Thursday's Picks

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!

Last Night: After looking at Texas A & M's resume again, I'm really glad I picked against them. The Aggies best win, I guess, is home against Alabama or a destruction of Ohio State at MSG. Last night was their second true road game and they lost by 15. The next blogpoll, I am dropping them faster than Rick Majerus' pants. In the ACC, Duke got one of those "Ugh I Can't Believe They Won That Game I Fucking Hate Duke" wins, using some favorable calls and the general punchability of Greg Paulus to escape Florida State by 11. And I avoided a perfect night because UNC showed some serious flaws in nearly blowing an undefeated season by turning into VMI once the ball entered the paint. The usually outstanding Grant Wahl went trolling for attention yesterday by leaving UNC off his 8 Title Contenders Column (I will try this later today or early next week... probably), but that may be justified. That was an awful defensive performance and if it weren't for Psycho T's uncanny ability to not be affected by concussions, they would've lost to a sub-.500 team. Sucks I picked them.

Marquette at Louisville (-2.5)- Pitino's bunch are finally healthy... for now. They are 3-1 since getting everyone back with their only loss to the unstoppable dragonslayer that is Cincinnati. The road team has won three of the last four in this series, with the only home win being an OT snag by Louisville in '06. This is tough because while I find the Eagles to be pretty fraudulent, they do have some nice road performances and Louisville hasn't been properly repre... oh, shit, Juan Palacios broke his nose picking it, he's out 6-8 months. Alright I'll take the points.
The Pick: Marquette

Vanderbilt at Tennessee (-10.5)- I've been on the Vandy bandwagon all season (disregard NC State) and wasn't all that deterred by its loss to Kentucky, but it seems Vegas (as well as the great blog, Vegas Watch) has deemed the Dores early success a hoax. I've also said they would struggle against athletic teams because their bigs (specifically star frosh Andrew Ogilvy) won't be able to keep up. Patrick Patterson killed them on both ends and while Tennessee doesn't have a Patterson type, they aren't going to play a halfcourt game like the Cats either. So it'll be a matter of the Vols beating Vandy's bigs up and down the court to negate their size disadvantage. Plus they can run a bunch of dudes at Shan Foster, which helps. ALL that being said, 10.5 is a lot for two one-loss teams and Tennessee hasn't beaten any good teams by over 10. This feels like a three-point shooting contest, so stay away if possible. But alas, I have no choice.
The Pick: Tennessee

Indiana (-1.5) at Minnesota- I'm not going to pretend to know much about Minnesota except they have good size, good depth and a breed of white jump shooter indigenous to the state. But Indiana, my friends, has Eric Gordon, the appointed king of the land by... well, me. That place is going to be rather loud and there is nothing more terrifying than rowdy, frost-bitten white people, but I fail to see how the Gophers are ready for a primetime game against a top opponent or able to defend guys like Gordon and DJ White.
The Pick: Indiana

Yesterday's Record: 2-1
Overall Record: 5-5