1/16/06 -- Big Monday B-Ball

Tough loss for the Bears yesterday. I kind of figured that they would try to guard Steve Smith, but I was wrong...Best defense in the NFL my ass. If you would have told me that the Bears would score 21, I would have really liked the chances of a cover. But, oh well 2-1-1 isn't bad considering the 5* hit (again).

I am going to offer up a couple college b-ball games for tonight. Take Southern Illinois +6 at Northern Iowa. N. Iowa is a solid team, but in their last home game, they lost to Creighton as the favorite. S. Ill has a 6-0 conference mark and road record of 5-1 both SU and ATS including 4 in a row. More importantly, this team has been a money-making machine lately. They have won 11 in row SU and covered 10 straight before a push last time out at Drake. These teams also have some common opponents: Northern Iowa played Bradley and lost by 8. Southern Illinois beat Bradley by 12. Northern Iowa beat Evansville by 11 and they didn't cover that game. Southern Illinois beat Evansville by 28. S. Ill is the better team in this game and is hotter than any other team in the country right now. Take the 6 points, but don't be shocked to see them pull the upset in this one.

S. Ill +6 (**)

Second, take UCONN -2 at Syracuse. This game was given to Pilot Picks by Dr. Moonlight and here is the analysis he gave: Uconn is the better team in this game, simple as that. Syracuse relies way too much on McNamara who is actually not having a very good year. Uconn will go the route of shutting down Gerry and forcing the Cuse to find someone else to beat them. This will not happen. Uconn has only lost one game this year (and that was at marquette in a game they did not look interested in and probably overlooked). Well, they will be pumped up for Syracuse on Big Monday. Uconn by double digits in this one.

UCONN -2 (**)