Free NBA & College Basketball Picks: Tuesday, January 8th 2008
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Alabama -2.0
Tuesday January 8th ‘08 9:00p
The Florida Gators prepare to go head to head with the Alabama Crimson Tide this evening in a key SEC matchup. The Gators are a very talented team, but with all five starters from last year gone, their experience level is lacking , which is not a good thing when playing on the road in this conference. Look for super star big man Richard Hendrix(19.1 PPG) to be a big catalyst for what I predict will be a home win for the Tide. Final notes & Key Trends: Alabama has won 4 of the L/5 meetings at home in this series. Tide are 14-4 SU L/18 at home. Play on Alabama
Washington Wizards -2.0
Tuesday Jan 8 ‘08 7:05p
Several interesting factors in today’s play are as follows: The Wizards have that most important element in all sports right now: momentum. When an NBA team gets mo, watch out. The Wizards won their 2 weekend games by 24 and 22 and face what has become a pretty one-dimensional team as the Rockets have been increasingly relying on the Yao-man with McGrady still sidelined with a bum knee. More often than not, when a rookie like Aaron Brooks has a career-game shooting 8 for 10 from the field, those kinds of efforts are followed up by at best mediocre-ones, probably because they feel self-imposed pressure to replicate non-replicable performances – so they have unexpectedly poor shooting games. Yao is not a gazelle on the court and just underperforms when double-teamed. There’s also the revenge-factor: the Rockets have beaten the Wizards 4 straight and now Houston is on the road both without a 23-point scorer – and facing “big mo.”
Seton Hall @ Marquette u163.0 (-110)
Tuesday Jan 8 ‘08 9:00p
Seton Hall is a combined 3-2 SU on the road/neutral site this season, and they’ve gone 2-2-1 ATS. This fast paced club has averaged 85 PPG this season, but that numbers dips down to 74 PPG on the road. However, their defense improves when installed in the role of visitor allowing 76 PPG opposed to the 81 PPG allowed overall.
Marquette is an unblemished 8-0 at home this year, but only 2-1 ATS. The competition scheduled early on hasn’t been the greatest (Savannah State, Coppin State, IUPU – Ft. Wayne), but Head Coach Tom Crean certainly scheduled those teams looking for his players to gain confidence for their rugged Big East schedule.
Marquette opened up as 17-point favorites with the ‘Total’ set at 163 for this contest. It’s certainly a ton of points to have to cover in a spot like this, but Seton Hall will be without one of its better guards for this contest, Paul Gause, and his absence has been taken into account within this number. The trends just don’t add up for a play on Seton Hall ATS this evening considering they’re a poor 4-9-2 ATS their L/15 road games and 3-8-1 ATS their L/12 vs. the Big East. As for Marquette, they’re a solid 6-2 ATS their L/8 at home, and have bounced back nicely off a SU loss going 11-5 ATS their L/16. Many will also look to play the ‘Over’ in this spot considering it’s a combined 11-2 ATS when both of these teams squared off against Big East opposition. However, the ‘Under’ has cashed in 4 of Seton Hall’s 5 road games this season due to the fact that they’ve played better “D” away from their home arena. Marquette’s played stifling “D” at home this season only allowing opponents 55 PPG, and that spells trouble for a Pirates club that sees its PPG average drop considerably (85-74 PPG) on the road.