Saturday, February 29, 2020

Basketball Predictions - 1 Mar

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Milwaukee at Charlotte - Bucks by 15
Dallas at Minnesota - Mavericks by 6.5
Philadelphia at LA Clippers - Clippers by 6
Toronto at Denver - Nuggets by 0.5
Detroit at Sacramento - Kings by 5.5
LA Lakers at New Orleans - Lakers by 4
Washington at Golden State - Wizards by 0.5

NCAA

(10) Creighton at St. John's - Bluejays by 1.5
South Florida at Temple - Owls by 7.5
Cincinnati at (25) Houston - Cougars by 9
Xavier at Georgetown - Hoyas by 3
Indiana at Illinois - Illini by 6
Rider at Fairfield - Broncs by 1
Manhattan at Monmouth - Hawks by 8
Marist at Quinnipiac - Bobcats by 8
FIU at Charlotte - 49ers by 7
Western Kentucky at North Texas - Mean Green by 9
FAU at Old Dominion - Monarchs by 8
Saint Louis at Rhode Island - Rams by 9.5
UAB at UTSA - Roadrunners by 4.5
Middle Tennessee at Rice - Owls by 10.5
(19) Michigan at (23) Ohio State - Buckeyes by 6
Southern Miss at UTEP - Miners by 8.5
Towson at Northeastern - Huskies by 7
Wichita State at SMU - Mustangs by 1.5
Northwestern at Nebraska - Cornhuskers by 4.5
Virginia Tech at (11) Louisville - Cardinals by 14
(21) Colorado at Stanford - Cardinal by 4
Minnesota at Wisconsin - Badgers by 6.5

Results

NBA: 4-4 (.500) 597-295 overall (.669)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000) 54-54 overall (.500)
NCAA: 98-39 (.715) 4014-1365 overall (.746)
Upsets: 12-6 (.667) 247-289 overall (.461)

NBA Rankings - 29 Feb

The Milwaukee Bucks are by far the best team in the league, just like they've been all year, and the Lakers have put quite a bit of distance between themselves and the rest of the West as well. There will be a lot of positioning for the middle seeds in both conferences, but the 8 teams in the East have pretty much been decided already, while there is still a wide-open race for the final spot in the West, with 6 teams fighting to lose to the Lakers in the first round. The Grizzlies are #8 right now, but New Orleans is projected to end up taking the final spot, with San Antonio, Portland, and Memphis just behind while Sacramento and Phoenix lurk a little further back. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:





Record
Proj



Rank
LW
Team
Rating
W
L
W
L
MOV
SOS
Seed
1
1
Milwaukee
-10.23
51
8
69
13
1
30
E1
2
2
LA Lakers
-7.216
45
12
64
18
2
13
W1
3
5
Boston
-5.618
41
17
58
24
3
22
E2
4
4
LA Clippers
-5.165
40
19
56
26
5
12
W2
5
3
Toronto
-4.948
42
17
57
25
4
29
E3
6
6
Dallas
-4.829
36
24
51
31
6
20
W5
7
8
Houston
-4.168
38
20
54
28
7
15
W3
8
10
Denver
-2.751
40
19
53
29
9
17
W4
9
11
Oklahoma City
-2.542
37
23
50
32
11
10
W7
10
7
Utah
-2.371
37
22
50
32
10
14
W6
11
9
Miami
-2.153
37
22
51
31
8
23
E4
12
12
Philadelphia
-1.477
37
23
50
32
13
18
E5
13
13
Indiana
-1.094
35
24
47
35
12
25
E6
14
14
New Orleans
-0.519
26
33
39
43
14
1
W8
15
15
San Antonio
0.9332
24
33
37
45
17
4

16
21
Sacramento
1.3826
25
34
36
46
19
6

17
18
Orlando
1.4881
27
32
38
44
16
11
E7
18
17
Phoenix
1.5475
24
36
33
49
18
8

19
20
Brooklyn
1.6034
26
32
36
46
15
28
E8
20
16
Portland
1.6117
26
34
37
45
21
2

21
19
Memphis
2.0542
28
31
37
45
20
19

22
23
Minnesota
3.9681
17
41
26
56
25
7

23
22
Chicago
4.2839
20
39
27
55
22
27

24
25
Washington
4.7878
21
37
29
53
23
24

25
24
Detroit
4.8144
20
41
27
55
24
26

26
27
Atlanta
6.1662
18
43
26
56
27
5

27
26
New York
6.2816
17
42
25
57
26
9

28
29
Charlotte
7.0852
21
38
27
55
28
21

29
30
Cleveland
7.4454
17
42
23
59
29
16

30
28
Golden State
8.0757
12
47
17
65
30
3


Playoff Picks

First Round

(1) Bucks over (8) Nets in 4
(2) Celtics over (7) Magic in 4
(3) Raptors over (6) Pacers in 5
(5) 76ers over (4) Heat in 7
(1) Lakers over (8) Pelicans in 5
(2) Clippers over (7) Thunder in 6
(3) Rockets over (6) Jazz in 6
(5) Mavericks over (4) Nuggets in 6

Second Round

(1) Bucks over (5) 76ers in 4
(3) Raptors over (2) Celtics in 7
(1) Lakers over (5) Mavericks in 6
(3) Rockets over (2) Clippers in 7

Conference Finals

(1) Bucks over (3) Raptors in 5
(1) Lakers over (3) Rockets in 5

NBA Finals

(1) Bucks over (1) Lakers in 5