Free Picks for Saturday, December 10th, 2016 from some of the nations best and worst handicappers.
Raphael Esparza
Army / Navy Under 48
Navy struggled last weekend on offense against Temple and the Midshipmen lost another QB in that game against the Temple Owls. Army comes into M&T Bank Stadium splitting their last 4 games, but for the total in those games 3 of them went UNDER. It's no secret that Navy has owned this series against Army but the UNDER has also been the best bet and in the last 10 meetings all 10 of them have gone UNDER. In the last 9 meetings in Army all 9 of them have gone UNDER and Navy's last 16 games in December 13 of them have gone under. With both teams trying to establish the run early, that will benefit the total and again I see this Armed Forces battle easily going UNDER the total.
Strike Point Sports
Cincinnati vs Butler
Play: Butler
The Bulldogs have gotten off to a great start this year. They welcome another program that's done some good things so far in 2016, and that's Cincinnati. But at Hinkle Fieldhouse Butler will get things done in winning fashion. Cincy is a grind-it-out, hard-working team behind head coach Mick Cronin. However Butler is a tough out at home, and I expect them to be ready for this Top 25 match-up as they continue their perfect start to the schedule. The Bulldogs will do enough to remain undefeated and best the Bearcats here.
Scott Spreitzer
Army vs. Navy
Play: Navy -6
Army began the season with three straight wins, but won just three of their final eight with two wins coming against Lafayette and Morgan State. In fact, take those two out-manned programs out of the mix and Army was not only 1-5 to close the season, but failed to score more than 21 points in any of the other six games. The offense averaged only 318 yards on 4.79 yards per play in the six outings and the QB situation is not ideal thanks to injuries. Meanwhile, the defense was been riddled for 510 yards rushing on 5.4 yards per carry in two games prior to Morgan State. We went against Navy last time out and cashed when Temple put the screws to the Middies, but we believe they own the matchups to continue their domination in this series. Navy enters on a 13-5 ATS run as a favorite and 7-0 ATS when laying 3 1/2 to 10 points over the last couple of seasons. Navy's laying the least amount of points to Army since 2005 and lost ATS the last two meetings as favorites of 21 1/2 and 16 1/2 points, winning outright, but falling short of big spreads. This year's number is much more doable.
Ken Thomson
Marshall -4.5
The Thundering Herd will roll over the Rockets at home behind the scoring of John Elmore & Stevie Browning who combine for 35 ppg. Sharp shooter Austin Loop is ( 26 for 55 ) from 3-point land and home court advantage will be huge for Marshall vs. Toledo.
Brandon Powell
Ottawa vs. Calgary
Play: Calgary -125
Calgary is one of the hottest teams in the NHL opening up December with 4 straight wins, they have also won 7 of their last 9. They have also found great success against the Jets, particularly at home winning 9 of the last 11. Winnipeg has struggled mightily on their power play going 4-34 over their last 13 games. I expect them to continue to struggle to score goals against Chad Johnson who is one of the hottest goalies in the league winning 8 of his last 9 starts with 2 shutouts and a .948 save %. Take Calgary -125 confidently tonight.
Bob Harvey
Warriors vs. Grizzlies
Play: Under 209½
The Golden State Warriors try for their fifth straight victory when they visit the Memphis Grizzlies. Golden State swept the four-game series last season, including a 119-69 thrashing at home on Nov. 2, 2015.
The Warriors (20-3, 10-11 ATS) have managed to build up its NBA-best record thanks to the trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. Curry had a game high 26 points in Thursday’s 106-99 victory over the Jazz, while Thompson scored 24 in Wednesday’s 115-98 win over the Clippers. Thompson though had the best game of his young career on Monday scoring 60 points—in just 29 minutes—in a 142-106 win over Indiana.
Memphis (16-8, 13-11 ATS) is without two of its big guns in Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons (knee), forcing Marc Gasol pick up the slack. Gasol poured in 36 points on 13 of 24 shooting in Thursday’s 88-86 victory over Portland. The defense held the Trail Blazers to 30.5 percent shooting to push its winning streak to five straight, with each of the victories coming by five or fewer points.
The UNDER is 8-2 in the last 10 series meetings and 7-1 to the low side in the last eight meetings in Memphis. The UNDER is 9-1-1 in the Grizzlies past 11 home games while the Warriors are 4-0 to the UNDER in their past four games overall.
Brad Diamond
Bulls -10½
Last night the Heat were scheduled to play 8-9 at best, well only 8 players actually hit the playing floor. More important, we thought the Cavs would be completely disinterested knowing the cause and effect of playing short. Not so, they geared up in the second half and covered. Still BDS managed a 2-1 winning effort with Phoenix and Dallas. Tonight we'll go along with the Bulls who catch the injured Heat now fatigued. Richardson is still ? for this encounter, so don't mind laying prohibitive number.
Scott Rickenbach
Dallas vs. Philadelphia
Play:Philadelphia -140
Both of these clubs are off of wins Thursday. The difference is that it was the 7th straight win for the Flyers while, for the Stars it snapped a stretch where they had lost 4 of their last 5. Also, Dallas has won back to back games only once this entire season so truly the odds are in favor of Philadelphia adding to their hot streak and the Stars once again failing to put together back to back wins. The Flyers are also playing this game with double revenge as they lost both games to the Stars last season. Philadelphia has won 7 of 11 non-conference games this season and 33 of 54 home games with a posted total of 5.5 goals the past 3 seasons combined. The Stars are off of a big divisional win over Nashville Thursday and they have lost 11 of 14 this season when off of a divisional game. Also, Dallas has gone 0-5 in non-conference games this season.
Jim Feist
Denver Nuggets vs. Orlando Magic
Play: Orlando Magic +1
A long road trip for a Denver team on a 1-5 spread run. The Nuggets play their fifth straight road contest of a grueling six-game trip, off a pair of losses at Brooklyn as a favorite and at Washington. Orlando is home winning 4 of 6 recently and the Magic are 19-7 ATS in their last 26 vs. the NBA Northwest division.
Zack Cimini
Wisconsin vs. Marquette
Pick: Wisconsin
Of teams in the top twenty-five no one likely has a more important week ahead than Wisconsin. They'll battle two teams from their state with Marquette on Saturday and a feisty Wisconsin-Green Bay team later in the week. On paper Marquette looks like the attractive team here. Not only do they boast an ACC quality starting five but they also have fire-power coming off the bench led by UNLV/USC transfer Katin Reinhardt. Last year Wisconsin lost in a matchup that fits their style 57-55. This time look for Wisconsin to control the pace once again and throw off the Golden Eagles.
Mike Rose
Nebraska at Kansas
Play: Kansas -19.5
KU possesses one of the best guard tandems in the country in Frank Mason and Devonte’ Graham. The duo loves to push it and either take it to the rack for easy lay-ups, or dish off to a teammate for a high percentage shot either close to the rim or beyond the arc. Big Red did a good job of limiting Creighton’s fast break earlier this week, but wore down in the second half to allow for the Bluejays to pull away. Nebraska will once again be put to the test trying to slow Kansas down, and it couldn’t have asked for a tougher matchup a game removed from taking on a lesser version of what they’re about to face.
Only once in Nebraska’s last six visits to the Phog did it not get laughed off the court. I’m talking some severe beat downs like the 84-49 thrashing in 2008 and the 92-39 demolition the year prior. While those games have absolutely nothing to do with todays, it certainly helps paint a picture for how Kansas treats the Huskers when they pay Lawrence a visit. Big Red’s defense might keep this game close early on, but once fatigue and reality sets in, it’s going to be a walk in the park for Frosh stud Josh Jackson and company. Kansas is due for an all-out blitzkrieg, and this one sets up nicely as one dimensional a team the Cornhuskers bring to the gym.
Carmine Bianco
AS Monaco at Bordeaux
Play: Over 2.5
Monaco's success this season has is due largely in part because of their offensive attack and ability to finish. The rested a good part of their side in a meaningless midweek Champions League match and will restart now against a Bordeaux side which has beaten Monaco the last three, all of which were scoring affairs.
Bob Balfe
Oklahoma State -7
Tulsa is a very young team that lost just about every player from last year. I have liked what I have seen from them against softer teams so far, but this team is not close to winning a basketball game against a Big 12 School just yet. The Cowboys should go wire to wire.
GamePlan
Xavier -11½
Here's a very deceiving line as Utah is a traditionally strong team off to a 6-1 start, yet finds themselves as double digit underdogs. But this is actually a bit of a "trap line" as the obvious play on the Utes is simply FAR too obvious. Utah finds themselves at 6-1, but they have played exactly ZERO games outside the state of Utah so far. And they didn't exactly play the best of competition as the only big-time foe they faced off against was Butler, who scored an easy win at the expense of the Utes.
Now Utah must leave home and fly halfway across the country to play a very talented and VERY angry Xaxier team that lost back-to-back road games to Baylor and Colorado. And while Xavier sits at 7-2, they have played a much tougher schedule than Utah and now get to sleep in their own beds as they "stew" over rare back-to-back losses. Utah is a quality offensive team that is scoring at a nice clip so far this season, but they have yet to see a nasty, physical defensive team like Xavier. And Xavier has a far better home court advantage than you might think for a team which plays outside the highest of profile conferences.
Don't be too shocked if this one completely gets away from the Utes and Xavier scores a huge home win as they play their hearts out trying to avoid what would be a stunning three-game losing streak.