Sunday 2/14/16 service plays chatter/comps/requests & other stuff...

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Sunday's six-pack

Six of the top minor league prospets of the Colorado Rockies........

1) Jon Gray, P-- Was 0-2, 5.53 in nine big league starts LY.

3) Brendan Rodgers, SS-- Won't turn 20 until August; HS kid from Florida.

4) Jeff Hoffman, P-- Allowed 36 hits in 48 IP in AA last year.

6) Kyle Freeland, P-- Evansville alum got $2.3M to sign in 2014

8) Trevor Story, 2B/SS-- Hit .277 at high altitude Albuquerque LY; not great.

9) Antonioo Senzatela, P-- 37-18, 2.49 in three minor league seasons.

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Dave Cokin

Bonus Play Sunday

867 NIAGARA @ 868 RIDER 2:00 PM

Take: 867 NIAGARA +10.5

First things first, Niagara is not good at all. That means there’s always an element of risk asking the Purple Eagles to do something positive. The team is 6-20 this season and they’re now 21-68 since Chris Casey took over as head coach. So anytime I’m considering this outfit, it’s strictly hold your nose time.

But today, I’m playing against Rider. This is an awful spot for the Broncs. They’re off one of the craziest games I’ve seen all season. Rider put together a stirring second half rally to get what looked like a sweet upset against MAAC frontrunner Monmouth on Friday evening. Rider was up 14 inside the four-minute mark. But they fell apart down the stretch, and I put the blame squarely on the coaching.

This absolutely drives me wild. It’s the college basketball version of the football prevent defense. In this case, it’s prevent offense. Team gets ahead and rather than run the offense that got them ahead, they start milking the clock WAY too soon, end up with horrible percentage shots and allow the other team an opportunity to catch up. When I rant about overcoaching, this is the prime example of what I mean.

In any event, Rider blew the entire lead and then after going back up two, they got burned by a Justin Robinson three and it was game, set and match. Great win for Monmouth when it looked like they were dead, and a truly brutal beat for Rider.

I don’t know how the Broncs get fired up for this game. They’re going from the all-out effort and throughly demoralizing loss against the MAAC leaders to a rematch against a bottom feeder they already handled on the road just nine days ago. It’s always somewhat of a guess to assess what a team’s mindset is going to be, but I just can’t see Rider being razor sharp here. I might not be in love with the idea of taking the downtrodden Purple Eagles, but I feel as though this is a solid play against spot for the Broncs. I’ll take the double digits with Niagara.

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Jim Feist

Jim Feist's Comp NBA Pick, Sunday, Feb 14, 2016 8:00 PM EST

(841) WEST VS (842) EAST

Take: Over the total

Reason: Your Bonus Play for Sunday, February 14, 2016 is in the NBA All Star game. Don't look for any defense in this mid-winter classic from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto! Last year the West won 163-158. The East has plenty of offensive talent in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but is short of big, defensive players. West coach Gregg Popovich gets to unleash Kobe Bryant, in his last All-Star game and he is surrounded by so much young offensive talent and depth with Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. Play the NBA All Star Game Over the total.

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Arthur Ralph Sports

Bonus Play: SUN Florida ST PK

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Tony Stoffo

Syracuse vs Boston College

Bonus Play Syracuse

Michael Gbinije is Syracuse’s leading scorer with 17 points, 4.4 assists per game. Syracuse is allowing 64.5 points per game, good enough to be tied for 26th in the nation in scoring defense. Syracuse is holding their opponents to just 40.4% from the floor this season. Syracuse is 4-1 ATS in their last five after an ATS win, 31-8 ATS in their last 39 on the road after at least three straight at home and 6-2 ATS in the Orange's last eight overall.

The Eagles are shooting only 40.9 percent from the floor as a team while averaging 64.7 points per game and as a result are 0-11 in ACC play . Boston College is 3-9-1 ATS in their last 13 vs. ACC, 3-10-1 ATS in their last 14 after a straight up loss and 1-4 ATS in the Eagles' last five after an ATS win.

Take Syracuse for your Bonus Play today. Thank you.

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Jamie Michaels

Indiana vs Michigan State

1* Free Pick on Michigan State -7

There couldn’t be a more perfect day for Denzel Valentine to shine than today! Now that he is healthy, Valentine has brought his Spartans (20-5, 7-5) back to elite status in the NCAA and on a 4-game winning streak, beating their opponents by an average of 23 points during this span, including big wins over rival Michigan and 1st place Maryland. This is the first meeting for the two teams, and a lot has been made of the Indiana Hoosiers (20-5, 10-2) and their defense. But the Spartans actually edge the Hoosiers in opponent points per game at 63.6 to Indiana’s 68.8. The Spartans also have the edge in rebounds, assists and turnover percentage. The only category they trail their opponent today is in points scored per game at 79.5 to the Hoosiers’ 84.1, but they have not met their average of late as Indiana has lost 2 of their last 5 games with average of 76.2 points per game, including a loss to Penn State in which they committed 15 turnovers and shot just 36.2% from the field. They fared better in their bounce back game against Iowa, but still allowed Jarrod Uthoff to score 24 points, and they can expect the same if not better results from Valentine, who is averaging 19 points and 7 assists per game. Indiana is 2-3 ATS in their last 5 games and 3-8 ATS away or on neutral court. Michigan State, however, is an impressive 15-2 ATS on home or neutral court! The Spartans beat the Hoosiers in front of the home crowd last year by 20 points and all signs point to the Spartans having another big game on Denzel Valentine’s Day! Take Michigan State -7!

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Brandon Shively

Washington State vs Utah (Sunday, 5:00 PM EST)

Bonus Play #858 Utah

I’m expecting this game to get ugly...quick...Utah is laying a hefty number, but the Utes are shooting 56.4% from the floor over their last three games, good for No.3 in the nation. So we have a team that we can count on to put up a large amount of points. Playing on their homecourt, Utah is averaging 85.4 ppg this season. The good news is they are playing a Washington State team that has been horrendous on the road this season. I don’t see any motivation for them after going into double overtime only to lose to Colorado. They shot 50% from the floor which was their best shooting game in the last ten games. My point is chances are they will not shoot nearly as good today. Washington State is 0-5 SU on the road in PAC 12 play. Four of those losses have been by 11 points or more, three of them by 20 points or more. The biggest spread for them this season was when they were a 18 point road dog at Arizona and they lost by 24 points. My point being here is they aren’t capable of putting up a fight when inserted as a big underdog.

Utah beat Washington State by 21 points last month on the road. Now playing at home, I can only see this score being somewhat of the same if not worse. The last two home meetings in this series, Utah has won by 18 and 22 points, covering both spreads. With two road games on deck for Utah, I expect a solid effort from them at home here as they have scored 90 and 96 points their last two home games. Lay the doubles with the *Utah Utes*

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Bob Harvey

Blues vs Lightning (6 PM ET Sunday, February 14)

Bonus Play Take #007 Tampa Bay -130 over St. Louis

The St. Louis Blues go for a sweep in the Sunshine State when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning. St. Louis has won the last four meetings, including a 6-3 triumph at Tampa Bay last season and a 2-0 victory at home on October 2.

The Blues (31-17-5, 23-34 PL)had managed just 10 goals in its previous seven contests but recorded a 5-3 victory Friday over the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers. It was the Blues third win since the All-Star break thanks to the play of Vladimir Tarasenko who scored for the second time in three games Friday to push his team-leading totals to 27 goals and 49 points.

The Lightning (31-17-5, 20-34 PL)have won 11 of their last 14 contests - and nine straight at home. Steven Stamkos rescued Tampa Bay with a final-minute power-play goal en route to a 4-3 overtime win over Nashville on Friday that snapped a two-game slide. Stamkos, who scored for only the second time in 11 games, is tied with Nikita Kucherov for the team lead in goals with 22 but trails the Russian (47) by five points for first on the club.

The home team is 4-1 in the last five meetings. St. Louis is 4-0 in the past four meetings and 4-0 in its past four outings vs. the Western Conference.

Tampa Bay is 4-0 in its last four against the Central Division and 6-0 past six vs. the Western Conference.

The OVER is 4-0 in Tampa Bay’s last four games and 5-1 in the last series meetings.

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Marc Lawrence

Evansville vs Loyola-Chicago

Play - Evansville

Edges - Aces: the visiting team is 10-1-1 ATS In this series; and 6-1 SUATS last seven games here. Ramblers: 4-9 ATS at home this season. With the Aces off an embarrassing 10-point home loss as 10-point favorites, we recommend a 1* play on Evansville. Thank you and good luck as always.