Monday's Picks

Google Image search "gambling" and "basketball"? You get MJ, a true OG of wagering

Because the best way to feign actual knowledge on a subject is an accurate prediction, I introduce the Picks. Every weekday (hopefully) I will pick the televised games of the night, against the spread of course, and follow the results to see if I actually know something about basketball. The results should be both entertaining (for readers) and soul-crushing (for me). And if I'm wrong, I'll just do what all the TV "experts" do: never bring it up again and avoid all accountability. And since I won't be betting actual money (that often), I win every time!

I'll also be picking against one of my roommates, Craig, so we can have a rational method of settling all disputes involving rent, household matters, etc.

Last Thursday: Thursday was a very long time ago but for the sake of routine and, more importantly, symmetrical goodness, let's recap. Finished the week with a nice 2-1 night. Tennessee played outstanding for 30 minutes, sucked for five and then finished off Vandy for a 20-point win. Even though they might drop out of the top 25 (at least in the blogpoll) I'm still on the Vandy bandwagon. Like I've been saying, they just can't play against athletic bigs. Patrick Patterson? 23 and 12. The erotically named Wayne Chism? 18 and 18. And Ogilvy only averaging 14 and 5 in those games. Meanwhile, the Vols looked as good as anyone I've seen this year for a large part of that game. Will they make my upcoming list of potential title winners? The excitement is palpable... or something. Louisville crushed Marquette, which I picked even though I knew it sucked. I just wasn't sure about a suddenly healthy Louisville team yet. After losing to Seton Hall Saturday, I'm still not. The Big East is utter pandemonium. Indiana is an utterly confounding team. They played awful against Minnesota but managed a victory. More on them at some point this week.

Also, I'm going to start keeping track of my record within each conference. Why? I don't really know, just gonna do it...

Syracuse at Georgetown (-12)- I am a Giants fan and a Syracuse fan. After the Orange lost to Villanova Saturday, I basically expected a 72 hour period of sports devastation. Surely the Giants would lose to the Packers and the Orange would get crushed by Georgetown. Then the Giants won. As a result I don't give a flying fuck if Syracuse wins this game. The emotional torture of the Giants' game has left me in a gleeful state of sickness and to invest any type of energy in the Syracuse game tomorrow, one that they surely will not win, would be incredibly hazardous. Syracuse has somehow won 7 of the last 8 in this series and with the Hoyas rolling and the Orange looking awful over the weekend, it was a perfect storm for a ridiculous spread. With the exception of Saturday, we have seen the plodding Hoyas struggle to blow teams out. Regardless of what happens, I'm not letting this one get to me. Seriously. Promise. (I'm doomed).
The Pick: Syracuse

Craig's Pick: I can attest to Jtom’s emotional state after the Giants game. After Tynes hit the game winner, he proceeded to tell me he loved me three, maybe four times. I am not a Giants fan I should mention (Ed. note: we're not gay... not that there's anything wrong with that). Back to the game – Syracuse will not score more than 50 points, and Georgetown will score a lot due to Syracuse’s lack of defensive intensity/unwillingness to play man (enter Boeheim is a terrible coach joke here).
The Pick: Georgetown

Texas (-2) at Oklahoma State- While this game last year was one of the best regular season games I've ever seen, propelling Kevin Durant into the majority of my fantasies, I'm not really sure what I'm missing here. Oklahoma State sucks right? I guess Texas wasn't all too impressive in beating Colorado by just two at home Saturday but seriously, Oklahoma State sucks right? The lost to Oral Roberts and North Texas, right? Texas won at UCLA right? I'm pretty scared of games that look this obvious, but... seriously Oklahoma State sucks.
The Pick: Texas

Craig's Pick: ”I'm pretty scared of games that look this obvious, but... seriously Oklahoma State sucks.” This tells me something.
Pick: Oklahoma State

San Francisco at Gonzaga(-19.5)- After watching the Zags dismantle Pepperdine in Malibu last week, it seemed wise to ride them in all these midnight ESPN West Coast games. But this line is pretty high and San Francisco played the Zags to OT last season, keeping most of the past meetings pretty close. Plus they are coached by Eddie Sutton, and I am told that is important and stuff. This is a tough one and while I shouldn't have to advise people to not bet on a West Coast Conference game that involves San Francisco, probably want to stay away from this one.
The Pick: Gonzaga

Craig's Pick: I know absolutely nothing about San Francisco, and I’d be very surprised if you did either.
Pick: San Francisco.

Last week's record: 7-6
Overall record: 7-6

ACC: 1-1
Big 12: 1-1
Big East: 1-2
Big Ten: 1-1
SEC: 1-1
Missouri Valley: 1-0
West Coast: 1-0

Craig's record: 0-0