Winners only...

Baseball season has finally arrived in full and we are ready to usher in another great year of GSU Fantasy Baseball. All the dates/times/rules/fees have been updates at mrpickem.us as well as cbssports.com.

Basically the draft is next Saturday 4/12/12 at 10AM and the roster size has been expanded due to an overall decrease in the league size.

The returning owner along with opening Vegas lines:

• +280 COORSMAN prodigal son and returning champ always a force when teamed with OneEye's statistical skills.
• +280 ONEEYE Grizzled vet with strong formulational concepts always a force when teamed with Coorsman's player knowledge.
• +300 THUMPERS League commish stays competitive despite many duties.
• +350 DIAMONDS Mr Baseball from years past near relinquishing such moniker.
• +450 BADA BING Football specialist still trying to add baseball title to resume.
• +500 SAVY CUBS Great fan of the game will not lose for lack of effort.
• +600 CRACKHOZ Met went 0-fer the whole 2011(EVERY CONTEST)..he's due.
• +399 PEE KING Dark horse candidate composed of owner conglomerate of RBI Rod, Dr Parlay and a mystery partner; managed by theman.

No. 7 Florida Gators vs. No. 4 Louisville Cardinals (+1, 131)

THE STORY: Both Louisville and Florida pulled off minor upsets in the West Region semifinals on Thursday night, and now the two tournament-savvy schools will meet with a Final Four berth on the line. The fourth-seeded Cardinals are in the Elite Eight for the fourth time under coach Rick Pitino, while the seventh-seeded Gators are looking for their fourth Final Four appearance since 2000 under coach Billy Donovan. Donovan played for Pitino at Providence and coached under him at Kentucky, and he’s a dismal 0-6 all-time against his mentor.

FLORIDA (26-10): This is the team everyone expected to see all season. The Gators’ three tournament victories have come by a combined 70 points, most recently a 68-58 upset of No. 3 seed Marquette. Florida led the nation with nearly 10 3-pointers made per game during the regular season, but the Gators are just 21-of-78 (26.9 percent) from deep in the three wins. They can thank a defense that’s surrendering only 51 points per game for the success, but the shooting will have to improve if they hope to knock off Louisville — a very strong defensive team.

LOUISVILLE (29-9): Speaking of good defense, the Cardinals are putting on quite the show on that end of the court. Led by Gorgui Dieng’s seven blocks, Louisville held top-seeded Michigan State to 28 percent shooting in a 57-44 upset that left the West Region up for grabs. Louisville’s matchup zone and high-pressure defense is giving opponents’ fits, which Florida will have to counter with some accurate long-range shooting. Opponents are just 14-of-63 (22.2 percent) on 3-pointers against the Cardinals in three tournament games.

TRENDS:

* Gators are 14-3 in their past 17 games as a favorite in the NCAA tournament.
* Cardinals are 7-0 ATS in their past 7 neutral site games.
* Under is 10-1 in the Cardinals' past 11 games.
* Over is 15-4 in the Gators' past 19 non-conference games.

TIDBIS:

1. Pitino is now 10-0 all-time in the Sweet 16, but he’s 5-4 in the Elite Eight.
2. Florida is 32-12 all-time in the NCAA tournament, including a 28-9 mark under Donovan.

The Play: Florida -1 4u & Over 131 1u

No. 1 Syracuse Orange vs. No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (-3, 136)

THE STORY: Top-seeded Syracuse defeated No. 4 seed Wisconsin 64-63 Thursday and earned its first NCAA tournament victory against a Big Ten opponent in seven tries. Now, the Orange will play another Big Ten foe, No. 2 seed Ohio State, with a trip to the Final Four at stake. The Buckeyes, who advanced to the regional final with an 81-66 victory over No. 6 Cincinnati, have made just one Final Four in Thad Matta’s eight seasons, back in 2007. That year, they lost to Florida in the national championship game. Syracuse, meanwhile, hasn’t made the Final Four since 2003 - the year Carmelo Anthony led them to an improbable title. The last NCAA tournament meeting came in 1983, a 79-74 Ohio State victory.

With a different cast, Florida is heading back to the Elite Eight despite some dreadful bright orange uniforms.

Box Score / Photo Gallery

Freshman guard Bradley Beal scored 21 points, lifting Florida to a 68-58 win Thursday over Marquette in the West Regional semifinals.

The seventh-seed Gators (26-10) move on to face fourth-seeded Louisville (29-9) in the regional finals Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Louisville upset top-seeded Michigan State 57-44 earlier Thursday night. It will pit Florida coach Billy Donovan against his mentor, Louisville coach Rick Pitino.

Donovan is 0-6 against Pitino. His last meeting against his former coach at Providence was a 73-65 loss to Louisville on Dec. 13, 2004. Pitino gave Donovan his start in coaching when he hired him in 1989 as a graduate assistant at Kentucky

“Outside of my parents, he's the most influential person in my life,” Donovan said. “I'm very thankful for the opportunities he's given me as a player, as a coach.”

Florida made enough plays down the stretch to set up the storybook matchup. Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker each added 11 points for Florida. Patric Young had seven points and nine rebounds, and Erik Murphy had seven points and a season-high 10 rebounds.

Jae Crowder led Marquette (27-7) with 15 points. Darius Johnson-Odom scored 14 points for Marquette, and Todd Mayo added 11 points off the bench.

Young, Murphy and Beal are all first-year starters for a Florida team that had its share of ups and downs during the 2011-12 season. Walker and Boynton, meanwhile, are UF's two returning starters from a Florida team that reached the Elite Eight last season in New Orleans before falling to Butler in overtime.

“Hopefully this time, we can finish it off,” Walker said.

Well after a stellar first day...bring on the games. Little in sports bring the excitement of the big dance and once again this year is no exception.

Yesterday was a money making day for mrpickem and his followers. 12-5 and plus 22 units!

Today there are many good spots so for now I will focus on the day games.

Texas is the play in the first game because of Cincy's lacking a strong go to guy, the Horns have navigated a much tougher schedule and reeled off many quality wins down the stretch. The fact is the Bearcats are just plain overrated! Also like the over as these two teams combined have went over in 17 of their last 20 tourney games cumulatively.

TEXAS +3
TEX/CIN OVER 129
CREIGHTON +1
VIRGINIA +3
BELMONTE +3'

As much as I love the Gators I have to take the Cavs here. The Gators don't have a great team this year and have played even poorer down the stretch. Biggest early plays on TEXAS & CREIGHTON!

Good luck...let cash these tickets!

OK, it's time for March Madness. I been slacking, but I got the Elite Eight contest ready to go and Brackets are available through cbssports.com.

All the info is available at http://mrpickem.us/madness.

Odds to win it all!

NCAA Men's Basketball 2011 - 2012 NCAA Championship
Thu 3/15 12:15PM
Kentucky +280
Ohio State +600
North Carolina +700
Michigan St +850
Missouri +1100
Kansas +1200
Syracuse +1500
Duke +2600
Florida State +2800
Baylor +3500
Vanderbilt +3500
Marquette +4500
Louisville +5000
Wichita State +5500
Georgetown +6500
Wisconsin +7000
New Mexico +7500
Memphis +8500
Indiana +9500
Michigan +9500
Florida +10000
Murray State +10000
UNLV +12000
Connecticut +12500
Cincinnati +13000
Kansas State +15000
Creighton +15500
NC State +17500
St. Louis +17500
Gonzaga +18000
West Virginia +20000

Feb 05 '12 6:30p NY Giants vs New England Patriots

I'm on NEW ENGLAND...and here's why:

As you're probably aware, both teams are coming off very "close" victories. The Patriots squeaked past Baltimore, avoiding OT by a missed FG. Meanwhile, the Giants needed OT to beat San Francisco. As you're likely also aware, the Giants beat the Pats at Foxboro in the regular season AND they also beat them in the Super Bowl four years ago. Combine those factors with the fact that the Giants covered in the Conference Finals and the Pats did not AND we're getting a very low pointspread. Indeed, the Pats were laying double-digits when these teams faced each other in the previous Super Bowl. I feel that low number is providing us with excellent value on the "revenge-minded" Patriots.

I won with the Packers in last year's Super Bowl, backing a team which I felt had an excellent QB and an elite coach. The previous year, I backed the Saints over the Colts in large part because I felt they'd have an edge in the coaching department. In this case, both quarterbacks and head coaches have been been here and won here before. While recent head-to-head meetings would suggest otherwise, I still believe the combination of Brady and Belichick is superior to the tandem of Coughlin and Manning. I also believe that both Brady and Belichick are the type of personalities that despise being "shown up. Everyone "expected" them to beat the Giants in the last Super Bow and they came up short. Then, these same Giants snapped their home winning streak. While every player and member of the coaching staff will (obviously) be extremely motivated to win, I expect both Brady and Belichick to "take it to another level," in an effort to "get the last laugh" against these pesky and hated Giants.

It should be pointed out that the Pats are a stellar 7-2 SU and 6-2-1 ATS the last few seasons, when attempting to avenge an earlier loss. We saw what they did to the Bills, after Buffalo had beaten them earlier in the season - they crushed them by a score of 49-21 in the "rematch. Going back further finds that the Pats at an outstanding 51-30-4 ATS (63%) the last 85 times that they were in the "revenge" role. While it wasn't a "revenge" situation, it should be noted that the Pats also destroyed Denver, when facing the Broncos for the second time. That kept the Pats perfect when facing a team for the second time this season, winning those four games by 87 combined points.

While both teams had last week off, it should be noted that the Giants had to play an extra game to get here, while flying all over the country, plus had to fight desperately just to make the playoffs. I feel that works in the Pats favor. Keep in mind that the Pats just won by 35 points when getting an extra week off in between games. The last time that the Giants played with two week's rest in between games was way back in October. After their break, they barely beat a struggling Miami team, winning by three as -9.5 point home favorites.

While even most Giants' fans will admit that the Pats possess the more potent offense, the knock against the Pats has been their defense. This group has played much better than people realize though. Allowing an average of only 15 ppg in the playoffs shows they've elevated their level of play on that side of the ball. One could make a convincing case for either team and there are plenty of stats supporting both sides. The legacies of both the QBs and coaches will be on the line. Ultimately, I expect Belichick and the Pats to have the better gameplan and look for Brady to outplay Manning, as the Pats have their revenge, getting the cash along the way.

The play: New England Patriots -2½ -115

Also I see the Giants trying to establish a running game early to keep Brady off the field. This leads to two separate plays I'm really liking.
Play under 27½ for the 1st half!
Play over 61 ½ Total Rushing Yards by Ahmad Bradshaw. In order to leave Tom Brady off the field the Giants will need to run the ball and let the clock run. We should see a heavy dosage of Ahmad Bradshaw early and often and if the Patriots defense can't control the run game Bradshaw has a big game. New England couldn't tackle Baltimore's Rice and Bradshaw is bigger and will be able to dominate the 1st half. Wouldn't shock me to see this prop bet be close to cashing by halftime. Much more scoring in 2nd half as Brady takes charge and the Pats win 31-27.

Which team will accrue more penalty yards?
Giants: -110
Patriots: -110

One good way to find prop bets that suggest you might have a problem is when Vegas just lists two sides without a spread at -110. What that basically says is, "We don't know what the right side is here, but we also know you don't know, and we're going to collect vig while you and your buddies guess." For what it's worth, the Patriots accrued 815 penalty yards to the Giants' mere 795 during the regular season, but the Giants have been responsible for 163 penalty yards in three playoff games, while the Patriots are at just 25 after two games. People will think less of you if you bet on this!

Which team will use a coach's challenge first?
Giants: -110
Patriots: -110

It's important to note that the team doesn't need to win the challenge, just use it. The Giants used 10 challenges during the regular season and two during the postseason, for an average of 0.63 challenges per game. The Pats used eight during the regular season and haven't used any during the postseason, for an average of 0.44 challenges per game. What do those numbers mean over a sample of 18-19 games? Absolutely nothing. Your girlfriend will use this as a sign that you're not ready to take the next step in your relationship and break up with you if you bet on it.

How will the opening coin toss land?
Heads: -101
Tails: -101

Here's how bad this bet is: Even Vegas feels bad about charging full vig on it. Some offshore books will put each side of this bet at -110, knowing that it's a 50/50 proposition and that they can bank $9 for every $100 that comes in. The LVH has the juice down to 1 percent, but it's still an incredibly stupid bet. You are essentially lighting 1 percent of the money in your wallet on fire if you make this bet.3

How many players will attempt a pass during the game?
Over 2.5: +290
Under 2.5: -350

I can't lie: I love this bet a little bit. The bet here is, essentially, "Will somebody besides Tom Brady or Eli Manning throw a pass?" The Patriots have given Brian Hoyer mop-up work, but we're going to assume that this question basically revolves around the idea that a nonquarterback is going to throw a pass. How rare has that been for these teams? Well, the Patriots haven't had a nonquarterback throw a pass since 2008, when Kevin Faulk threw one, and before that, it was Adam Vinatieri on a fake field goal in 2004. Their last quarterback to throw a pass in the playoffs who didn't have "Brady" on the back of his jersey was Drew Bledsoe. And unless you want to make a joke about Jared Lorenzen, we have to go all the way back to Jeff Feagles in 2006 for a nonquarterback pass attempt from the Giants. That's thousands of chances for a pass by Hakeem Nicks or Aaron Hernandez … and these teams haven't taken it once. Why would they start now? But then again, why would the "Under 2.5" line be so low? Suspicious.

What will the jersey number be of the first player to score a touchdown?
Over 80.5: EVEN
Under 80.5: -120

BALTIMORE (-7') Houston (38) 1:00 PM
3* BALTIMORE -7'
You have to be impressed with everything that the Texans have accomplished this season. They finally knocked off the Colts and won the AFC south and made their very first playoff appearance. They won their 1st playoff game this year despite losing their top defensive player and losing their top two Qb's along with other injuries. Last week had to be a thrill for them in front of their home crowd but asking a young 3rd string QB to go on the road and beat by far the best defense he will have faced is asking a bunch. The Ravens, who seem to be a playoff regular finally get a home game and this team should be sky high. The Ravens faced this Texans team back in week 5 and won 29-14 as 6.5 point favs that day and now the line is 7.5 today. I do believe that the loss of Qb Shaub is worth more than a point here. The Ravens were just one of three teams to hold the Texans running game to less than 100 yards. The Texans had less than 300 yards of total offense while the Ravens had more than 400 yards when the 2 met. Since Qb Yates took over the Texans have not scored more than 20 points on the road. I expect the Ravens defense to force Yates into mistakes as I see the Ravens who are ranked #2 vs. the run slowing down Foster and company. That puts all the pressure on Yates and look for the Ravens to pull away in the second half.

Baltimore 27 Houston 10