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New Year’s Day NCAA Hoops Action

New Year’s Day NCAA Hoops takes it to the courts, as we begin 2017 looking for action around the landscape of college basketball.

Happy New Year! Here at Get More Sports all of our authors are ready to produce a solid 2017 for you, our readers. That includes me too. I hope to be on your list of people to read regularly this year. Expect to see NCAA Hoops action through the madness and, of course, I will be writing about the beautiful game. Champions League, Europa League, and World Cup qualifying articles will also be going up throughout the year.
The 2018 World Cup is obviously that much closer now that we are in 2017. It seems like we just got done playing the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Oh, and in case you missed it, I profiled 10 of the 32 clubs for World Cup Magazine in 2014. Hopefully we/I will be your source for all things World Cup and football related.

So what do you do when you need to bet on the beautiful game? You go to DSI and open the SOCCER ODDS page, and then listen to what I tell you to do!

For now, we stick to the New Year’s Day NCAA Hoops Action, and a nice little slate presents itself for us.

Once again I find myself dragging the scroll bar to the bottom of the schedule. I am going to touch on both of the late games, and work my way up the board. The last game of the night is being played in Berkeley, California at  7 p.m. local time, which is 10 p.m. out east, of course.

We see that the Cal Bears are strongly favored here at home, and Arizona State is getting +9 in this contest.

Why? And I mean why the hell is ASU getting almost double digits? The Sun Devils have won and/or covered their last three meetings at Cal. Not to mention, I really don’t think that these two teams are all that far away from each other in talent.

For those of you haven’t seen Torian Graham play yet, try to get a peek at #4 in action if you get a chance. How is almost 40% from the arc treating you, son? Now all of a sudden he is bringing in boards too. Check out his rebound stats. He has basically gone from nothing in his first couple of starts, to now bringing in 7 – 8 boards a night. Throw in some steals and ice in his veins from the line, and we’ve got ourselves a complete player.

Hopefully he makes the difference, because I am indeed slapping the +9 on the Sun Devils to keep it close.

Play:
Arizona State +9 vs California

An early rivalry meeting takes place just before that last game of the night. It isn’t the Apple Cup football game, but it is Washington and Washington State going at it. We have two 7 – 5 teams that aren’t exactly killing it out of the gate. What I do like is this line, because double digits in any rivalry game is fine by me. I know this isn’t exactly one of those Duke-Carolina rivalries obviously, but it is what it is.

Play:
Washington State +12 vs Washington

Colorado and Utah tip-off at 6:30 p.m. ET, and I see this early total being listed at 146. Yes, I said 146, and holy cow is that just off. Should we make this our “‘Drunk Play of the Day?’ The line setters showed up for work, and hit the vodka a little too hard here! This is certainly a game that is a race to 80 IMHO, and even a 78 – 72 type of game would work.

Sorry, but that is just too low, and I hope we are the beneficiaries.

Play:
Colorado vs Utah Over 146

Interesting to me that the Loyola-Chicago and Illinois State total is so low. I am seeing 131.5 at DSI, and I get that Illinois State can play defense. I don’t think that Loyola is going to give two craps about Illinois State’s defense. In fact, that will lead me to two plays here.

Plays:
Loyola ML +105 vs Illinois State
The Over 131.5

As you all know, I took the Nebraska / Indiana Over and we nailed that. I posted that Maryland / Illinois Over as well here, and we also nailed that.

That leads us to Nebraska vs Maryland at high noon on the east coast.

I’m not thinking that 139 will be enough to scare me off that total at all.

Michal Cekovsky being out for Maryland is a little concern, but the Terps can still produce without him.

Play:
Nebraska vs Maryland Over 139

For those interested, I am starting a new tracker site for 2017. Anyone who would like to see what I play over the course of 2017 can simply ask. I will be offering my NCAA Hoops, and all my soccer plays including Italian Serie A and B. I will also be starting Lega Pro handicapping, now that we have reached the halfway point of the campaign. That will also include the Champions League and Europa League stuff. Hmm, did I mention Europa League? In the last year-and-a-half, I gave out 103 Europa League plays. Lost only 31 of them.

All tracked at Oddsportal for the world to read, and my followers to enjoy. Do you want to know where to find the Rainmaker in 2017? It will cost you! You have to ask nicely.

Oh, those 36 Lega Pro group A, B and C plays last year? Lost a whole 11 of those! I went 13 – 0 to start it all too, which helped many of my friends grow a money tree.

If it happens in Italy, this guy has you covered, but most of you already know that! I have given out 322 Serie B plays over the last season and a half. I have lost 121 of them. I didn’t become ‘The Rainmaker’ by mistake!

Most importantly, I offer a Happy New Year to all, and may we have success with our New Year’s Day NCAA Hoops Action!

Written by EJ the Rainmaker

EJ Garr has been a freelance sports writer and handicapper for more than 20 years. He appeared as a featured writer in Beckett's Magazine for the 2014 World Cup. An experienced radio host, he also lends his voice to the radio shows on the Sports Palooza Radio Network, which includes a weekly segment dedicated to the NY Cosmos.

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