Sunday Hoop Picks, Who Needs The Super Bowl?

I’m feeling a little strung out from tracking so much basketball yesterday, so I really dont have a long post in me today. That’s not to say I’m strung out that wrong way. Hardly, after pulling out a 10-5 record, I cant wait for the next game to tip off. For the season, the JCB record is 39-30-2, good for a profit of +8.75 units. We’ve done all our damage since conference play began with a 31-18-2 record since January. As long as we’re feeling good about the season, identifying teams to ride in small stretches and playing with house money, we’ll continue to find plays on a nightly basis. So, to that end and in advance of that little old football game they are playing tonight, I have two college basketball picks for games being played this afternoon.

South Florida +8 over Notre Dame, noon, ESPN Full Court……. USF +8, 1 Unit…..We’re going to find out if the surging USF Bulls bandwagon can handle my weight. My favorite stat of the weekend was the fact that USF had never won back to back Big East games before. That’s in the past with the Bulls four-game league winning strak including scalps of Pitt and Georgetown. The team is playing to good and Dominque Jones has been too hot to expect them to get run off any court. I say this despite ND’s strong home court advantage and that the Irish are a more confident bunch after their solid, 18-point rout of Cincinnati. The Bulls are playing better than the Bearcats. Like every USF game of late, I expect this one to go down to the wire.

Indiana +10 over Northwestern, 2:30 BTN….IU +10 1 Unit……We’ve won every time we’ve stepped out with the Hoosiers this season, including recent covers as heavy underdogs against Illinois and Purdue. Those games went down to the wire and with a little better luck, the Hoosiers might have pulled out the straight up wins. Indiana may just be 3-6 in Big 10 play, but they’re 6-3 against the spread, 6-2 when an underdog. This is a big game for Northwestern. The Wildcats second half Big 10 slate is pretty soft. They have to rip off a winning streak. With 2 games apeice against IU, Penn State and Iowa, they have plenty of more than winnable games to beging stockpiling. They have to take advantage and come as close to sweeping those games as possible. The rest of their slate includes a home game with Minnesota and a road game at Wisconsin. Say they beat the Gophers and go 5-1 against the league’s bottom third? That’s going to give them  22-9 overall, 10-8 in the Big 10 marks. I think that’sa  bid. That road map becomes a lot of harder if they cant take care of business today against IU. I think they win, but I dont see a blowout. One caveat: By picking the Hoosiers plus the points, we find ourselves bumping heads with the blogger at Sippin On Purple who has picked all the Big 10 games against the number at close to a 60-percent clip, including mailing almost every one of their hometown Northwestern’s games. Gulp.

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