The Streak (2/12)

Seeing as I'm heading to Portland tomorrow and may or may not have time to give you the inside on the streak game (yeah, I'm feeling good with my W2, thanks to Dayton defeating Xavier and Anaheim rallying versus Calgary), I'm going to divulge which games I like for Thursday ... and there are plenty of them.

Just not in golf or soccer.

I'm taking Stony Brook to defeat Albany with my first choice of the day. Stony Brook is coming off a loss and is just 5-7 at home, but I figure that's better than coming off three consecutive losses like the Great Danes are. Plus, Albany struggles on the road (5-9), so with two 13-11 teams matching up, I'll take the home team.

In games I like to think I know, there's plenty to choose from. My favorites are Northwestern over Illinois at home, but for Pac-10 fans, I like Arizona State to beat UCLA at home. Both of these games tip off around 6:05 p.m. I'm more confident in the Illini, despite 99.3% of the votes disagreeing. Northwestern knocked off Minnesota at home earlier this season and did it convincingly. Meanwhile, Illinois has, for lack of a better word, sucked lately, especially on the road. Need proof?

1/4- 74-64 L to Michigan
1/17- 63-57 L to Michigan St.
1/29- 59-36 (THIRTY SIX!) L to Minnesota
2/5- 63-50 L to Wisconsin.

Go Wildcats.

Finally, if you can squeak it in, Gonzaga and St. Mary's will score fewer than 138. First off, this game isn't going to overtime. I got burned last week with UNLV and San Diego St. combining for the under in regulation, but topping it after the extra five minutes. It isn't happening again. I have Gonzaga winning this game 71-55. That adds up to 126, for you non-math majors.

Go Zags, by the way. If they lose to a Patty Mills-less Gaels team ... sigh.