The Daily Three 1/5

 Hello,

   We are back for another round after a very successful day at 3-1. Michigan State and the Charlotte Hornets took care of business fairly easily against Rutgers and Oklahoma City, respectively. The Ducks got a late goal to give us a big value win 2-0 over the Red Wings. Our one downfall was once again in the SEC as another home favorite, Georgia, went down. If we take out SEC basketball, we got a perfect 5-0 mark. However, we include everything here and will continue trying to get better as time goes on. Today, we go back to the traditional three picks, and we will be looking at one game each in the NHL, NBA, and NCAAB.

NHL
Columbus Blue Jackets at Washington Capitals +110

 I will not lie, this pick reeks of homerism and picking with the heart as I am huge Caps fan. Normally, I try to avoid letting emotion affect the way I pick, but my bittersweet history with this team leads me to believe that they will pull it out tonight and end the Blue Jackets' epic streak. For those that don't know, Columbus is currently on a 16 game win streak, which as I am sure you can tell, is one of the longest win streaks in the history of the sport. Initially, one would think I am crazy for wanting to go against this juggernaut. However, there are a couple of reasons that I am siding with the Caps here, outside of being a fan. For one as any true Caps fan knows, there is no team better at winning overhyped, somewhat meaningless regular season hockey games. Obviously, every game counts. Two points can be the difference between home ice, making the playoffs, etc. However, the Caps always seem to be victorious in these January regular season games that get intensified by the hockey media. For example, they have won both of their Winter Classic match ups against the Penguins and Blackhawks, and boy were they excited about those wins. Look back at an old YouTube video from the 2011 game against the Penguins and look how fired up they are. It was as if they had just won the Eastern Conference. The Capitals, of course, did not win the Eastern Conference that year and have not done so (let alone get past the second round) since 1998. Also, the Caps have lost seven of eight playoff series' against the Pens, so I guess they should celebrate while they can. Also, the Blackhawk team they beat in the 2015 Winter Classic, went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. You know what, maybe I want the Caps to lose this game so they can go on to win the Cup. Na, they will win this game and the Cup, I know it. If you want a statistical reason to go with the Caps, you are getting incredible value as they are never underdogs, especially at home. In fact, they have been underdogs only one time this season (they won that game). So if anything, take advantage of a rare opportunity where the Washington Capitals are underdogs and cheer when the streak finally ends tonight in D.C.

NBA
Charlotte Hornets at Detroit Pistons -4.5

Last night, we went against the public and sided with the Charlotte Hornets in their big home victory against Russell Westbrook and the Thunder. After they came through for us last night, why would we suddenly just turn on them? Well, we can look back at something I brought up last night that will support this argument. The Hornets are completely different team on the road. Against the spread on the road, they are at 7-9-1 and as road underdogs 1-2-1. The most interesting tidbit that is seen from these two records is that the Hornets have been favorites on the road at a much higher clip than most teams in this league tend to be. As favorites, they struggle to cover, so I do not have much confidence that they will be able to cover as road dogs. Also, as already noted, they did play last night, so they maybe restricting minutes or resting some of their key guys. The Pistons are entering this contest pretty fresh and fairly healthy. I would expect Andre Drummond to exploit some mismatches inside, while point guard, Reggie Jackson, should be able to take advantage of Kemba Walker's defensive struggles. The Pistons should pull off a rather routine victory at home and put away the tired Hornets.

NCAAB
Iowa at Nebraska -3

SEC basketball has really not been treating us very well. So, I am going to look at a matchup in my favorite conference. The Iowa Hawkeyes have really struggled this season to get over the loss of star forward Jared Uthoff. Currently sitting at 9-6 (they only lost 11 games last year), the Hawkeyes have a few bad losses on their resume, including a home upset at the hands of Nebraska-Omaha. Their lone bright spot is Peter Jok, who is averaging 22 points a game so far this season. The Cornhuskers, on the other hand, are exceeding expectations and are coming off of one of the biggest week's in the Tim Miles's era. Coming off big wins at Indiana and at Maryland, the Cornhuskers are looking to continue to ride this wave of momentum to a 3-0 start in conference play. Tai Webster and very tiny guard, Glynn Watson Jr., were huge for Nebraska and will most likely need to continue their torrid place to keep them afloat in the Big Ten. When we look at the numbers, the only things that these teams really share in common are their Ken Pom rankings. Iowa are at 75, while Nebraska is right there at 83, and there is only point separating the two. The home court edge becomes gigantic for Nebraska in this case. Their tempo numbers are polar opposites as the Hawkeyes like to push the pace as they rank 27th in tempo, while the Cornhuskers like to take their time and rank all the way down at 194. Whoever controls the pace of this game is going to most likely come out of this victorious, and at home, I think Nebraska should have no issues playing their game. Lastly, the most important thing that stood out to me is that Nebraska really went out in the non-conference slate and challenged themselves. Their non-conference SOS is ranked 17th and includes UCLA, Kansas, Virginia Tech, and Creighton. Iowa, on the other hand, played a fairly weak non-conference schedule, which was ranked all the way down at 285. Iowa played a really weak schedule and could only muster an 8-5 non-conference record, yuck! Being battle tested early in the season really helps your team with your first few conference games, as they help prepare you for the level of intensity you will be facing on a nightly basis. I think that home court advantage and Nebraska's earlier battles with highly ranked teams will benefit them greatly tonight, as they take down the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Last Night: 3-1

Overall: 5-2