Below are free NIT basketball tournament picks and predictions for March 17th 2010 from Touthouse.com handicappers. If you are looking for free NCAA basketball picks on a daily basis or premium picks from our college basketball betting experts visit Touthouse.com each day.

Free Pick: Memphis -7 (Rocky Atkinson)
St John’s comes in with a 17-15 record overall this year while Memphis is 23-9 on the season. St John’s is 1-6 ATS last 3 years as road underdogs of 6 1/2 to 9 points. Memphis is 165-115 ATS since 1997 when playing against a team with a winning record. Memphis is 104-64 ATS since 1997 when playing against a team with a winning record after 15 or more games. Memphis is 16-3 SU at home this year where they are scoring 78.4 points per game while allowing only 60.9 points per game. We’ll recommend a small play on Memphis tonight! Thanks and good luck, Rocky

Free Pick: Rhode Island -5 (JR O’Donnell)
Jr O goes to the 23-9 Rams tonight as this is a huge gut move for us , We are not sold on the Wildcats on the road tonight who rely heavy on the on the 3. We note that the Cats have a terrible road record 2-8 ats with ugly losses to the Hooisers 88-80 & Nit Lions 79-60 (ouch). The Cats will get killed on the boards tonight, The pure fact that the Rams succeed in transition and vs the Owls last game they had only one fast break bucket and sharp shooter Akeeem Richmond went 0-5 last game from the 3 puts the Rams in a nasty mood. They get out and run tonight.

Below are free NBA Picks and basketball predictions for March 17th 2010 from Touthouse.com handicappers. If you are looking for free NBA basketball picks on a daily basis or premium picks from our NBA basketball betting experts visit Touthouse.com each day.

Free NBA Pick: San Antonio Spurs +7.5 (Jim Feist)
Second of a back to back spot for the Spurs, but this team has been playing well, both straight up and against the spread. They have been great as a dog, winning at Memphis by 10 as a dog, plus winning at Denver as a +6 dog and at New Orleans as a dog. Orlando is 2-2 ATS its last 4 home games, including a straight up loss the last game to Charlotte as a big favorite. San Antonio knows how to play defense and will look to control the tempo and keep it close. Play the Spurs.

Free NBA Pick: Oklahoma City vs. Charlotte Under 190 (Jimmy Boyd)
Both of these teams are very strong defensively with the Bobcats only allowing 91.3 points per game on their home floor and the Thunder only giving up 97.3 points per game on the road. You also have to like the fact that plays Under on road teams where the total is between 190 and 199.5 points, a well rested team playing 4 or less games in 10 days, a good team (60% to 75%) playing a marginal winning team (51% to 60%), are 46-18 since 1996, including 14-2 over the last 3 seasons. And we are only seeing an average of 188.4 total points scored in these games. The Bobcats have played to the Under in 8 of their last 10, and with Gerald Wallace listed as doubtful, they are likely to be without a significant amount of points tonight. The Under is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings between these two teams and we’ll take it for 1 unit here.

St. John’s vs. Memphis
Free Pick: St. John’s +7 -110 odds
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Memphis goes from the National Runner-Up two years ago to the Sweet 16 last year to the NIT this year. I’m sure the Tigers are real fired up for this one and the fans are right behind them. This is a huge disappointment for Memphis. Coming into the season we knew things were not going to be anything like the past few seasons as the Tigers lost a ton of talent as well as head coach john Calipari who bolted for Kentucky in lieu of a possible investigation into the Memphis program whether he admits it or not. The Tigers still had a very good season, going 23-9 overall including 13-4 in C-USA. Those are normally good enough records for teams to get into the NCAA Tournament but not in this case. Taking nothing away from C-USA, who had some good talent in it this season, but it is still a weak conference and for Memphis to bow out in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament, is pretty bad plain and simple. The tigers had no quality wins this season as they went 1-7 against teams that are currently in the Big Dance and that one win was against Houston. Even worse is that two of those losses came against Houston as well. A second place finish in that conference is equivalent to where St. John’s finished in the Big East Conference in my opinion. St. John’s made a strong run toward the end of the season as it went 5-5 in its last 10 games. That included two losses to Marquette by two points each and a loss to Pittsburgh by just seven points. It also included wins over Louisville and Notre Dame as well as a blowout of Connecticut in the opening round of the Big East Tournament. The Red Storm did make progress this season as they went from playing in the CBI Tournament to playing in the NIT but rumors are that it still might not save head coach Norm Robert’s job. It is up to the players, who respect and play hard for Roberts, to keep winning and save his job. This game comes down to who wants it more and that is an easy answer. It will also help knowing that the Red Storm are much deeper and much more physical and that will wear down Memphis with a style it does not prefer to play with. Memphis continues to be overpriced as it is 7-16 ATS this season as a favorite while St. John’s is 5-1 ATS in its last six road games. 3* St. John’s Red Storm

Below are free NIT basketball tournament picks and predictions for March 16th 2010 from Touthouse.com handicappers. If you are looking for free NCAA basketball picks on a daily basis or premium picks from our college basketball betting experts visit Touthouse.com each day.

Free Pick: Marshall -11 (Jimmy Boyd)
Marshall is a really exciting high scoring offensive team that Western Carolina should have trouble stopping tonight. In fact, Western Carolina is just 1-8 ATS in road games, when playing against a team with a winning record, after 15 or more games over the last 2 seasons, losing to these teams by 14.7 points on average. Western Carolina is also only 1-10 ATS in road games versus good 3 point shooting teams making 37% or more of their attempts after 15+ games over the last 3 seasons, losing to these teams by 12.6 points on average. The Catamounts are 4-9-1 ATS in their last 14 games as an underdog while the Thundering Herd are 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games as a favorite. Marshall has been great on its home floor this season where it is winning by nearly 22 points per game. We’ll lay the points.

Free Pick: Arizona State -14.5 (Rocky Atkinson)
Jacksonville is 1-5 ATS last 3 years after a conference game. Arizona State is a very strong 16-3 SU at home this year. Arizona State allows only 58.5 points per game overall and 54.3 points per game at home this year. Dolphins are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games overall. Sun Devils are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a home favorite of 13.0 or greater. Sun Devils are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a favorite of 13.0 or greater. Sun Devils are 19-9 ATS in their last 28 games following a ATS loss. We’ll recommend a small play on Arizona State tonight! Thanks and good luck, Rocky

Free Pick: Indiana State vs. Saint Louis Under 118 (Jeff Alexander)
Considering Indiana State is only averaging 56.3 points in its last 3 true road games, and considering Saint Louis is only allowing 57.4 points at home this season, I like the Under here tonight as I expect this one to be a defensive battle. The Billikens played to the Under in 5 of their last 7 games, which comes as no surprise because of how solid they are on defense and how methodical they are on offense. The Under is 4-1 in the Billikens’ last 5 home games and 6-2 in their last 8 games as a home favorite of 7.0-12.5 points. The Under is also 7-3 in the Sycamores’ last 10 non-conference games. We’ll take the Under here tonight.

Below are free NBA Picks and basketball predictions for March 16th 2010 from Touthouse.com handicappers. If you are looking for free NBA basketball picks on a daily basis or premium picks from our NBA basketball betting experts visit Touthouse.com each day.

Free NBA Pick: Washington Wizards +14 (Jim Feist)
The second of a back to back spot for both teams. Denver has home court, but won’t be a rested team. They are home following a 4-game road trip and had to play at Houston last night. Denver is laying a big price here, but the Nuggets are 1-6 ATS their last 7 times as a favorite of 9 or more. They are 0-3 ATS the last three times, too, winning the games by just 5, 3 and 6. Teams aren’t always sharp in that first game back after a long trip, too. The value is with the visitors, who are 2-2 ATS their last four times as a double digit dog (that includes a straight up win). Play the Wizards.

Free NBA Pick: Cleveland Cavaliers -10 (Tom Freese)
Detroit is 23-44 this year and just playing out the string. Shooting guard Richard Hamilton scores 18.7 points a game. Shooting guard Ben Gordon scores 13.6 points a game. Small forward Tayshaun Prince scoers 12.4 points a game. Forward Charlie Villanueva scores 12 points a game. Point guard Will Bynum scores 10.1 points a game. The Pistons score 93.4 points a game and they allow 97.9 points a game. Detroit is 8-22-1 ATS when playing with no rest and they are 8-22-1 ATS off a loss by 10 or more points. Clevland is 52-15 this year and they are 3 games ahead of the Lakers for best record in the NBA. Small Forward LeBron James scores 29.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 8.5 assists a game. Point guard Mo Williams scores 15.8 points a game. Power forward Anderson Varejao scores 8.9 points and 7.9 rebounds a game. The Cavaliers score 102.2 points a game and they allow 95.1 points a game. Cleveland is 41-20-1 ATS their last 62 games off a straight up win by more than 10 points and they are 8-3 ATS their last 11 games following an ATS win. PLAY ON CLEVELAND -

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Ottawa Senators
Free NHL Pick: Ottawa -180 odds
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The Senators entered the Olympic Break on a major roll. In fact, they had won 14 of 16 games and that included an 11-game winning streak. However, they’ve cooled right off, since the break. Since the Olympics ended, they’ve gone 1-4-1. That should have them playing with a ’sense of urgency’ this evening.

Ottawa coach Cory Clouston said as much: “We just have to play a little bit more urgent. Before the break, we were playing like we had something to lose and we built up such - I don’t want to say a big cushion for playoffs - but we relaxed a little bit. We’ve got to start treating these games like playoff games.”

The Sens should have some added motivation here, as the Leafs have actually beaten them three straight times. Even with those results, however, the Leafs are just 6-13 (-6.8) against divisional opponents while the Sens are 12-8 (+3.2) when they’ve faced teams from within their own division.

While the Leafs have admittedly been better recently, they’re still among the league’s weaker teams and they’re coming off a 4-1 loss to the Islanders last time out.

The Leafs recent win at Ottawa was the only time they won a road game all season long, when the O/U line was 5.5. The Sens, on the other hand, are 17-7 when playing a home game with a total of 5.5. With the Sens also at 9-1 (+8.8) the last 10 times that they were playing with two day’s rest in between games, consider laying the wood with the revenge-minded home team.

The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is one of the most popular times of the year for sports bettors; even those not custom to tackling the daily grind of investing in sports like to get in on all the action. With this year’s field wide open, a number of lesser known teams have shots at becoming the next George Mason and coming from out of nowhere to blow up the betting public’s brackets. Here’s a look at three teams that Touthouse.com believes is capable of stringing together a couple of upsets. 2010 March Madness 1st Round Upset Picks

1) Murray State Racers – When sifting through the brackets and taking a gander at teams from lesser known conferences, it’s imperative to see just how well that team fared against its conference foes. In the case of the Racers, they dominated going 20-1 SU and, and they avenged the lone loss in the OVC Tournament Championship Game by taking out Morehead State 62-51 as four-point favorites. This team covered easily against its only NCAA Tourney qualifier when it went into Berkeley and easily covered the 13.5-point spread falling 75-70 at Cal. This club is highly efficient offensively (#3 at 50.3%) and plays lock down defense evidenced by it allowing an average of 60.5 PPG (#21) and opponents to shoot just 38.6 percent (#11) this season. Unfortunately, the betting public is well aware of this clubs abilities as they currently stand as three-point underdogs after opening up as 4.5-point pups.

2) New Mexico State Aggies – The Aggies punched their ticket to the dance with a solid run in the WAC Tournament that saw them upend Utah State 69-63 as 10-point underdogs in the championship game. While this club lacks much of anything at the defensive end of the court, it can flat out score and shoot form a high percentage from the field. Five players average double-digits in scoring with guards Jahmar Young and Jonathan Gibson setting the pace with 20.5 and 17.5 PPG respectively. Michigan State has proven to be a much lesser from than from years past. Though it closed out the year with wins in 5 of its L/7 games, all those victories came against B10 teams that aren’t going to any tournaments this season. If their shots and the Aggies compete on the glass, the Spartans could be the victims of yet another 12/5 upset.

3) Utah State Aggies – Many players from last year’s team that suffered a heartbreaking 58-57 Round 1 loss at the hands of the Marquette Golden Eagles are back looking to advance the Aggies into the second round for the first time since the 2000-2001 season. Though they’ll be taking on a gritty Texas A&M club on Friday, Head Coach Stew Morrill’s kids have as good a shot as any of the other 12 seeds to ruin many a bracket this tournament. Saturday night’s loss to the Aggies in the QAC Championship game was the first defeat incurred by this club since January 4th. That’s right! USU won 17 games in a row before ultimately losing, and they went a $$$-making 13-4 ATS during that stretch. This club is highly efficient (#7 at 49.1%) and can flat out stroke it from beyond the arc (#3 at 41.9%). Oh yeah, they also play stellar defense evidenced by its 59.6 PPG allowed on the year (#11). A&M is prone to going into scoring droughts, and if they do so in this spot, the Aggies can turn this one into a laugher!

Looking for more NCAA tournament picks? Visit Touthouse.com throughout March Madness for expert college basketball betting predictions from over 30 professional sports handicappers

The 2010 NCAA Tournament is so wide open making it just as hard predicting who might win these Round 1 match-ups let alone predicting who will cut the nets down in April. The folks on ESPN’s Bracketology program all seem to be enamored with either Kansas or Kentucky, but we at Touthouse.com believe a handful of other squads are fully capable of pulling off the feat. Here’s a look at some of the less popular selections to shock the March Madness betting public. Who will win the 2010 NCAA Tournament?

1) Ohio State Buckeyes (+1200 Click here to Bet) – The Big 10 Tournament champs head into the NCAA Tournament off a sensational 90-61 beat down of the Minnesota Golden Gophers as short 3.5-point favorites. The victory was the teams seventh in a row, and they went 4-3 ATS during that stretch. Head Coach Thad Matta’s club isn’t the deepest in the country, but what it does boast is the nation’s best player in the form of Evan Turner. His 20.3 points per game paced the Buckeyes offensively who rank 5th in FG percentage (49.6%) and 62nd in points scored (74.2 PPG). They’re also very solid defensively allowing an average of just 61.2 points per game, while limiting foes to just 41.1 percent from the field (#68). This club lost most of its games this season when Turner was out with an injury. Since he returned to action, the Buckeyes won 17 of their L/20 games. Look for this #2 seed to make some noise in the Midwest bracket.

2) Kansas State Wildcats (+2000 Click here to Bet) – Yes, the Wildcats came up short once again against in-state rival Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game, but don’t let that loss fool you. Head Coach Frank Martin has a very solid squad at his disposal that clearly has the weapons at hand to make a deep run into this tournament. If you subtract the three losses incurred against the Jayhawks, Kansas State went 26-4 SU on the year. This club was placed in a wide open bracket where we expect a number of crazy things to occur over the next couple weeks. They’re led by a pair of gamers in guard’s Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente, and they have the “Bigs” that can match up with some of the best in the country. The gritty Mean Green will fight them to the end, and BYU could present a major task in Round 2, but if they get passed those two we really like their chances against anyone they’ll meet in the Sweet 16 and beyond.

3) Georgetown Hoyas (>+2000 Click here to bet) – All we see is green when looking at the return on Head Coach John Thompson III’s Hoyas! I’ll take what I see to be one of the best teams in the entire field at 20/1 any day of the week! This club was just a couple seconds away from knocking off South Florida, Syracuse, Marquette, and West Virginia in one of the toughest conference’s tournaments this past weekend. The club is highly efficient at the offensive end of the court coming in ranked 4th in FG percentage (49.8%), and it surrenders an average of just 65.1 PPG defensively (#88). With G Austin Freeman leading the scoring charge (16.7 PPG), G Chris Wright chiming in with 14+ and four assists per game, and C Greg Monroe hauling down 9.5 rebounds per game and dominating the paint (1.5 blocks per game), the Hoyas certainly have the recipe to succeed in this Dance.

Need more winning march madness picks this year? Be sure to visit Touthouse.com for expert NCAA basketball picks throughout the entire tournament.

Louisville vs. California - March 19th 2010
Odds: Click here for current NCAA tournament odds
Pick: Click here for the winning pick for this game
Bet: Click here to bet on this game with your credit card

Against The Spread Trends:
Cardinals are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following a S.U. loss.
Cardinals are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 vs. Pacific-10.
Cardinals are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 NCAA Tournament games as a favorite of 0.5-6.5.
Cardinals are 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 NCAA Tournament games as a favorite.
Golden Bears are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 NCAA Tournament games.
Golden Bears are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs. Big East.
Golden Bears are 3-13 ATS in their last 16 neutral site games as an underdog.
Golden Bears are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games as an underdog of 0.5-6.5.
Golden Bears are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games as an underdog.

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Houston vs. Maryland - March 19th 2010
Odds: Click here for current NCAA tournament odds
Pick: Click here for the winning pick for this game
Bet: Click here to bet on this game with your credit card

Against The Spread Trends:
Cougars are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Cougars are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
Cougars are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall.
Cougars are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games.
Terrapins are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 NCAA Tournament games.
Terrapins are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games.
Terrapins are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 NCAA Tournament games as a favorite.
Terrapins are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games.

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