Posts under ‘Pick of The Day’

How sweet it is!
After running through way too much of our college hoops betting bankroll thanks to a slew of ill-advised picks back in December and January, we took some time off from Pick of the Day. The time off served us well, as we were able to refine our top secret methodology — [...]

It’s opening night for conference tourneys across Mid-Majordom, with the Big South, Ohio Valley, and the Horizon League all starting tonight. Since this means that March Madness is officially under the way, we’ve decided that it’s time to dust off the mothballed Pick of the Day feature and try to win back what we’ve [...]

Cleveland State (10-4), vanquishers of Syracuse, has been one of the best Mid-Major sides so far this season (they’re ranked 8th in the latest Mid-Major Top 25), with their four losses coming to the likes of Butler, Kansas State, Washington, and West Virginia. Despite their 50-48 loss to Butler, Gary Waters’ squad has to [...]

Ever since nailing the Buffalo +14.5 pick in the MAC football championship game, we’ve been staying away from testing our winning streak by getting back in the action on Mid-Major college hoops. That’s changing today because Ohio (4-5), one of the most detested teams around these parts, are six points ‘dogs on the [...]

This may be primarily a basketball blog, and Pick of the Day may be a category of posts in which I routinely expose myself as knowing shit about college basketball, but that’s about to change today. Why? Because today’s Pick of the Day is all about college football.
Tonight’s MAC championship finds [...]

On a Tuesday rife with intriguing mid-major matchups, it’s Creighton’s visit to Arkansas to take on the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans that’s piqued our attention. In this battle of unbeaten squads that are both preseason faves to win their leagues, the Missouri Valley and Sun Belt, respectively, it’s Creighton and high-scoring junior guard Cavel [...]

Thanks to Sienaa routing Cornell 74-56 tonight, we can add another rule to Picks of the Day, no more taking Ivy League teams.
We’re sitting an unseemly 2-5 right now…

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The start of the 2008-09 season has been notable because of the amount of compelling scraps between solid mid-major sides that have taken place. Tonight brings another match-up of potential Big Dance squads, with defending Ivy League champs Cornell visiting Siena to take on the defending MAAC champs and March Madness darlings. The [...]

After the debacle that was taking Hawaii to cover versus Cal State-Fullerton on Sunday night — the Rainbow Warriors got shellacked, losing 94-70 to the Titans — we took a few days to reassess our methodology and, truth be told, lick the wounds from another demoralizing loss by our beloved Buffalo Bills this past Monday [...]

Expectations are pretty low for both the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Cal-State Fullerton Titans this season. Sure, the Titans return high-scoring Josh Akognon from last year’s Big West championship side, but otherwise the cupboard is pretty bare for Bob Burton’s Titans. A season-opening 76-66 loss to a Texas State squad that figures to [...]

Thanks to Appalachian State’s monumental second half collapse yesterday, which resulted in a 108-101 overtime loss by the Mountaineers to UNC-Wilmington, we’re sitting it a not so impressive 1-2 this season on Picks of the Day. But that’s okay because thanks to the San Diego Toreros, we’re about to get our mojo back. [...]

Appalachian State is picked to contend in the vastly underrated Southern Conference this season. Houston Francher’s squad hosts the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks, perennial contenders in the always tough Colonial Athletic Association, tonight. Normally, we’d take the Seahawks just about any time they are getting points, but not tonight and probably not at all this [...]

All that being said, it’s just one game. While I respect Weber State and the Big Sky, this is a game the Redhawks were supposed to win, and win handily for that matter. (On a related note, Weber State easily covered the 13.5 points so we are in the moolah tonight and are now 1-1 on POTD this season.) Instead, Hayes, Michael Bramos and Co. eked out a close one. Not a bad way to start the season, but not a game that’s going to give MAC coaches nightmares like the sort coaches in the SoCon must be having about Stephen Curry right now.

We don’t like picking against MAC teams when it comes to the Pick of the Day, but with Miami spotting Weber State 13.5 points in their 2KSports Coaches vs. Cancer opening round scrap from Pauley Pavilion tonight, we don’t have much choice. Especially since Miami was supposedly brutal in their exhibition game against last [...]

That the quality of the conference matters when deciding between teams picked to finish in the same spot in their respective conferences. In our first Pick of the Day for the 2008-09 college hoops season, we took IUPUI +6.5 over Northeastern. Well, the Huskies of the more competitive Colonial Athletic Association handled the [...]

The folks at the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic bring us an immensely appealing clash of Mid-Majors from Ann Arbor today, with IUPUI of the Summit League squaring off with one-time North Atlantic Conference bullies Northeastern in an opening round scrap taking place in Ann Arbor. Expectations are relatively high for both the Jaguars and Huskies this season.

There’s not a whole lot for members of the Mid-Major nation to get excited about it in tonight’s NCAA Championship game between Memphis and Kansas, the latter side being a true college hoops blueblood while the Tigers are an occasional Final Four interloper. Sure, the 38-1 Tigers may play in Conference USA, which is a Mid-Major league if I’ve ever seen one, but they are in no way, shape, or form a Mid-Major squad. Memphis is a power conference team that plays in a conference without any power. All that being said, any game is better when you can take sides and cheer for one team so we’re stuck with our yearly question of who to cheer for in the NCAA Championship game.

Early Games
Tennessee -19.5 over American
Gonzaga +2 over Davidson
St. Mary’s +1 over Miami
Drake -3.5 over Western Kentucky
Sort of Early Games
San Diego +11.5 over Connecticut
UMBC +17 over Georgetown
Texas -15.5 over Austin Peay
Butler -5 over South Alabama
Early Evening Games
Siena +6.5 over Vanderbilt
Mount St. Mary’s +25 over North Carolina
Mississippi State -2.5 over Oregon
St. Joe’s +1 over Oklahoma
Late Games
Clemson -6 [...]

With four games left in the first day of the 2008 Big Dance this is where we, at Notes From A Basketball Junkie, stand.
We’re a pretty pathetic 4-8 on Picks of The Day but confident that we’ll be on even terms by the time Mississippi Valley State-UCLA is over at about 12:15 AM [...]

As promised, we’re picking every game tomorrow. Here goes!
(all lines from Bet US.Com as of 1:45 AM EST)
Early Games
Georgia +8.5 over Xavier
Kansas -22 over Portland State
Temple +7.5 over Michigan State
Marquette -6 over Kentucky
Purdue -3 over Baylor
Kent State -2 over UNLV
Pittsburgh -8.5 over Oral Roberts
Cornell +14.5 over Cornell
Late Games
Duke -20 over Belmont
USC -3.5 over Kansas [...]

And we’re in the money on another Pick of the Day, as we head to the Big Dance on Thursday and Friday.
For those planning on making some bets, we’re going to be doing a special Pick of the Day each day where we pick every Big Dance game with the spread. Thursday’s [...]

Is something Fang Mitchell’s Coppin State Eagles quad won’t do in tonight’s dreaded Big Dance play-in game with the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers.
Which is why The Mount -7 over Fang’s gang is our pick of the day.

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Actually, I don’t think the Cleveland State Vikings (20-11) will pillage, maraud, or destroy the Valpo Crusaders (21-12) in their Horizon League semifinals scrap today but I couldn’t stay from that slug. However, I’m pretty certain that Clevo State, who have already beaten Valpo twice this season, will win to advance to the Horizon [...]

I’m going to say this from the jump: I don’t like betting on tonight’s Kent State-Miami game one bit. The spread on Bet US has the Golden Flashes spotting the Redhawks 6.5 points while Bodog has them giving up 7 points while Bet Vega’s live odds show the opening line was 5.5 points, which [...]

I’ve only bet on Mid-Major college hoops this season so I can’t speak to how the oddsmakers have done setting lines when it comes to the BCS leagues or the NBA. Based on my experience this season, it seems like when it comes to the Mid-Majors, the lines are totally random. Just take our record of 13-6 in POTD this season.

We’re new to this whole betting on college hoops things and, while we are trying to build a system that increases one’s chances of getting it right when it comes to betting on Mid-Major hoops, the fact is don’t do any quantitative analytics when we make our picks. We just look at the lines, wonder what the fuck is up, and place the bet. And it works.