Jason Green is back with Cappers Picks again to give out his free sports plays. As always he's hoping the Braves and Redskins can win a championship since their last one in the 90’s was long ago. He’s starting to know the pain of Cubs fans.
The Angels were 10 games over .500 last season, mainly because of their solid pitching, but they still finished 10 games behind the Texas Rangers and they did not make the playoffs. However, this season the Halos have high hopes since they won the free agency sweepstakes signing slugger Albert Pujols.
Last season the A’s finished the season 14 games under .500 and they ranked dead last in the league in attendance. Do the A’s have any chance to win back their fans? Hard to say and while there are a lot of question marks on offense Oakland does have a legit pitching staff.
After suffering a long losing streak the Knicks are back on track and they have won 4 straight. However, they only have a 1/2 game lead over the red-hot Milwaukee Bucks for the 8th and last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Magic are coming off a tough loss to the Miami Heat where they only scored 81 points and tonight face a Bulls’ team that has the league’s 2nd ranked defense.
While the Mavs have won 3 straight games, including an impressive win over the Spurs in their last game, they have lost 7 straight on the road.
Minnesota really struggled down the stretch in the regular season, which cost them a shot at the Big Dance, but they looked good in their opening round win in the NIT.
While Tennessee did not make the Big Dance they ended the season well winning 4 of their last 5 games and they had no problem winning in the opening round of the NIT.
Some college giants have been slain so far in the Big Dance, but all the #1 seeds are still alive and can Creighton pull off the shocker facing a UNC team that is stacked and has the best frontcourt in the nation?
Kansas played stifling defense in their easy opening round Big Dance win, but it is Purdue that will have to play good D against a stacked Kansas team if they are going to pull off the upset.
Both 12th seed South Florida and Ohio have already pulled off some upsets in the Big Dance and USF and their stellar defense has held their 2 opponents in the Big Dance to only 54 and 44 points respectively.
Kansas lost in the Big 12 conference semifinals and that likely cost them a #1 seed in the Big Dance. Detroit will not be a pushover and the Titans have won 5 straight and even though they only finished 3rd in the Horizon Conference this season they did not have much trouble winning the conference tourney.
South Florida was sitting on the Big Dance bubble, but they made it in and beat California in the play-in game to make the field of 64.
Purdue ended the season well winning 6 of their last 8 games, but they lost to Ohio State in the Big 10 semis.
Michigan is coming off getting crushed in the Big 10 semifinals and they now face an Ohio team that has won 4 straight.
Georgetown is the 3rd seed in the Midwest Region, but they have lost in the first round in the last 2 NCAA Tournaments and they face a dangerous Belmont team that made the Big Dance last season and is the nation’s 4th highest scoring team.
The #9 vs. #8 match up in the Midwest Region between Creighton and Alabama is a good one with a couple of teams with contrasting styles and the winner will likely have the unenviable task of taking on North Carolina in the round of 32.
