(photo: forbes.com)
I will do my best to provide *at least* a daily group of 3-5 picks for all of you snipers out there. The goal is a 2-1 (3-2) night. I recommend you play them individually .. however, never be scared of a little sniper parlay! 20/21 Season: 58%
Season Record: 257-226-16
Best Bet Record: 26-10
2/23 Card:
South Carolina +2
Duke -4.5
Xavier +2
Michigan -4.5
VMI +2
UT Chat -3
Wyoming +7
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South Carolina +2 : This is the typical South Carolina story under Frank Martin. Virtually play themselves out of the bubble picture, and then get hot at the end of the season to make you wonder “What if?”. The Cocks are coming off of an incredible comeback win over LSU. This momentum will ride into a hype home spot tonight at Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks struggles have largely been attributed to the decline in production from Couisnard and Bryant this season. However, Couisnard may have just found his groove. An astounding 33 points in the win over the Bayou Bengals. Gamecocks win outright.
Score Prediction: South Carolina 70 – Mississippi State 67
Duke -4.5 : Best Bet of the night. The Blue Devils will get revenge from the Beekman heart breaking buzzer beater in Durham. The first matchup was a tricky spot for Duke. It was only two nights after their drubbing of the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. The Cavaliers certainly have Duke’s attention now, and the better team will come out on top. There are two key areas that I think improve in Duke’s favor. AJ Griffin will not score two points again. Since the UVA loss, he is 11/23 from distance in four games played. He should be able to take advantage of a pack line defense and nail some important threes tonight. Also, I think Duke will use their length and athleticism to get into more passing lanes tonight. I do not see the Cavs walking out of this one with only 5 turnovers like last time. Duke is a Top 5 team in the country when motivated. We see that tonight in an important revenge spot.
Score Prediction: Duke 72 – UVA 62
Xavier +2 : This is an absolute steal of a spread if Al Durham continues to be out for the Friars. There are conflicting reports of his availability tonight. In the previous matchup this season, Durham scored 22 points and was 10-10 from the FT line. He matters. A lot. Freemantle & Nunge had solid games against the Providence interior defense in that game, and that should be repeatable tonight. I am not in the “Providence is lucky” camp and fading Providence just to fade them tonight. I just truly believe this is a great spot for Xavier.
Score Prediction: Xavier 69 – Providence 66
Michigan -4.5 : How can the Wolverines, and their fans, not be up for this one?! Michigan has been dragged through the media mud since Sunday. Rutgers is the perfect team to take out their revenge on. We all know about “Road Rutgers” by now. The home/road splits are very drastic. I am not concerned with the absence of Juwan Howard. Phil Martelli is an excellent coach, and has been doing this for a long time. This could be the spark they have needed…
Score Prediction: Michigan 72 – Rutgers 65
VMI +2: Trey. Bonham. This dude has taken a serious step in his sophomore season. The sophomore guard has 51 points combined from his last two outings. Adding him as a 1-2 punch with Jake Stephens is going to help the Keydets take a massive step in the SoCon. Also, this team Wofford’s better than Wofford this season. They have made 354!!!! threes in 28 games this season. Wofford has no hope of containing Stephens in the post (27 & 12 in 1st matchup), and the Keydets can outshoot them this season. Wofford does not get their revenge tonight.
Score Prediction: VMI 75 – Wofford 70
UT Chat -3 : Chattanooga is the best team in the SoCon. They also have the best player. Malachi Smith has been ELITE this season. Check out this stat line: 20.8 pts / 6.8 reb / 3.2 ast / 1.8 stl – 50.6 FG % – 40.3 3PT% – 83.8 FT%. He also has a great backcourt running mate in David Jean-Baptiste. They have kept the Mocs in 1st place throughout the last month in Silvio De Sousa’s absence. I trust them to do so again tonight. They have Furman one game back of them in the standings, so there is a lot to play for tonight. ETSU just doesn’t have the same stakes in this one. The better team, with more to play for, wins tonight.
Score Prediction: UT Chat 74 – ETSU 66
Wyoming +7 : Am I missing something here? I know this is going to be a hype revenge spot in the Border War.. but, I have Wyoming as -1 on a neutral. I will not be giving Colorado State 8 points of home court tonight. I do think they get their revenge and win, but this will be another close affair between two great teams.
Score Prediction: Colorado State 74 – Wyoming 70
Best of luck! Let’s snipe this one y’all!!
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