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Basketball Picks: Update Tuesday 1/19: Jackets Over Tigers…..Again

Posted on January 16th, 2010 by jamiemac 2 Comments

Tuesday, Jan 19

We march forward. Surviving another day. I like Northwestern catching a dozen points on the road againt OSU. But, I love Georgia Tech, a cheap favorite, at home against Clemson. It’s a rematch of sorts of the ACC Championship Game in football. And, Like that one, I love the Jackets.

Georgia Tech -2 over Clemson……1 Unit…….we’re 8-0 in this thread. Tech has one of the sneakier buildings to get out of with a win. And, this isnt a average Tech team. I said this Saturday, I’ll say it now. This team appears to be peaking right now against better competition. I’ll ride it out in coin flip situations, especially against a team as flaky as Clemson is on the road

Ramle On Wreck!

Monday, January 18

We dont intend to make playing every day a habit. Quit laughing. Seriously, though, we cant stop on a roll. 7-0 since the thread started, so its at least one pick a night until the streak ends. After getting Michigan and Indiana in the books yesterday, the feeling is pretty bold up here. How much so? We’ll we’re calling for the top ranked Horns to go down tonight.

KSU -1 over Texas, 1 Unit……had you asked two months ago, I would have said the Horns take the L in Manhattan. I dont think too many, if any at all, leave KSU with a win this year. This is a talented team. A buzzed home atmosphere pushing them through–and we saw how critical home cooking from the fans helped UM and IU. Clemente and Pullen will be too much for Texas to handle in the backcourt. They combine for over 40 and the Wildcats knock the Horns from the unbeaten ranks.

Sunday, 1/17

Well that worked out alright. The blog’s return to hoop handicapping swept the board last night. 5-0. I got lucky in the Pitt and Va Tech games, but the other three were easy winners. With this kind of house money in my pocket, we’ll do something today most people would warn you not to do: bet with our heart.

I wont be putting as much on these games. These are impulse plays. But, the two teams I follow are at home in big games today, and I think both are up for the task. But to guard against total blind partisanship, I’m putting just a half unit on each one, as opposed to the full units on the five picks yesterday.

Michigan +1.5 over UConn….half unit….Michigan will channel their inner 1987 this afternoon. Well, the good part of that season anyway. Especially the part with a big January home win over a Big East power. Michigan will make a few more treys than Huskies and miss a lot less free throws. That’s the difference in what will be slight upset win over the Huskies

Indiana +10 over Minnesota……..To repeat, i feel the Hoosiers will go 5-4 at home in Big 10 play this season. Currently they are 1-1, outplaying Michigan to get a win and squandering a 13-point halftime lead en route to a 6-point loss to Illinois. Minnesota is an equal challenge to those clubs. I think the Hoosiers can win if they find  a way to minimize the damage somehow that seems to be done during their bad spells on the court. I’ll gladly take the 10 points.

There you go. Backing my teams. What can go wrong. Cheers.

Saturday 1/16, PART THREE

So far, so good. A satisfying, if not a little lucky thanks to Pitt, 3-0 start. Two plays tonight

Virginia Tech +6 over Florida State, 6:00, ESPN Full Court   1 Unit……..Hokies are one of my favorite dog plays in the ACC. Almost 70 percent of the games coached by Seth Greenberg during his tenure at Tech have been decided by 5 or less points. I’ll take a chance it happens again. Two good teams here. I think the Hokies have a little more answers on the offensive end.

Ohio State -5 over Wisco, 8:00, BTN……1 Unit……the first chalk of any substance today. I truly believe the tables will turn hard on the Badgers today. They rolled the Bucks when OSU was without Turner. Now Turner is back, but the Badgers have to play without leading scorer John Leuer. Payback tonight in Columbus. Bucks win by double digits.

I am living and dying with Pitt right now. Louisville has been up from 1 to 4 points every second of the game. Panthers just tied it at 56-56 with six minutes to go. Kicking myself for not taking the Orange as they are in the lead as the underdog. This is basketball. These games are far from decided. A couple games tipping off a 2 grab my interest:

Ga Tech +7 over UNC 1 Unit………i like the look of the Jackets. They seem to be peaking right now. The Heels still seem to figuring out their way with new players. That’s not to say they’re bad. No way. But I dont know if I like them as chalk against a talented team playing as well as Tech is.  This goes down to the wire.

UW -2 over Cal 1 Unit……I am probably foolish trusting anyone in the Pac 10. But, I’ll ride the cheap price and home court advantage in this showdown.

At least one more update and a separate NFL playoff post coming later in the day.

I’m going to be presenting the college hoop picks in a different format than football. Just one long running thread. If it gets too out of hand, we’ll keep the record and start a new thread. I just dont know how often I will be making picks, I generally only play hoops in the month of March on a daily basis. It might be easy to track in this format. On Saturdays like this, it will be updated a few times during the day.

Expect this thread to be updated two more times today.

Pittsburgh -1 over Louisville, 1 Unit…….this is one early game I like. I so want to take Syracuse and those juicy 5.5 points against WVA. But, I’ve been crushed in the past when betting against the ‘Neers at home throughout my capping career. I’m intimidated off that one. I am never intimidated in taking Pitt at home when I can get them at a coin flip price. Both teams lost a ton of talent from last year. But, the Cards lost more and the Panthers appeared to have replaced theirs better. Ashton Gray has really stepped up his game from Pitt. Nobody like that has stepped up on Louisville to replace what was lost. It’s a big weekend for the Big East. I like Pitt to make a continued statement and win by more than a basket.

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