Expert Ncaa March Madness Picks - January 31, 2009

Last night we got the win on our lone CBB pick as Penn won outright as a +5.5 dog! We are now hitting 61%, 41-26 (+28.4 units) over the last three and a half weeks and roll with five premium college hoops picks today - all early games.

Today's NCAA Basketball Picks:

Game: Toledo at Buffalo (12:00 PM Eastern)
Pick: 3 units on Buffalo -14.5 (-110) (risk 3 to win 2.7)

The Bulls gave some insight as to what type of talent they have when they took UConn to the wire at home earlier this season. They are 10-2 since that game and have now logged wins in their last five straight. Toledo has been a mess on the road where they have yet to break through and come in here with an 0-10 mark on the season, playing on the road. They have failed to score more than 53 points in any conference road game and have been beaten by double-digits in all of them, by an average of 18.3 points per game. Buffalo will be the best they have faced in conference on the road, and a Bulls’ blowout is in order here. Buffalo big in this one!

The Mountaineers have done a good job this season and come into this one with a 15-5 mark. They are what I call a "tweener" team. They are better than many of the good teams in the conference, but not nearly as good as the heavyweights at the top. They lost to Pitt by 12 at home, to UConn by six at home, and to Marquette by 22 points on the road. Louisville is on the level of those three teams, and Louisville may be the best of the lot. The Cards have run off eight-straight wins, running the table in the Big East (7-0) with five of the seven wins coming by double-digits. This one should be another 10+ point Louisville win, and I'm backing the Cards at home here.

When Wake Forest went to BYU - where the Cougars rarely lose, many thought they would stumble, with North Carolina looming in their minds as their next game. They went in there and beat a solid Cougar team by seven points. After they knocked off Carolina, when they went to BC, who also knocked off Carolina, everyone thought they’d be flat, but they went there and destroyed the Eagles by 20. Now they knock off Duke and everyone expects them to be flat again, but this team has proven that isn't how they play. The Yellow Jackets are 0-6 in the ACC and have a losing record on the season. They are just not even close to the level that Wake is playing at right now. This one should get ugly early, and I expect the Deacons to win soundly here.

The Aggies are simply a different team at home where they are 12-1 on the season. They will have revenge on their minds for this one as they dropped their game in Stillwater against the Cowboys by 11. The Aggies are 52-6 at home in their last 58, and simply don't lose here to teams like Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are an improved team, but as the schedule has stiffened, they have gone just 1-3 in their last four, needing OT to pull one out at Nebraska for their only win. I like the Aggies to continue their home-court dominance, and get revenge over the Cowboys.

The La Salle Explorers have played a very difficult schedule. Coming into this one with a 12-7 record, you have to take into account that those seven losses were to Temple, UConn, Villanova, Florida State, Xavier, Cornell and Southern Mississippi. The Rams are a good team that isn't playing their best right now. They lost at Richmond, needed OT to beat a bad George Washington team, and are just 3-3 in their last six games. The Explorers are a tough team to defend as they have seven interchangeable players that can all shoot, and they all rebound. This one is a lot closer than it looks, and I would not be shocked if LaSalle steals this one on the road. I'll grab them with the points here.

Results: 1-3

NCAA Basketball Picks Resources:

• Read our 2008 college basketball preivew here.
• Read our NCAA basketball sportsbook here.
• Here we show our 2008 college basketball picks results.
• Read our betting college basketball here.
• Don't forget to read our NCAA basketball Game-of-Day-Preview here.
• Hop over to our blog NCAA basketball picks here.
• Hop over to our college basketball free picks here.
• Read our college basketball odds and lines here.
• Hop over to our ncaa march madness brackets here.
• Here we show our NCAA basketball ATS records.
• View our updated ncaa march madness pick.
• Check out NCAA basketball prior predictions here.

Check out the last five NCAA Basketball Picks Newsletters:

NCAA-Basketball-Picks-January-30-2009
The Quakers may not be the Ivy League-power they once were, and their record coming into League play reflects that as they are just 4-10 this season. A lot of that has to do with the quality teams the...

NCAA-Basketball-Picks-January-29-2009
The Golden Bears are under the radar and the UCLA reputation has pumped this one full of value. The Bears have three players that have launched over 150 three point FGs and are connecting at over 48%....

NCAA-Basketball-Picks-January-28-2009
The Phoenix are off and running with a 15-6 mark on the season, but four games weren't even lined, so not quite as good as it looks and they did lose to an average Oakland team at home. Flames are...

NCAA-Basketball-Picks-January-27-2009
The Badgers have long been known to be a methodical, defensive team that runs the clock and makes teams run their offense through most of it as well. The Boilermakers hung 70 points on the Badgers in ...

NCAA-Basketball-Picks-January-25-2009
Yes, Rider is 10-8 while St. Peters is just 5-14, but I like St. Peters chances in this one enough to back them for a straight-up win. Rider is just 4-7 on the road. And their defense is playing very ...