Saturday, March 14, 2009

I am falling in love with Syracuse

I really think that Syracuse can get to the Final Four and possibly win it all. They are big, they have guys that can hit the three and they have a great point guard in Flynn. Plus, they are battle-tested playing in the best conference the country. Pomeroy rates these guys very high. B. Anthony is not buying them and thinks this is Madison Square Garden magic, but if the brackets align themselves, Syracuse will be in one of my Final Four, and possibly win it all.

Picks for today;

AUBURN +4.5 vs. Tennessee – I am going to ride Auburn to the end

FLORIDA STATE +9 vs. North Carolina – Lawson likely out.

MARYLAND +9.5 vs. Duke – Too many points.

PURDUE -3.5 vs. Illinois – My favorite. No Frazier for Illinois

USC +1.5 vs. Arizona State - USC playing great now.

MISSOURI -5.5 vs. Baylor – The ride is over for Baylor

Good luck!
Money

Friday, March 13, 2009

OT Blowout

This is common term used in my circle of friends where we want to get to overtime and have the favorite blowout the team they are now tied with. Well if you had Syracuse +5.5, you had to feel like you picked the right side. It was a very close game that went into 6 overtimes! In each overtime a missed free throw or layup would have sealed the cover for the Orange. But, the game continued to progress and was tied at the end of an additional five minutes. It was not until the 5th overtime that Uconn had their largest lead of the game of 6 points. It was at that point that I thought the quintuple OT blowout was going into effect. Ultimately, Syracuse came back once again, tied the game and they went into a 6th and final OT. Heck of a game and a nice start to March Madness.

Picks for the day;

AUBURN +3.5 vs. Florida
This is my favorite bet of the day. Frankly, I don’t get the line. Nobody is playing better in the SEC right now than Auburn. Everyone knows the importance of this game for Florida, but this is big game for Auburn as well. The Tigers win easily.

LOUISVILLE -4 vs. Villanova
I think this game will be close and I expect Nova to play a lot of zone to force the Cardinal to hit their outside shots, which is not their forte. However, Louisville is playing too well right now to bet against.

WEST VIRGINIA -6 vs. Syracuse
Obvious pick. How do you set this line? I expect Syracuse to come out flat, eventually make a run to make it close and then run out of gas and lose by double digits.

WASHINGTON pk vs. Arizona state
Washington is too quick and has too many weapons for the one dimensional Sun Devils.

UCLA -6 vs. usc
The bruins are playing better defense right now, which is what make them great historically. Usc will be playing hard, but UCLA will prevail.

SAINT MARYS -21.5 vs. Eastern somethingerother
This is a write-in game. This is hugely important for Saint Mary’s. They were on national television and they laid an egg, Patty Mills laid an egg to be exact. If they expect to get into the tournament they have to trounce this low level team AND Mills has to go off and show he is healthy and a lottery player. This assumes Mills is healthy, which I believe he is now. I expect a romp here.

Good luck!
Money

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Thursday favorites

Today has a March Madness feel to it. Tons of games, and the big boys are playing now. Should be fun.

Here are my three favorites for the day.

VILLANOVA -2.5 vs. Marquette
Nova is a better team in all aspects of the game

SYRACUSE +5 vs. Uconn
Great historical matchup. I don't expect the outside shooters to be affected by Thabeet.

WASHINGTON STATE +8.5 vs. Ucla
Wow. This is high, really high. WSU is playing great right now and could easily upset the Bruins.


If you are looking for some 9am thoughts.
Take Miami -3.5 or Northwestern +1.5

More to come.

Good luck!

Money

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Conference tournament predictions and other thoughts

With the conference tournaments starting up today and tomorrow, we thought it would be a good idea for B. Anthony and Money to make some predictions on who will win these tournaments as well as throw in a few dark horse teams. You might find a team that pays some decent odds to win their championship and throw a few bucks down on them.
Here we go.

ACC (Georgia Dome)
B. Anthony Champ: Wake Forest – Sleeper: Florida State
Money Champ: UNC – Sleeper: Florida State – Super Sleeper: Miami

Big East (Madison Square Garden)
B. Anthony Champ: Pitt – Sleeper: Villanova – Super Sleeper: Syracuse
Money Champ: Louisville – Sleeper: Georgetown

Big 12 (Oklahoma City)
B. Anthony Champ: Oklahoma – Sleeper: Texas
Money Champ: Kansas – Sleeper: Oklahoma state

Big Ten (Conseco Field House)
B. Anthony Champ: Purdue – Sleeper: Wisconsin
Money Champ: Michigan State – Sleeper: Ohio State

SEC (St. Pete Times Forum)
B. Anthony Champ: Tennessee – Sleeper: Arkansas
Money Champ: Auburn – Sleeper: Florida

PAC 10 (Staples Center)
B. Anthony Champ: ASU – Sleeper: USC
Money Champ: Ucla – Sleeper Washington State

Money quick hitters
Everywhere I go, I am mobbed by adoring fans. “Who is your final four? Who are your dark horses picks?” Well everyone seems to have the same group of teams that can win it all; Pitt, Uconn, UNC, Oklahoma, Memphis, Louisville and Michigan State. Those are the obvious teams. What seems obvious to me as that we will likely have 2, at the most, of these teams fighting to cut the nets down in the Final Four. This tournament is going to be full of upsets and all of these teams have their flaws which will likely be exposed.
This is Money’s list of teams that will benefit and could land themselves in the Final Four with the right matchups and a few breaks.

Gonzaga
Duke
Kansas
Missouri
Wake Forest
Villanova

These next couple of weeks will be great!

Money

Monday, March 09, 2009

Championship Week

Almost as good, and possibly more lucrative than March Madness itself!!

Since Friday, their have been a plethora of conference tournament games, and many are proving to offer winning opportunities.

Here are some ideas:

Early leans

VCU and Western Kentucky to both cover the -3.5

Chattanooga +2.5 - Playing on home court, most people will like College of Charleston because they beat Davidson, that is fools gold! That is a good match-up for them, this is not!

Siena -3.5 vs Niagara. Best play here might be to wait until Halftime, as Niagara will ride momentum in first half, but legs will tire in 2nd half and Siena will either come back, or pull away. Either way, I am taking Siena, Niagara was very lucky to get OT last night, then they choked a big lead away on the FT line to force it to double OT. They lose tonight, and probaly by 9 when Siena makes all their FT's

Getting nervous on St. Mary’s +7 , but will likely play them. Over under here is interesting. Everyone thinks it is low, but Gonzaga will play much tougher defense. Reality is they are a good defensive team when they need to be. Under 138. This may go up to 140, so wait to play the under!


Good Luck,


B. Anthony


Sunday, March 08, 2009

Selection Sunday – One week away

This is fun now. Conference tournaments are in effect now. Pay attention to B. Anthony who has been on a roll with the smaller conference games. He has not been posting the victories, but he has been winning them.

There are a few games out there that I like, but nothing like the card yesterday. I feel the strongest about Portland and Michigan State.

MICHIGAN STATE -5.5 vs. Purdue
Sparty will look for revenge when Purdue hung the worst loss of the season on them. MSU is playing for a number 1 seed. I am still not sold on these guys, but they will beat Purdue by more than 6.

NORTH CAROLINA -8.5 vs. Duke
I am going to assume that Ty Lawson is healthy. I saw a report that he hurt his foot on Friday, but he should play. If he does, take UNC. If he is out, all bets are off as I am sure the line goes down. Either way, Duke won’t win though.

CLEMSON +5.5 @ Wake Forest
Both teams are good, and both teams are struggling a bit. Should probably take the home team here, but I will take Clemson whom this game means a bit more to in the conf tourney standings. This is more of a boredom bet if you are watching this game at 6pm. I don’t really like this game. It might be better to opposite of me here.

SANTA CLARA +14 vs. Gonzaga
This game will be close. SCU could pull off the upset. They are better than the odd makers think.

PORTLAND +7.5 vs. Saint Mary’s
I love Patty Mills and SMC, but this game is all about showcasing Mills and his health. Bennett will struggle with playing with his team without Mills and trying to insert his star back in there. Anybody who ever has played with a bad wrist knows how important it is. Mills won’t be ready, will be a distraction and SMC will lose to Portland. Easy bet.

Good luck!
Money