February 18th, 2009 Picks

Yesterday was below average. Took Burnley instead of Luton Town; Burnley managed to score one goal on something like 15 shots and 12 shots on goal. Very disappointing for them and us Burnley pickers. I then took Hazell rather than Purdue or the over points prop. Hazell was getting trounced and then decided to make a flurry of threes, free throws, and shots to end up losing by one in the last three minutes. Then the Lakers made things easy by trouncing Atlanta and holding Horford to 6 points in 21 minutes. I’m going to call a perfect day today, so on to the picks.

1) CSKA Moscow @ Aston Villa – CSKA Moscow win or draw
2) Hamburg SV @ NEC Nijmegen – NEC Nijmegen win or draw
3) Denver @ Philadelphia – Philadelphia
4) Miami (FL) @ Florida State – Florida State
5) Providence @ Louisville – 147 points or more
6) Luke Harangody vs. Da’Sean Butler – Harangody has more points
7) Orlando @ New Orleans – New Orleans
8) Virginia Tech @ Virginia – Virginia
9) Kansas vs. North Carolina – Kansas has a larger margin of victory
10) Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech – Oklahoma State
11) Anaheim Ducks @ L.A. Kings – 5 goals or fewer

These picks are a mixture of research, gut instincts, and outside opinion. Past four days these picks have been 45-70% correct. Going with CSKA this morning, the Florida State, and then…. hmmm…. the 5 and under. All picks will be final by the time the grass hockey games start this morning. Good luck ever’buddy!

February 17th, 2009 Picks

Went 3-3-1 yesterday with my picks, so going 2-1 on my actual picks and losing the one by 1 point in overtime it was a pretty good day overall. SC Freiburg took control of their match after subbing in Rodionov for Iddrisou. Delaware State made a host of bad plays to go down by one to NC A&T in overtime. The Thrashers and Kings took care of business and tallied 6 goals in the first period. So on to the picks.

1) Coventry City @ Burnley – Burnley win
2) Brighton @ Luton Town – Luton Town win
3) Michigan State @ Purdue – Purdue
4) Minnesota Timberwolves @ Washington Wizards – Minnesota
5) Buffalo @ Toronto – Buffalo
6) New Jersey @ Florida – New Jersey
7) Maryland @ Clemson – 145 points or over
8) Jeremy Hazell vs. Wesley Matthews – Hazell (by 4 points)
9) Kentucky @ Vanderbilt – Kentucky
10) Ottawa @ Colorado – Ottawa
11) Al Horford points vs. L.A. Lakers winning margin – Lakers winning margin

Probably going to roll with Burnley, then decide on the rest during game day. I like Hazell and the over and Purdue, so it’s a choice between those for the 2nd game. Then going with the Lakers winning margin. These teams are unchanged from the end of last year during which time Atlanta visited LA. Horford scored four points. The Lakers won by 29.

February 16th, 2009 Picks

Today was fairly good, went 3-2-0 with Atalanta, Illinois State, and Vancouver pulling me up and the Rangers and Valparaiso dragging me down. Today was also the day that saw me finally getting my red star! Now it’s on to the blue star. Razznmarbles in TACOS has gotten to W12 and should be on the leaderboard now, congratulations! Oh, and my picks for yesterday went 7-3-1; I’m having more and more of these above .600 days. And so, on to the picks.

1) Dustin Johnson vs. Rest of Field – Johnson wins
2) SC Freiburg @ Hansa Rostock – Freiburg wins
3) North Carolina A&T @ Delaware State – Delaware State
4) Pittsburgh @ Connecticut – Connecticut
5) Marist @ St. Peter’s – St. Peter’s
6) Texas @ Texas A&M – Texas
7) Atlanta @ Los Angeles – 6 goals or more

If I had to pick against myself here I would take Texas A&M. Delaware State has played against so many tough teams like Notre Dame, West Virginia, Kentucky, UCONN, Dayton, and Ohio State, their record is deceptive. I also like the 6 goals or more, with the Thrashers and Kings giving up a combined 6.24 goals per game and over 50% of their games ending with combined scores of 6 or more. Marist is 1-10 on the road and St. Peter’s is coming off solid wins over Canisius and Rider. Connecticut has Thabeet, they should be able to overcome Dyson’s absence at home. Any questions?

February 15th, 2009 Picks

Dang, today was a nice day for me. Our formula for picking who scores the most points matchups went 2-0 today. Kansas overcame a 16 point deficit to defeat Kansas State. The Austin Peay game was exciting as well. The teams had 5 points in the first six minutes and only 61 points by halftime. It looked to be over. Even though the teams were scoring at the right pace for most of the game those first six minutes had put ‘em in too deep of a hole. Well, thank goodness for 21 points in the final minute! The final game I decided to pick against myself and go with Nevada who scored five straight points in the final 1:17 to win 47-46. whew With that, it’s on to the picks.

1) AS Roma @ Atalanta – Atalanta win or draw
2) Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Rangers – New York
3) Dustin Johnson vs. Rest of Field – Johnson wins
4) John Nolen vs. Rest of Field – Nolen wins
5) Rider @ Manhatten – Manhatten
6) San Jose Sharks @ New Jersey Devils – New Jersey
7) Dale Earnhardt Jr. vs. Jeff Gordon – Earnhardt Jr.
8) Illinois-Chicago @ Valparaiso – Valparaiso
9) Illinois State @ Drake – Illinois State
10) Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference – Western
11) Montreal Canadiens @ Vancouver Canucks – Vancouver

I’m liking Atalanta, Manhatten, Valpo, and Illinois State most. Feel free to ask if you’d like more of the reasoning behind the picks. Happy taco =]

February 14th, 2009 Picks

Happy Valentines day! Don’t forget to get to get that special TACO something nice to show them you love them. Just wanted to quickly say the TACOS are awesome, great analysis, great sense of humor, and real solid folks. Yesterday was a bad day, lost all three of my picks with Perry, Hayward, and Loyola. Very entertaining to see ESPN, CBS, and Yahoo all have such difficulty determining how many points Hayward and Mayo scored. =D And now, for the picks.

1) Hull City Tigers @ Sheffield United Blades – Hull City wins
2) DaJuan Summers vs. Eric Devendorf – Devendorf scores more points
3) Pat Perez vs. Jason Gore – Perez
4) Tony Stewart vs. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Stewart
5) A.J. Abrams vs. Corey Higgins – Higgins scores more points
6) Kansas @ Kansas State – Kansas
7) Deonta Vaughn points vs. Pittsburg winning margin – Vaughn points
8) Creighton @ Southern Illinois – Creighton
9) Pittsburgh @ Toronto – Pittsburgh
10) Tennessee State @ Austin Peay – 159 points or more
11) Kapono or Cook vs. The Rest – One of the rest wins
12) Ohio State @ Wisconsin – 124 points or more
13) Calgary @ Phoenix – Phoenix
14) Nevada @ Hawaii – Hawaii

I like Hull City, Devendorf, Deonte Vaughn, and the over on Austin Peay, Creighton, and Kansas the most. Should be an exciting day, so good luck to all on your quest for 6-0!

February 13th, 2009 Picks

Ouch, what a rough day today was. Overall my quick picks were very nice, going 7-3-1for the day. I went 1-1-1 in my three official picks. My Ebbsfleet pick turned out to be a good one with Ebbs leading Burton 1 – 0 in the 65th minute, but it was literally a blizzard out there. With the fans booing heartily the referee called off the game, forcing Ebbsfleet and Burton to play again later from the start with the score 0 – 0. Stony Brook turned out to be a good bet, downing Albany by 11. Then the over/under with Gonzaga and St. Mary’s. It was looking ‘over’ all night, but both teams went cold near the end. Gonzaga missed a three with 1:30 or so left and rebounded the ball, but they turned it over, passing it to St. Mary’s for an easy deuce. After that it was fouls and St. Mary’s burying threes. The game ended with 142 points scored by both teams, 5 too many for the ‘under’ pick. It was a sad one for me as I was finally going to obtain my red star with a five game streak. C’est la vie. On to the picks!

1) J.B. Holmes vs. Kenny Perry – Perry has a lower 2nd round
2) FC Utrecht win @ Willem II Tilburg win – Willem II Tilburg
3) Josh Mayo vs. Gordon Hayward – Hayward
4) Todd Bodine vs. Kyle Busch – Bodine
5) Iona @ Loyola (MD) – Loyola (MD)
6) Villanova @ West Virginia – Villanova

February 12th, 2009 Picks

After a rough start yesterday with Albania failing to score against Malta things took a turn for the better. Spain defeated England 2-0, while A.J. Price hit 4 three pointers helping him along in defeating Jonny Flynn. Oklahoma had a tough time breaking away from Baylor, but in the end were not to be stopped. And now, onto the picks.

1) Davis Love III vs. Hunter Mahan – Davis Love III
2) Paul Goydos vs. Joe Ogilvie – Paul Goydos
3) Burton Albion win @ Ebbsfleet United win or draw – Ebbsfleet United
4) Temple @ St. Joseph’s – Temple
5) Albany @ Stony Brook – Stony Brook
6) Terrence Williams + Earl Clark vs. Luke Harangody – Harangody
7) UCLA @ Arizona State – Arizona State
8) Illinois @ Northwestern – Illinois
9) Brandon Roy vs. Stephen Jackson – Jackson
10) Calgary @ Los Angeles – Los Angeles
11) Gonzaga @ St. Mary’s – 137 points or fewer

I’m thinking Ebbsfleet, since they have only lost at home 4 times, to some of the better teams in the league. Then Luke Harangody, since Notre Dame is at home I’m hoping he gets some free throws. Williams and Clark are poor free throw shooters and only average FG shooters (~42% apiece). Then Illinois (hey they’re due for one on the road) or Arizona State (ASU is a good defense, they won’t let UCLA blow them out) and hopefully with the Gonzaga game on the same channel they’ll delay the matchup allowing us to pick Gonzaga @ St. Mary’s. The Gaels are missing their top scorer, but should still play hard with the winner being that much closer to the conference title. That should lead to a low scoring affair, so I’ll go with 137 points or less. Of course, I may change my mind before then. It’s best to keep ones options open. =]