Here you go GC...
4 Unit Play. #501. FIRST HALF ONLY. Take the Portland Trailblazers +2 First Half Only over the Atlanta Hawks (Monday @ 7:05pm est). If you've seen my videos, you would have noted one time I took the Wizards for the first half only versus the Miami Heat as a comp selection. In that game, the Wizards had revenge on a game in which they had lost to the Heat at home and they were going on the road to face the Heat. And, the Wizards indeed came off with a bang and were leading at the half Outright. Then, I mentioned that the Heat have a way of coming back in the second half, getting late calls and consequently, being able to cover the spread. And, that is exactly what happened. Such, is the case today as the Blazers face the Hawks in Hotlanta. The Hawks defeated this team on the road earlier this year and this is a revenge game for Nate and his crew. The Hawks come off a huge win over the Celtics and I think they come out a little flat today. I like the Blazers to either lead by the close of the first half or to stay within the two points here as the likely cover the first half but I feel that for the entire game, it is questionable if they will be able to keep their momentum as Joe Johnson and crew will likely make a comeback in the second half. Hence, we cheer for the Blazers to lead at the half as they likely use that revenge to carry them through for the first 24 minutes.
4 Unit Play. #516. Take Missouri State +5 over Auburn Tigers (Monday @ 8:05pm est). Note, this is an evening game. Missouri State is very much of a basketball school and their gym will be packed for this contest. This is Monday Night, their season opener and again, Missouri State, loves their basketball through and through. I expect that place to be rocking. Yes, Auburn is an SEC school. But, once again, they are picked to finish in the bottom of the barrel in the SEC West and the SEC overall. This team won a great game against Niagara by four points but failed to cover the -5.5 spread. Missouri State should be improved from last year as they are in the second year under their new ballcoach, get back some injured players including Weems and several starters do return including two highly touted freshman with one of them being Ricks. I expect this team to give Auburn all they can handle with their defensive pressure which is something that this team has always had and they will have an increased scoring output this year. Its tough to trust a team like Auburn on the road laying this many points and it would mean a lot to this program after their worst season last year to win a big game over a recognized school name such as Auburn.
4 Unit Play. #541. Take Eastern Washington +14 over Washington State (Monday @ 10pm est). Eastern Washington comes off a tough loss to Portland, who always has a solid basketball team. This team played very well and although they did lose, it shows that this team will have some talent that will compete this year. Newspapers are reporting that this could be Coach Earlywine's best recruiting class ever as they have improved a great deal on their athleticism from last year. Without a doubt this team is improved from last year's team significantly. Heck, this team is returning five seniors, has another year of experience for the big men down low, has a game underneath their belt with the new faces on this team and certainly will get up for an in-state competition such as this. This Eastern Washington team in probably was one of their worst teams lost by 27 to Washington State back in 2007. They are considerably better this year and I believe this is a solid public fade as this team likely hangs in by single-digits this evening.
5 Unit Play. #519. Take CS Fullerton +16 over UCLA (Monday @ 11:59pm est). We take dogs that can win outright and certainly, having a team in CS Fullerton catching 16 points is one that we will have to jump on. This is also a solid public fade as well. Many people have been high been high on CS Fullerton coming into this season and they didn't let their backers down in their first game. Granted, it was against Hope, but still. This team has solid talent and depth coming back. I want you to notice the total when it comes out in this game as well. What you will see is that we get a solid deal of points here given the total and statistically that is to our advantage as well. Plus, UCLA likes to slow the pace down a good bit and CS Fullerton does have the ability to shoot, which in a slow paced game, can become very significant with the 16 points as well. UCLA has not looked impressive in their first two games of the year and a bit sluggish honestly such as their wins against Concordia 62-61 and defeating Humbolt State by 17. CS Fullerton is a much better team with a very, very deep bench. This bench scored 50 points plus against Hope International University which shows that they have five guys on the bench who their coach believes can be starters elsewhere. I would not be surprised if CS Fullerton possibly wins this game outright tonight folks. This team is definitely talented enough to do it.
Good luck,
IC
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