Dave Cokin
Bonus Play Sunday
Today’s Bonus Play is on a Sunday college basketball game.
721 BALL STATE at 722 VALPARAISO 2:30 PM
Take: VALPARAISO -10
I was very impressed with the Crusaders in a win here in Las Vegas earlier this week against BYU. Valpo beat BYU at the Cougars pace and even though that game was on a neutral court, I would almost have called it a home/neutral for BYU as they have a big following in Las Vegas.
There’s a revenge motive here for Valpo and actually the circumstances are similar to last season. The Crusaders were heading back to Indiana after a two-game trip to face Oregon and Oregon State, and they got ambushed by the Cardinals.
Ball State has had some trouble in the early going. The Cardinals are losing the turnover battles by a substantial margin, and they simply aren’t going to stay with Valpo if the Crusaders get a handful of extra possessions. The home team doesn’t figure to take this for granted after last year’s result, and I think the Crusaders have too many weapons for this to stay close for 40 minutes. I’ll go ahead and give the points with Valparaiso.
Bonus Play Sunday
Today’s Bonus Play is on a Sunday college basketball game.
721 BALL STATE at 722 VALPARAISO 2:30 PM
Take: VALPARAISO -10
I was very impressed with the Crusaders in a win here in Las Vegas earlier this week against BYU. Valpo beat BYU at the Cougars pace and even though that game was on a neutral court, I would almost have called it a home/neutral for BYU as they have a big following in Las Vegas.
There’s a revenge motive here for Valpo and actually the circumstances are similar to last season. The Crusaders were heading back to Indiana after a two-game trip to face Oregon and Oregon State, and they got ambushed by the Cardinals.
Ball State has had some trouble in the early going. The Cardinals are losing the turnover battles by a substantial margin, and they simply aren’t going to stay with Valpo if the Crusaders get a handful of extra possessions. The home team doesn’t figure to take this for granted after last year’s result, and I think the Crusaders have too many weapons for this to stay close for 40 minutes. I’ll go ahead and give the points with Valparaiso.
Jim Feist
Jim Feist's Comp Pick, Sunday, November 27, 2016
Your free pick for Sunday, November 27, 2016 comes in the NBA as the Rockets and Blazers meet in Portland. Go, go, go -- these offenses like to run the court with defense as an afterthought. Houston kicked off its second five-game road trip of the young season with its fourth victory in five contests - a 117-104 win over Sacramento on Friday behind an NBA-record 50 attempts from 3-point range and James Harden's fourth triple-double of the season. The Over is 35-16 when the Rockets face the NBA Northwest division. The Trail Blazers began a four-game homestand with a 119-104 victory over New Orleans on Friday. Portland (109.4 points per game) and Houston (108.5) are the fourth-and fifth-highest scoring teams in the NBA. Portland is 10-1 over the total at home and 41-20 over at home against a team with a winning road record. So what happens when these teams meet? The over is 20-7, including 8-2 over at Portland.
Play Houston/Portland OVER the total.
Jim Feist's Comp Pick, Sunday, November 27, 2016
Your free pick for Sunday, November 27, 2016 comes in the NBA as the Rockets and Blazers meet in Portland. Go, go, go -- these offenses like to run the court with defense as an afterthought. Houston kicked off its second five-game road trip of the young season with its fourth victory in five contests - a 117-104 win over Sacramento on Friday behind an NBA-record 50 attempts from 3-point range and James Harden's fourth triple-double of the season. The Over is 35-16 when the Rockets face the NBA Northwest division. The Trail Blazers began a four-game homestand with a 119-104 victory over New Orleans on Friday. Portland (109.4 points per game) and Houston (108.5) are the fourth-and fifth-highest scoring teams in the NBA. Portland is 10-1 over the total at home and 41-20 over at home against a team with a winning road record. So what happens when these teams meet? The over is 20-7, including 8-2 over at Portland.
Play Houston/Portland OVER the total.
Jimmy Boyd
Bengals vs Ravens
Free Pick on Ravens -
I like the value here with Baltimore laying less than a touchdown at home against the Bengals. I know the Ravens have a tendency to play close games, but Cincinnati is in a lot of trouble. Not only did the Bengals lose a huge game at home, they lost two of the better offensive players to injury.
Star wide out A.J. Green suffered a hamstring injury that will have him out this week and maybe the rest of the season. Running back Giovanni Bernard is done for good after tearing his ACL. The loss of Green is a huge blow to the offense. His 66 receptions are easily tops on the team. In fact, the next best is Bernard with 39. Combined the two have been targeted on 151 of Dalton’s 360 pass attempts. Green also has 15 receptions of 20+ yards. The rest of the team has 22.
Dalton is already a limited quarterback as it is. With that said, he looks like a completely different signal caller when Green is on the field compared to when he’s not. Making matters worse, the Bengals are going up against one of the elite defenses in the NFL this week. Baltimore leads the league against the run (76.0 ypg) and are 7th against the pass (219.1 ypg).
It only makes it that much harder for Cincinnati with this game being on the road. The Bengals are 1-4 SU and 0-5 ATS on the highway this season, where they are getting outscored by 6.7 ppg.
I just feel like we are getting value here due to the Ravens having gone just 2-5 ATS in their last 7. That actually puts them in a favorable situation. Baltimore is 14-4 ATS under Harbaugh after failing to cover the spread in 4 or 5 of their last 6 games.
It is also worth pointing out that the Ravens have taken care of business against division foes. They are 3-0 versus the AFC North, with all 3 wins coming by at least 5-points. That includes a recent 21-14 win at home over the Steelers. Cincinnati on the other hand is just 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 against division opponents. Take Baltimore!
Bengals vs Ravens
Free Pick on Ravens -
I like the value here with Baltimore laying less than a touchdown at home against the Bengals. I know the Ravens have a tendency to play close games, but Cincinnati is in a lot of trouble. Not only did the Bengals lose a huge game at home, they lost two of the better offensive players to injury.
Star wide out A.J. Green suffered a hamstring injury that will have him out this week and maybe the rest of the season. Running back Giovanni Bernard is done for good after tearing his ACL. The loss of Green is a huge blow to the offense. His 66 receptions are easily tops on the team. In fact, the next best is Bernard with 39. Combined the two have been targeted on 151 of Dalton’s 360 pass attempts. Green also has 15 receptions of 20+ yards. The rest of the team has 22.
Dalton is already a limited quarterback as it is. With that said, he looks like a completely different signal caller when Green is on the field compared to when he’s not. Making matters worse, the Bengals are going up against one of the elite defenses in the NFL this week. Baltimore leads the league against the run (76.0 ypg) and are 7th against the pass (219.1 ypg).
It only makes it that much harder for Cincinnati with this game being on the road. The Bengals are 1-4 SU and 0-5 ATS on the highway this season, where they are getting outscored by 6.7 ppg.
I just feel like we are getting value here due to the Ravens having gone just 2-5 ATS in their last 7. That actually puts them in a favorable situation. Baltimore is 14-4 ATS under Harbaugh after failing to cover the spread in 4 or 5 of their last 6 games.
It is also worth pointing out that the Ravens have taken care of business against division foes. They are 3-0 versus the AFC North, with all 3 wins coming by at least 5-points. That includes a recent 21-14 win at home over the Steelers. Cincinnati on the other hand is just 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 against division opponents. Take Baltimore!
