darrell,

Two picks today.

Good luck , darrell!

**Massachusettes +14.5 over FLORIDA STATE (5:30 Eastern)

Florida St. has been playing great basketball this season and it surely shows. They have gone 14-6 on the year in the ACC. With a closer look though, you'll see that this team, playing quality basketball, has gotten a bit too much respect from the betting public. In their past 4 home games, with Florida St. as the favorite, they have gone just 1-3 ATS. They have most recently played at Duke, losing by just 1 in OT (easily covered ATS), and then became nearly a 10 point favorite at home against GA Tech, where they in turn, only won by a single point. They now face a team like UMass as a 14.5 point favorite. Top ranked Connecticut hosted UMass earlier this year and gave them 18.5 points but lost ATS. Massachusetts is a well coached basketball program who has surely had their ups and downs this season (10-10 on the year).  Their last road game they were blown out by a strong temple team, but head coach Travis Ford will have his team ready in this one. While Florida St. will likely stay in control of this game and end up with the win straight up, UMass should cover with the 14.5 points. Two stars on UMass.

**North Carolina +1.5 over MIAMI (8:00 Eastern)

This should be a great game played by two quality, 14-win basketball programs. The question everyone is asking though, is who will get to 15 first? These two teams played about a month ago (in Carolina) and Miami won by 11 even though they were a 10 point underdog. The important thing to note here is, that this game was played quite some time ago. UNC is a young basketball team and it has taken about half the season for them to fully unite, but thats exactly what they have done as of late. Their coach has helped this young team win 3 of their last 4 stright up and cover all 4 of those games ATS. This high scoring team travels to Miami where they are slight underdogs and should have no problem winning outright. Look for UNC to put up more points than Miami can handle; take the UNC Tar Heels plus the small number. Two stars on UNC.