Insider Sports Report

5* Texas A&M -3
4* Xavier +1
3* Georgia Tech/Oklahoma St. OVER 136˝
3* Louisville +1

Wayne Root

Millionaire - Minnesota
Millionaire - Maryland
Billionaire - Purdue
Billionaire - Mich St
No Limit - Utah St (GOY)
No Limit - California

Sean Higgs

50* Missouri
50* Siena
20* Cal
20* Ok State
20* Utah State

Dwayne Bryant

Florida St -1.5

Maryland -9.5

Karl Garrett

20 DIMER - GONZAGA BULLDOGS
10 DIMER - HOUSTON COUGARS

Sportsbetsnow

3 Units Cornell +3.5
3 Units Purdue -4
3 Units Clemson -1.5
3 Units Utah St. +3
3 Units Florida St. -1.5

Chuck O'Brien

25 DIME: PURDUE
10 DIME: TEMPLE
10 DIME: Maryland-Houston OVER the total

Mighty Quinn

Mighty hit with St. Mary's, Calif., (+2) and missed with UTEP (+3) yesterday.

Friday it's Minnesota and Utah State. The deficit is 195 sirignanos.

Dave Malinsky

6* Louisville/Cal Over 149

Pick 'n' Roll: Today's best NBA bets

Detroit Pistons at Indiana Pacers (N/A)

If you’re wondering how the Cavs could lock up their division title so soon these two teams should help explain.

The Pistons and Pacers don’t have much to play for in the final weeks of the regular season. Indiana coach Jim O’Brien says his star forward and best scorer, Danny Granger, is out indefinitely after taking an elbow to the cheek Tuesday night against Charlotte.

The Pistons are still waiting to get combo guard Rodney Stuckey back. The Eastern Washington product collapsed in a game against Cleveland on March 5 and hasn’t played since. Coach John Kuester hopes to have Stuckey back for Friday’s game.

Is it possible the Pistons miss Ben Wallace more than Stuckey right now? Detroit is allowing 110 points per game over the last eight games that Wallace has been out with a knee injury.

Pick: Over


Boston Celtics at Houston Rockets (-1.5, 203)

The Houston Rockets are enjoying their longest winning streak of the season. It looks like Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks have worked out all the kinks in backcourt. The pair is averaging 45.5 points during the four-game unbeaten run.

The team still struggles to get easy baskets and defend inside.

The Celtics seem to beat the teams they’re supposed to and lose to teams with any kind of momentum. Kevin Garnett doesn’t abuse a weak frontcourts offensively any more and you don’t want to rely on scoring from defensive center Kendrick Perkins.

Rajon Rondo is an elite defensive guard and he should keep Aaron Brooks under wraps. Expect the Celtics to close out Houston long-range bombers and slow the pace.

Pick: Under

ICE PICKS

Friday's Best NHL Bets

Minnesota Wild at Columbus Blue Jackets (-145, 5.5)

The Blue Jackets are creeping out of last place in the Western Conference, winning three of their last four games.

Columbus’ most recent victory came in a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers Monday – the only team below it in the conference standings. The Blue Jackets piled on the goals in the third period, scoring three times to secure the win.

Columbus has done well, even leading scorer Rick Nash in the stands. Nash has been out of action since suffering a lower-body injury in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings earlier in the month. Since then, the team is 3-1 and should have its star forward back for Friday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. Nash has totaled 57 points – 28 of those points coming on goals.

The Blue Jackets are much better at home this year, going 17-11-2-5 inside Nationwide Arena. The last time they hosted the Wild, the Jackets took a 2-1 victory as -135 favorites back in October.

Pick: Columbus


New York Islanders at Anaheim Ducks (N/A)

Welcome back Jonas Hiller. The Ducks missed you.

Anaheim’s star netminder hasn’t missed a game since returning from the Olympics, however, the Swiss goaltender has been with the team in body only. Hiller allowed 3.5 goals per game in his first four starts back following the break, leaving the Ducks to go 0-4 in that stretch.

Hiller is returning to form in recent games. He turned away 28 shots in a 1-0 loss to the Nashville Predators last Friday then stopped a total of 74 shots over his next two games, leading Anaheim to 4-2 wins over two of the best teams in the NHL – the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks.

Those efforts also pulled the Ducks to 13th in the Western Conference with 72 points – eight points behind the Detroit Red Wings, who are in the eighth and final postseason spot in the conference.

Pick: Anaheim

Lenny Stevens

20 Clemson
20 Xavier
10 Purdue
10 Fla St

Anthony Redd

25* Cornell +3.5
25* Oakland +9.5
25* Arkansas-PB +23
15* Minnesota PK
15* Missouri +1
15* Gonzaga +1.5

KELSO

10 units Xavier pk
5 units Temple -4
3 units Wofford +10

Brandon Lang

20 Temple -3.5

All Owls today.

Bottom line folks is if Cornell is going to be successful they have got to get open looks from behind the arc and truth be told, Temple is just too long defensively to allow that to happen.

I understand the publics fascination with Cornell since their near miss at Kansas but do you really think the Jayhawks were motivated on a weeknight early in the year to take on Cornell? Exactly.%key% Further examination will show you they were just 3-7 ATS down the stretch including a 79-64 loss at Penn as a 16 point favorite.

The key word of the day sportsfans when dealing with Cornell is OVERRATED.

As for Temple, they won the A-10 regular season, the A-10 tourney, and they have won 10 in a row SU, going 8-1-1 ATS, and they plan on making some noise in this tourney.

The numbers will show you that in the 8 games Temple has been favored by 4 or less they are a fantastic 7-0-1 ATS with the push happening last Sunday courtesy of a missed free throw with 2 seconds to go.

Fact of the matter is this team has been a cash-cow putting up a 22-10-1 ATS mark and I don't care who you are, that is making money.

The final straw for me is the fact Cornell is just 2-6 ATS last 8 as a neutral site dog, the role they find themselves in today.

Temple advances today with another win and cover.

Bobby Maxwell

500* Gonzaga +1.5
200* Texas A&M -3

Chris Jordan

500 Xavier PK

Michael Cannon

40 Siena +4
20 Temple -3.5

Derek Mancini

15 Cornell +3.5
5 California PK

Stephen Nover

40 Purdue -4
20 West Virginia -17.5
15 Oakland +9.5