Sports Handicapper William Burns's Picks & Predictions

Central Connecticut Blue Devils (ATS) .. 

In the Northeast Conference, not many teams really come close to the Central Connecticut Blue Devils. As a matter of fact, there are just three times above .500 in conference games this season. Having said that, the Blue Devils should be considered as a the top team in this years conference tournament, expected to put their names in the March Madness draw by the end of it. 

On the other hand, Chicago State is tied with two others for the worst record in conference games. If the standings had tiebreakers of the worst overall record getting the lower seed, the Cougars would be dead last by a mile. This team isn't very good and doesn't cover ATS all that much. CCSU has covered ATS in 74% of all games this season. Expect the Blue Devils to dominate this basketball game. 

Score Prediction: 76-58 CCSU.

Southern Utah Thunderbirds (ATS) .. 

Even though playing on the road has been a struggle for the Thunderbirds, its getting very late in the season and I believe that SUU will do everything in its power to improve its seed and try and avoid an #8/#9 matchup in the opening round of the WAC tournament. Other than the teams that play in that game, everyone else in the conference will play the same amount of games in the tournament which would be huge for a team like SUU. 

Abilene Christian is still two games ahead of Southern Utah which will make it difficult. However, the Wildcats are not very good in my opinion. Despite being off three consecutive wins, they've had rebounding issues this season averaging 30.3 RPG. That's not going to cut it against taller teams when times get tough. I think that ACU will have a much harder time this time around as the stats show that these teams are fairly equal. Expect the Thunderbirds to cover ATS this evening. 

Score Prediction: 72-70 ACU.

Viktoria Plzen (3-Way ML) .. 

Ferencvaros comes into this match with the mentality of defense first for the second leg here today. Although it should just play freely, a lot of teams like to sit back with a lead in a two-legged match which leads to all sorts of different results. Having said that, the Hungarian side doesn't have the talent that most teams in the UEL possess. I expect them to play this game cautiously. 

On the other hand, after losing the first leg 1-0, Viktoria Plzen will be doing everything in its power to win this game and at least get to Extra Time. Luckily for the Czechia side this afternoon, it will be playing at home where it's undefeated in 94% of its home games this season (17 games,) with 13 wins and three draws. It should be ready for this encounter. Hammer the home team. 

Score Prediction: 2-0 Viktoria Plzen

Phoenix Suns @ San Antonio Spurs (Over) .. 

Prior to the All-Star break, Phoenix had started to pick up the pace and play in some very high scoring games. As a matter of fact, even though the Suns have been losing, their past five away games have all gone "over." Phoenix is a team that should be putting up points with how much star power it possesses. I expect it to score lots against a team that loves to score points as well in SAS. 

San Antonio seems to always be having these high scoring games. Not only have 80% of their past 15 games finished above the o/u line, but the Spurs also can do this with how much speed they have on their team. After adding Fox, the Spurs can out run most teams in the NBA, leading to many fast break points and easy buckets with their opponents out of position. 

In the end, I expect this game to be very high scoring. Both teams will be hungry to get off to a strong start after the break and offense should be the focus. Expect this game to end "over" and probably finish in the mid-240s on Thursday evening. 

Score Prediction: 127-116 Suns