Friday, December 05, 2008

Murphy's Law

2 great nights in a row are never posssible!

1-3 last night, with little opportunities to turn it around.

UCLA is classic for turning an over into an under. Last night with 2 minutes to go in a 3 point game, they needed to combine for 6 points with Texas to get a 2nd half over. Usually at the end of a close game with fouling and uncontested lay-ups you can expect 10+ points. However, UCLA for at least the 3rd time in recent memory bucked the trend. With 4 offensive rebounds they had a minute and 45 second possession that resulted in nothing. A few seconds later Texas made one free throw and the game was over. (along with my second half over chase bet) You have all been there, so thanks for bearing with me.

South Carlina -23.5 vs Furman in 15 minutes!!! Furman in 0-5 ATS this year. They are barely on the Pomeroy Chart and South Carolina is a solid # 57. Book it ( i did) By the way I am away from phones and computers for the next 7 days, so I am excited to say that I will have the memory of the Furman game on my mind for the next 168 hours of peace and solitude!

B Anthony 24-16 ytd

Week 14

This represents the last week of this pool. After starting the season off with a 13/15, I have slowly run myself out of contention. But along the way, I have made some gutty picks and enjoyed some very creative dialog from the Coach throughout this pool. It has given me a lot of enjoyment and I take my picks and go head to head with my son each week, who basically beats me each week.

One other thing I will say as it relates to college football. We all know the BCS is a mess and teams get screwed every year. But each week there is always some can’t miss game, usually more, and for that college football and the BCS system works. You have to watch all the games for 4 months. The same cannot be said for college basketball. There have been some great games recently; North Carolina at Michigan State, USC at Oklahoma, UCLA at Texas to name a few. But does it matter who wins? No. Is anybody watching? B. Anthony is but I am afraid he is in the minority. College football wins in the regular season but obviously college basketball claims the prize in the postseason where there is literally nothing better.

Speaking of North Carolina, as B. Anthony said, they are 10 better than everyone. That may be generous. Unless multiple players get hurt and that could happen based on Roy’s strategy of keeping his stars in while being up 30, they are an easy final four team. Who is going to beat them? My pick of Louisville could. Maybe Gonzaga. Duke is always a threat. Georgetown? But think about this. Hansborough is the best player in college basketball. Will he do anything in the pros? I hate to say it, but no. I look at him and I think Mark Madsen with a better jumper, which is not fair. So then I think about Rony Turiaf, who is the Mark Madsen with street cred. Would I rather have Turiaf or Hansbrough? I’ll take the French kid from Gonzaga.

Standings


Coach 138
JB 137
CCR 135
Dollar Bill 133
TG 132
D43 131
Hockey guy 131
T Bone 130
Money 127
50 cent 127


Louisville @ Rutgers
Buffalo @ Ball St.
Navy @ Army
Pitt @ UCONN
South Florida @ West Virginia
Arkansas St @ Troy
Arizona St. @ Arizona
USC @ UCLA
Washington @ Cal
Cincinnati @ Hawaii
East Carolina @ Tulsa
Boston College @ Virginia tech
Alabama
@ Florida
Missouri @ Oklahoma
Western Kentucky @ Florida International
Tie Breaker if necessary Alabama/Florida point total___275______ Second tie breaker if necessary Arizona/ASU point total__542______

College picks
BUFFALO +16 vs. Ball state
Buffalo won’t win this game but is a lot better than the public thinks.

VIRGINIA TECH +1 vs. Boston College
I will take the Hokies and their special teams and Defense over the Eagles and the rookie QB.

ARIZONA STATE +11 @ Arizona
Stoopes will find a way to blow this even with the bye week. The sun devils have a little momentum, are playing for a bowl bid and have beaten Az the last 3 times.

OKLAHOMA -17 vs. Missouri
I would love to take Missouri here, but I just can’t. I don’t expect this game to be close.

ALABAMA +10 vs. Florida
This game is so easy. I think Alabama wins. Nobody is giving Alabama a chance and the press has already crowned Florida the winner. I hate Alabama as a favorite, but love them as a disrespected underdog.

HAWAII +8 vs. Cincinnati
The Bearcats will be loving this vacation. They will show up the game drunk, late and sunburned. Hawaii wins.

NFL picks
49ers +4 vs. Jets
I hate to say it, but I like what singletary is doing for this team. As soon as I jump on board, the niners will likely crash so caution should be used here.

STEELERS -2.5 vs. Cowboys
Not sold on the cowboys. They are good, but not back. They won’t win in this weather.

CHIEFS +9.5 @ Broncos
Broncos come back to earth this week. The chiefs are still playing hard.

Money

Thursday, December 04, 2008

More hoops.

Last night was solid. 6-1 in the games I posted. Plus I couldn't help but jump on UNC in the first half. As previously stated, they are a lot better than anyone else in college hoops right now.

St. Mary's Pick at Kent State. Gaels are hitting their stride, a little revenge on their mind as well.

Oklahoma -8 vs USC. Mismatch. Period. In Norman, i don't care if the real USC shows up, they will lose..

UConn -15.5 vs Buffalo. Highly ranked team trying to live up to UNC legacy will want a blow out here.

Cleveland St -3 vs Butler. Butler is not as good as they have been, Cleve St. very talented and good at home. Just ask Valpo!


23-13 ytd. (I will do a better job of tracking)

b. anthony

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Winners only

B. Anthony is enjoying the rush of these intra-conference match ups tremendously, but I only have one question.

Why is the Big East playing the Ivy league?

Big Ten vs ACC makes sense.

Big Twelve vs Pac 10, I see it. But this? Now I don't officially think this is part of the schedule, but it is happening all over the place. Villanova at Penn last night makes sense, I guess. And now Syracuse hosting Cornell. Too much of these mismatches.

We want UNC vs Louisville. UConn vs Duke, Pitt vs Clemson, Notre Dame vs Wake Forest. Maybe next year we can get ACC vs Big East!!

On to the picks. By the way, last night ended up 6-3, but I really considered it 7-2. Washington state turned a 30-15 lead into a 49-19 embarrassment with 10 minutes to go in the game. B. Anthony banked this pick and went to bed. Obviously, the subs who came in for the last 10 minutes of the game, didn't realize the line was 20.5. After giving up 19 points in 30 minutes of play, Idaho State finished the game on a 22-11 run and closed the gap to 60-41, including a meaningless lay up at the buzzer to break B. Anthony's good streak.

Halftime was a good time if you like Ohio State and Clemson yesterday, as did B. Anthony. After much consternation, I will finally concede that Money's "half-time line value" is a truism and is thus the definition of "The Truth".

Tonight. Big winners one Dog
I got on all these lines at 8am this morning, and many have moved against me, but this is why we are on them early.

(Straight plays)
Syracuse -17.5 vs Cornell
UNC -10 vs MSU
Wake Forest -23.5 vs Indiana
Pitt -17.5 vs Duquense

(three team parlay below.)
Miami OH +5.5 vs Temple
Akron +8 vs Niagara
Utah -9.5 vs Oregon

If early plays goes as expected, Utah may see some additional action!!

Good Luck!

B.Anthony

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Truths!


Wisconsin Badgers are always going to be(Dangerous) in the Sweet Sixteen! They always take good shots. Even in tough environments, down the stretch, with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. Good things happen for them!

USC never plays hard, until they have to. they will be much better against Oklahoma than they were vs USF, but they will lose!

SEC hoops will never be as good as SEC football! Down across the board this year!

Big East is back! Remember when they were a 6 foul league?
North Carolina is going to the final four! The injury to Hansborough is great. He is resting against these weak teams, and his teammates are getting better. When he does play, everyone is so energized! I don't have a good feeling about MSU 's chances this week. And I like them, despite their loss to Maryland.

Picks for Tonight_

Just because: Here are 8 picks. I am confident that 6-2 is coming!

Utah St -18.5 vs Irvine- Irvine sucks, Utah St. punishes teams like this
Clemson +2 vs Illinois- Clemson always starts 10-0
BC -8 vs Iowa- Tyrese Rice at home gets 35 and he pushes at the end of the game
Ohio State +8 vs Miami- Thad Matta will feed the big man, play zone, and stay in the game.

Villanova -13 vs Penn- Too many options for Nova, and they like to beat up the IVY
Troy +19 vs Dayton- Dayton is very good, but coming down off a big win over Marquette
Cleveland St -7.5 vs Valparaiso- Good home team, Valpo has no more DrewS!
Washington St -20.5 vs Idaho St.- WSU in a defensive lock down.

One more for good measure. ( based solely on principle)

Georgia +4.5 vs Western Kentucky. This should be a blow out for a WKU team that beat Louisville this weekend, but this has let down written all over it. I just can's stay away!

B. Anthony

Monday, December 01, 2008

Best Man on the Court

This is an old-school theory in open gym, and it seems to be working in College hoops these days. Several years back, I won the NCAA pool by picking Syracuse. My theory then was, Carmelo Anthony will always be the best player on the court, and thus Syracuse will continue to advance. This past weekend, Blake Griffin became the newest addition to this rule.

Oklahoma is one of my new favorite teams, for this reason and several others.

1. They beat Davidson, it has become abundantly evident that you need to be a very good TEAM to beat Davidson.
2. Griffin, does not force bad shots, ever!! He always gets a rebound when needed, and they are a patient team oriented group.
3. Big 12 hoops is down a bit this year. Oklahoma will have a favorable schedule, I will predict them to win about 28 games going into the tournament, giving them a #1 seed!
4. Blake Griffin is good! i know, very redundant, but you need to hear it twice. He will quietly get 20 rebounds in at least 15 games this year. He will periodically explode for 40 but will only average about 25 ppg on less that 15 shot attempts!!!

Other teams to watch as my new favorites. Georgetown played great this weekend, despite their loss to Tennessee. Their confidence will be high, but unfortunately the Big East is too tough. UConn will falter, but ND, Pitt, and Louisville will remain strong. Louisville will learn from their loss, and Notre Dame will never face a team like UNC again, unless the National Championship is on the line.

UNC is double digit favorite against every team in the nation. PERIOD!

Duke will not be exposed until later in the year!!!
Memphis will get better, still win a ton of games, but really cannot shoot. I would take Money in a game of horse vs Tyreke Evans if dunking were not allowed!

St. Mary's had their one loss for a while. They won't lose again until they play Gonzaga in Spokane, and I haven't even looked at their schedule.

Baylor is a funny squad who will look great on some nights: see the 31 points they scored in 9 minutes vs ASU, and terrible in other nights, see the Wake Forest debacle! They have old school game, and their guards all play like they are in their late 20's. When 3's are falling they will beat anyone, when not falling, well, they might lose at Nebraska this year!!!

Gambling advice- Parlays are hard to hit, and even though they are exciting and fun, B. Anthony is going to start to shy away from them. See Stats below:

Straight up games 18 wins 10 losses
2 team parlays 10 wins, 20 losses Pay out 13 to 5 still a winner, but barely
3 team Parlays- 1 win, 11 losses. Pay out at 6-1, loser; unless I am about to hit my next play.( Funny thing is, I hit one last night, and it felt so much better than the 11 losses that I am tempted to do it again..... STupid.....
4 team parlays- 0 wins, 2 losses (just doesn't happen! I won't do this again)

Find your straight plays, and lay the juice, and lay a bit more lumber!!!

Tonight-

Nothing really out there. I will try to stay off Va. Tech vs Wisconsin, but if I have to I will take Va Tech on the home court advantage and the thought that Wisconsin cannot continue to amaze.

USC -16.5 vs USF. Line is shrinking because no one trusts USC, and USF plays hard, but not sure I am buying on Rex Walters yet. USC will be better at every position, and it might be time for USF to come back to reality. They have not played against any true athletes yet. If it gets under 15 I will take SC.

Many big games this week, so lay low tonight, we will find some winners as the week progresses!

B. Anthony