or at least be in contention for it all the way to the end.

Dayton is a pretty good team, but they haven

NC State -7

Stanford has a decent team, but I don

Oregon -13

The Oregon Ducks are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the PAC 12 this year. The Ducks have some impressive wins already this year. Most impressive was their win over UNLV on the road.

The Runnin