My Personal Futures Record and Who I like to Win it All This Year
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BY Brad Taylor - 2/28/2007
ALLFREEPICKS.com
Last year, I wrote an article in which I predicted Florida winning the College Football Championship. I also had the Colts picked as winning the Super Bowl. Although I had them playing the wrong opponents, I still called the winner correctly. In this short little article I am going to make a couple predictions in college hoops and pick whom I feel will win the NBA Championship.
First, I will address college hoops. With over 200 eligible teams, picking this winner can be one of the harder prognostications to make. But, there are really only a handful of teams that realistically can win the whole thing. There really hasn't been one dominant team this year either. But, if I had to pick just one team, it would be Wisconsin. At the time of me writing this article on February 27, 2007, they are 26-4. This is a truly outstanding record. And they just had their first loss in the Big Ten coming against Ohio State making Wisconsin's conference record 14-1. Ohio State does have a better overall record but their conference record is 12-3. I firmly believe you must master your own conference before you can worry about the rest of the country. |
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Most folks think that the champ will come from the SEC or ACC. But these conferences have definitely been sub par this season. They just beat up on each other and no teams are really getting far ahead of the others. I have a couple sleeper teams you may want to include in your brackets. I like Air Force and Virginia Tech going as far as the sweet 16 or maybe even deeper than that. Both team have winning records, so they are not exactly huge upset picks. But, when was the last time you saw either in a serious tourney game? They are both truly well coached and will take advantage of the 'nothing to lose' underdog mentality. It will be no surprise to see Pitt and UNC go deep as well. If the Gators get their stuff together, you may see them in the big Final Four.
AS far as the NBA goes, I believe there is no doubt who will win. The Dallas Mavericks are the best team in the league. They are the hungriest. They are the best coached. They have an owner that holds nothing back. And the talent level is really impressive. Of course Dallas is the easiest pick with their 48-9 record, but, usually I would offer other candidates and why they have a chance as well. But this year, no doubt, it's Dallas all the way.
| I called Miami Heat last year and wallah, they win the whole thing. I have been pretty good over the last ten years calling straight up winners by the start or at least middle of the season. Some of the more notable predictions, all documented of course :), were Denver beating Green Bay in 1997 (Denver was a 12 point underdog and I cleaned up on the money line), Anaheim Angels in 2002 (I called them mid season), Tampa Bay Lightning a few years ago (start of season), and finally the Gators this past season (They were ranked 12 at start of season). And some of my picked winners were not so noticed because they were more likely to win, ie, The Miami Heat last year (Shaq and Wade obviously made a lot of other pick hem as well), Michigan State for college hoops in 2000, and I had Georgia Tech in college hoops as a deep sleeper in 2004 and they made it to the final game before losing to UConn. When I have officially picked a winner in the past, and documented that official selection, my record is 12-6 overall. That record is for all major sports over the last ten years. And considering the huge money lines you can get when picking from a large field, that record is outstanding.... Only if I would have bet all of them. I did clean up on the Gators this year, the Miami Heat last year, and Superbowl XXXII. |
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Still money to be made on futures. Dallas is only 2/1 , so there is no real value there. But, I may bet it because I am that sure they will win. In college hoops, Va. Tech is 40/1., Air Force is 100/1, and Wisconsin is 9/1. If you put $1000 on each of these three college teams and one win, you profit. If Va. Tech wins, you will make 38,000 profit. If Air Force wins, you make $98,000 profit. And if Wisconsin wins, you still make $7000. if all three lose, you lose $3000. If one of these teams at least makes the final game, you can bet half of the potential winning amount the other way to hedge your bet and make sure you make cash. Future bets can be fun and profitable, but not really the smartest bets to make if you are truly in it win it. That's my two cents.
Brad Taylor
ALLFREEPICKS.com
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