After going 36-33-1 on Friday and 9-5-1 on Saturday, I decided to take Sunday off because whenever you can stop picking cold in the middle of a hot streak, you gotta do it. Here come some losers for tonight's appetizers before the 24 hour tip off marathon kicking off as Monday turns to Tuesday.
North Carolina State -13 v. Hofstra. Hofstra's not good enough to only get 13 points.
Miami (FL) +8 @ Florida. Don't love this pick because Florida has reached the point over the past few years that you almost never wanna go against them....but they're even more depleted now with Dorian Finney-Smith's fracture and this is an in state rivalry game so it should be hotly contested by players familiar with each other.
Oakland +5 @ Eastern Michigan. The Grizzlies putting up a nice fight at Hilton is enough for me.
Northwestern +2 @ Brown. The only thing more hilarious than an Ivy League team giving points to a Big Ten school is if I pick the Big Ten school and they fail to cover anyway so let's do that.
Saint Joseph's +2.5 @ Drexel. A City 6 game is exactly what the Hawks need to get their minds right after a shocking opening day loss to Fairleigh Dickinson. And I just like picking against Drexel and that awful offense.
Southern Mississippi -10 v. South Alabama. It's easy to think of South Alabama and think of those teams back in the late 2000's that were almost always tourney teams but they've fallen a long way since then.
Louisiana Tech -5 @ Temple. Gotta take one of my favorite mid majors, especially with a spread this small against a team who BARELY got to 40 on opening day.
Washington State +5 @ TCU. So on a neutral floor TCU - who went 0-18 in the Big 12 last year - would be favored by a bucket? I don't buy that.
Tulane +2.5 v Wake Forest. Tulane hasn't played yet. But they return all 5 starters from a 17 win team and should be up for a home shot against an ACC school that's starting over with a new coach but lacks talent because their old coach failed at everything. I never need much reason to pick against Wake Forest and there's plenty here.
Mississippi -10 @ Troy. A road trip after losing at home to Charleston Southern on opening night is exactly what Ole Miss needs. Also exactly what Ole Miss needs: an opponent as bad as Troy.
Georgia State +10 @ Iowa State. This is wayyyyy too sketchy of a line but screw it. I can't take the Clones to beat GSU by 11 when they only beat Oakland by 11.
Tulsa -7.5 v. UL-Lafayette. It's easy to forget this because Elfrid Payton but Lafayette's a pretty terrible basketball program. Last year was their first winning season since 2005. The Golden Hurricane are coming home after a tough loss to in-state rival Oral Roberts and I'm expecting them to be fired up.
Gonzaga -9 v. SMU. Have pegged this as a blowout pretty much since Emmanual Mudiay went to China, not backing down now. Especially not after the WHIPPIN the Zags put on Sacramento State.
Detroit +10.5 @ Oregon. With how depleted the Ducks are after the rape cases and all that, they're bound to be pushed by SOMEONE early on. Might not be as focused on this one after cruising way too easily against Coppin State.
Colorado -10 v. Auburn. This is the kickoff of the marathon, if you don't count the Gonzaga/SMU game since it starts on Monday still. Students will be up for this and while I think Auburn plays tough most of the way, they fade in the second half like Milwaukee did against them on Friday.
Louisville -31.5 v. Jacksonville State. I took Jacksonville State once. It was embarrassing. It was humiliating. I've learned my lesson and I won't do it again.
Arkansas State -5 v. Tennessee-Martin. Tennessee-Martin's right there with Jacksonville in my "Always Pick Against" crew.
Illinois-Chicago -3.5 v. Western Illinois. I've made up a fake rivalry in my head between these schools; the Leathernecks despising their big city slicker opposition and the Flames having no respect for those slow paced, small town yokels.
IPFW -1.5 @ SIU-Edwardsville. Remember when IPFW had that fat guy? I miss him.
Iowa -19.5 v. North Dakota State. Wooooooof. Ben Woodside and Taylor Braun aren't walking through that door.
Alabama -19 v. Western Carolina. That is A LOT of points for Alabama basketball but WCU just put up a decent fight against Mississippi State which means they're due to get blown out.
South Dakota State -1 @ Idaho. After losing by a bucket at Buffalo, the Jackrabbits are slightly closer to home today. I still think they're a good Summit program while Idaho's athletic department is just terrible in all facets.
Sacramento State PK @ UC Riverside. They tested my faith at the Kennel but I haven't lost it yet.
USC -8.5 v. Tennessee Tech. They tested my faith by losing to Portland State but I haven't lost it yet.
Indiana -23.5 v. Texas Southern. THE MIKE DAVIS BOWL! Oh man, he's gonna hear some not so pleasant things from the student section tonight.
Villanova -34 v. Maryland Eastern Shore. Maryland Eastern Shore legitimately may have the worst basketball program in division 1. For good measure, Nova's super pissed after taking way too long to put away Lehigh.
Bucknell +18.5 @ Michigan. This just seems like a bigtime potential UPSET ALERT to me but the Wolverines will survive.
Mississippi State -21 v. Mississippi Valley State. Remember when Mississippi Valley State couldn't even get to THIRTY in the tournament against UCLA?
Providence -21.5 v. Binghamton. Binghamton broke more rules than Nick Nolte in Blue Chips to get to the tournament that one time and then their program became just totally depleted and it hasn't recovered since.
Arizona State -23 v. Bethune Cookman. A slight step up in competition from Chicago State for the Sun Devils.
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