Matt's Picks (4 Live)
Cleveland State has won six straight at home vs. Northern Kentucky. ...
Seattle will be down two key forwards in Nashville. ...
Matt's Past Picks
Want to alert readers that as of today we do have some NHL player props available. I'll pretty much always lean Under any guy at 1.5 points (other than perhaps Connor McDavid) -- especially at a good price like this. And even though the Bolts' Nikita Kucherov is having another MVP-caliber season. Any NHL goaltender is capable of a shutout/one-goal effort. We didn't get a 60-minute line prop yet as that's the one I would use the most. I won't play that many individual NHL props but occasionally.
Is the wrong team favored? I tend to think so. Almost played Red Wings at -115 last night and glad I waited as I always prefer to get a +1/1.5 on a home team that I think wins regardless. Both have about the same amount of points, but the Wings are right in the Eastern Conference WC race and the HC is more on the fringes out West. Major urgency situation with Detroit having lost three straight but it will get back forward Michael Rasmussen (15 points) from injury. Reportedly a bit of an illness going around the Utah locker room. It's the first Detroit-Utah game in NHL history. The Red Wings are 17-8-2 since Todd McLellan took over as head coach on Dec. 27.
It's conference tournament time so obviously anything can happen. But Missouri State (2-18 in MVC) really has no right knocking off Illinois State (10-10 in MVC). The Redbirds rank 21st in the country in three-point field goal percentage and among players with at least 50 three-point field goals made, Jack Daugherty's .500 percentage is second-highest in the NCAA. Illinois State has had six games with five or fewer turnovers in a game, which is tied for the second-most this season in the NCAA. It swept the regular-season series. I believe this should be closer to -280 and it might be on its way there. Should have grabbed this before I went to bed and got it under -200.
The Kings are one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams in the league in terms of home/road splits as the club is 19-3-3 at home but 12-17-5 away. Maybe a little sense of urgency after the team was just swept on a three-game trip and lost each by multiple goals. That includes 4-1 in St. Louis on Saturday but with backup David Rittich in net. No. 1 Darcy Kuemper should get the call Wednesday and is 10-1-1 at home ice with a 2.07 GAA. The Blues are 1-6 in their past seven in L.A.
There is definitely the old concern of beating the same team three times in one season with FDU here, but the Knights won both regular-season meetings over Stonehill by double digits -- and swept last season -- and this NEC quarterfinal is a true home game in Hackensack. Which allows me to say RIP to easily one of my favorite actors ever in Gene Hackman -- he drops "Hackensack" as Lex Luthor in the original Superman, a movie that changed my life. FDU has the NEC scoring leader in Terrence Brown, blocks leader in Bismark Nsiah and 3-point leader in Dylan Jones. So maybe it is simply that much better than Stonehill.
Charlotte is playing pretty awful right now but should have everyone available (who isn't out for the year). Feels like a major trap game with the Timberwolves off back-to-back big wins but in the second of a B2B after prevailing Tuesday in Philly without Rudy Gobert. I tend to doubt he plays tonight and we could see a guy or two get the second leg off. And the Minnesota players probably are looking forward to the next leg of the road trip late tonight: Miami.
Believe this will close near -200 from the Sun Belt Tournament in Pensacola. Southern Miss had just five regular-season league wins but snapped an eight-game skid with a 66-63 win over Coastal Carolina on Tuesday to advance -- it went down to the wire, so there could be some tired legs in the second half tonight. Georgia Southern is well-rested, on a two-game winning streak and gets a chance for payback from a four-point loss at USM in the only RS meeting. But a big reason for that Southern Miss win was Andre Curbelo, who had 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals. He was dismissed from the club late last month.
Wasn't our day yesterday in the Champions League, but I'll pretty much take +1.5 goals on any home team at this late stage of the tournament. Feyenoord is unbeaten in six games in all competitions (W3 D3), since a 2-0 loss at PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Cup quarterfinal on Feb. 5. Inter's Serie A record since advancing straight to the UCL Round of 16 is W2 D2 L2 with both defeats in away games.
The Pels' CJ McCollum has topped this in back-to-back games after a minor slump and averages 21.9 PPG on the year. It's his first look at the Lakers, who are missing starters Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, which will lessen the team's defense a bit. McCollum probably also would have expended a lot more energy defensively if Reaves was in there. Our model has CJ at 19.4 points.
Usually need a reason to play a road team and think we have that here with what appears to about as much of a goaltending mismatch as possible: Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck, a two-time Vezina winner likely to win a third in a few months, against Islanders rookie Jakub Skarek. The 25-year-old allowed five goals in his lone NHL start and has a career 48-81-1 record with a 3.31 GAA in the AHL so he's clearly not a top prospect. Skarek presumably has to start with the Isles in the second of a B2B and usual No. 2 Semyon Varlamov on long-term IR.
I believe this is too low by a good 50 cents in Vermont's regular-season home finale ... as long as everyone plays as the Catamounts still have a shot at sharing the America East title with a win and some help. They are on an eight-game winning streak. UVM leads the league and is among national leaders in scoring at 64.0 PPG. It won by six at Albany earlier this season and has mostly dominated this series over the years.