Wednesday Smells Like Awesome

I know my loyal followers have been lost without posts for 6 whole days. Don't worry, just in the nick of time, a new post.

The two greatest sports are at the top of the agenda: college basketball and the NFL

College Basketball is just starting to heat up and today is probably one of the most action packed week days that there have been so far this season. 11 of the Top 25 teams in the nation are playing tonight with two games featuring Top 25 match ups (Duke @ Wake Forest, and Pitt @ Villanova).

I've decided that since I don't know anyone who actually gambles consistently on any sporting event that I would just pick the winners of the games I predict. I will keep my same record from before (2-3) just to keep things fair even though I did pick 2 winners that just did not cover the spread.

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Speaking of spreads, if you have not checked out centsports.com you should and be my friend. Free gambling for those who want to try it with real payouts (albeit you have to turn 10 cents into 20 dollars before you have a chance) is just fun. I'm already over 4 dollars and will keep you updated.

Not to brag or anything, but that 10 cents to 4 dollars thing is a 4000% profit. Too bad my gambling prowess does not actually apply to real life.
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Back to the basketball.
Duke @ Wake
I don't know what I was thinking last time keeping The Dukies out of my Final Four, (wait, yes I do, Duke is all that is evil about college basketball, that's what I was thinking) but I was wrong. They have proved it over and over this season that they belong and just beat a decent opponent (Maryland) 85-44, and being up by 40 virtually the last 15 minutes of the game.

Wake is the home team,but their last game was a loss to Virginia Tech @ home. They have one of the best scorers in college basketball in Jeff Teague (21.5 Points per game) and have a good crop of young talent. Does young talent translate into wins though?

Tonight it will. I think the Demon Deacons will be rearing to go after a week off and will take care of the Blue Devils.

Pitt @ Villanova
Pitt is still the team to beat in the Big East in my opinion. They have a good inside out combo with Levance Fields and everyone down low. They play tough and play defense. I still like them over UConn in the Big East and look for them to still make a run in the Big Dance.

'Nova is one of those teams that you know is pretty good, but they just can't quite get over the hump. They are 15-4 with a 3-3 record in Big East Play and their losses have all come against teams in the Top 25 (UConn, Marquette, Louisville, and Texas). Their best win this year is either @ Seton hall in OT, Home vs. Temple, or @ Penn.

The Point = Villanova has not beaten anyone better than them.

The Pick = Pitt

Reason = Villanova has not beaten anyone better than them.


As I said there were 11 ranked teams in action tonight. Other include North Carolina, UConn, G'Town, Syracuse, Xavier, Memphis and Louisville.

The teams that should be on upset alert are:
Memphis (on the road against an average East Carolina team)
Syracuse (@ Providence who is 5-2 in Big East play and currently in 5th in league standings)
Georgetown (@ Cincinnati who has the same 3-4 record in Big East play)

Everyone else will win. Write it down.

KU and K-state both are playing tonight.
Kansas travels to Lincoln to take on an underrated Nebraska Cornhuskers' (Husk... immature teenage laugh) team. If they Jayhawks win, the will take a 6-0 league record to Waco on Monday to face a dangerous Baylor team. I think they do, they have just enough experience (as well as Mighty Mouse flying to the rescue) to put the Huskers in their place.

Look for Aldrich to either be extremely effective or not at all against a smaller Nebraska team. No middle ground here. If he is effective, he will have turned a corner for the year and just dominate. Mario Little is a stud and will also help add experience and points to a young lineup.

K-State plays Mizzou @ Manhappenin' and just came off a huge OT win in Boulder. It looked as though the game was locked up for the 'Cats in regulation, but it took an extra period to settle it, and that was dicey. Mizzou is a "Sleeper" team according to Si.com's Seth Davis due to the fact that they score a lot and win by a lot. K-State really needs this game to "save" their season and Mizzou just wants to stay in the hunt for the NCAA's and the conference crown. Unfortunatey, Mizzou will take this because they have a decent inside presence and K-State is not big enough.



NFL in Tampa

The Big Game is this Sunday for those of you living in caves with headphones playing angry chick music and knitting sweaters for kittens that you don't have.

Arizona (a 7 point underdog, kind of a lot) plays Pittsburgh in what should be a good game.

I don't have time for it today (Cliffhanger Alert!!!!) , but I'm going to dive into the common opponents between the two teams. During the course of the regular season and playoffs the Steelers and Cardinals played five common opponents. They are:
New England
Washington
Dallas
New York Giants
Philadelphia

Since this is absolutely the best way to evaluate teams (if you dont know I'm kidding you need to stop reading and smack yourself), I think it will help us predict the winner of Sunday's matchup.



Song of the Day

Remembering Sunday, by All Time Low

You all know I love my hip-hop, but I'm on a real Punk/Alternative kick. Partly in thanks to my beautiful wife (she's into the more Emo type stuff, but close) and Mark cause that's all he listens to, ever.

Complex song with a lot of emotion stuck to it and multiple people singing, which I like.



That's all for today, tune in tomorrow for a recap of my basketball picks (2-3 record needs to get back to atleast .500) and for the extremely scientific breakdown of Sunday's premeir NFL matchup.

DDSF