Monday April 5th Daily Picks.....

Hey there guys,
Well yesterday wasn't the greatest day for me as far as my picks are concerned as I went 3-3 on the final day for this weekend series as both Vanderbilt and Auburn avoided a sweep this weekend as they beat Florida (7-0) and Alabama (7-1) respectively, LSU and South Carolina both won their series in impressive fashion on Sunday crushing Georgia (15-5) and Mississippi State (14-2) respectively, Arkansas took the series from Kentucky in a score that more closely resembled a football game, 17-16, and the surprise of the weekend came when Tennessee, who had not won an SEC game heading into the weekend, took the series from Ole Miss in Oxford. On Opening Night I went 1-0 as Boston, at one point down down 5-1, and then 7-5 later, would come back to win 9-7 as Dustin Pedroia (2-4 1hr 3rbi) and Kevin Youkilis (3-4 2rbi) fueled the comeback that really roughed up the Yankees bullpen. Jorge Posada had a good game for the Yankees (3-4 1hr 2rbi), whose offense looked just fine, sending Josh Beckett away early and fighting back, its not often that 7 runs is not enough for a win in the bigs. In the NBA I went 4-4 (4-4 ats) as LeBron James dropped 42 points and the Cavaliers came back from being down 23 in the 3rd quarter but it wasn't enough as the Celtics held on to win is this Technical crazy game (6 in this one game), the Spurs wrapped up their 13th consecutive playoff bid as they beat the reeling Lakers by 19 in Los Angeles, Chris Bosh put up 42 points and 12 rebounds but missed what would have been the game winning LAYUP and instead the Warriors upset the Raptors in Toronto, and Kevin Durant's 40 points gives him the most single season points in franchise history as the Thunder struggled but held on to beat the Timberwolves by 8. Finally in the NHL I went 2-2 as the Flyers took a 2 point lead for the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs beating the Red Wings 4-3, the Blackhawks did some major damage to the Flames playoff hopes as Antti Niemi's 25 saves and Patrick Kane's 2 points (1 goal 1 assist) doused the Flames (ha ha) 4-1, and Calgary was not helped at all by San Jose as they lost in overtime to the Avalanche and Peter Mueller (2 goals 1 assist) and now Colorado holds a 2 point lead for that final spot in the West. Well today is a fairly big day for two sports while two others get somewhat of a break as today is the day that we find out whether or not Butler is worth the hype as they take on Duke in the NCAA Tournament National Championship game. though is the real opening day for baseball as 26 teams will play in 13 games that include some great pitching match ups as Justin Verlander and Zach Greinke go head to head as the Tigers head to Kansas City for Opening day, Ben Sheets tries to make a comeback as he starts for the A's as Felix Hernandez and the Mariners come to town, Roy Halladay makes his debut for the Phillies today in the Nations capitol against the Nationals, Chris Carpenter and Adam Harang square off as the Cardinals head to Cincinnati to take on the Reds, Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs head to Atlanta to take on the Braves and Derek Lowe in the first day of Bobby Cox's last season, and 25 year old, 2 time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum and the Giants head to Houston to take on Roy Oswalt and the Astros. In a rare day off the NBA does not have any games today but they will pick back up tomorrow as the season nears its end, in the NHL there are only 3 games today Boston heads to Washington to take on Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, the Bruins need a win to give them more breathing room as they are just 2 points ahead of the 9th place Rangers in the Eastern Conference Playoffs race, the Blues try to hold on to whatever playoff hopes they have left as they host Columbus today, and finally Minnesota and Edmonton are really just playing for shiggles. Should be interesting. Not much writing today as I am going to be watching opening day and then the National Championship tonight. Hope you guys enjoy.

My Picks.....

(Games in COLOR are the recommended games to watch)

NCAA Basketball

Butler Bulldogs 33-4 vs. Duke Blue Devils 34-5
8:21 PM
TV: CBS
Line: Duke -7.5

Preview: This is going to be short and sweet so here we go. I really can't see Butler winning this game. Yes anything can happen on any given day but most of those upsets happen because the team that gets upset wasn't as prepared emotionally for what the underdog was bringing to the game. Do you really think that is going to happen in a National Championship game? Do you think that Duke is going to look past Butler? To what? There is no game after this one. Duke has Brian Zoubek and the Plumlee Brothers down low to go along with Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, and Nolan Smith. Outside of Gordon Hayward who does Butler have? Shelvin Mack? Matt Howard? Willie Veasley? Ronald Norad? None of those guys are really proven to great players. Mack and Howard are definately the closest but both of them are going to be playing two days after being injured in the Michigan State game. Even if they were 100% I still would not think much of Butler's chances in this one. I like Brad Stevens as he is got this program here by coaching great defense, but Mike Krzyzewski is one of the best in the game, having been to countless NCAA Tournaments, winning a couple here and there too by the way. Oh yeah and he coaches great defense too. Along with good offense. I think Butler rides a bit of a home crowd advantage but I see Duke wearing them out in the 2nd half, and just like you see with every Cinderella, I believe you'll start to see that "confidence" begin to wear off in the later stages of the 2nd Half as Duke pulls further and further away.

My Pick: Duke 73-60

MLB

PHILLIES @ nationals
R. Hallady vs. J. Lannan

CARDINALS @ reds
C. Carpenter vs. A. Harang

marlins @ METS
J. Johnson vs. J. Santana

DODGERS @ pirates
V. Padilla vs. Z. Duke

indians @ WHITE SOX
J. Westbrook vs. M. Buehrle

blue jays @ RANGERS
S. Marcum vs. S. Feldman

ROCKIES @ brewers <----- UPSET
U. Jiminez vs. Y. Gallardo

tigers @ ROYALS
J. Verlander vs. Z. Greinke

cubs @ BRAVES
C. Zambrano vs. D. Lowe

padres @ DIAMONDBACKS
J. Garland vs. D. Haren

GIANTS @ astros
T. Lincecum vs. R. Oswalt

twins @ ANGELS
S. Baker vs. J. Weaver

MARINERS @ athletics
F. Hernandez vs. B. Sheets

NHL

bruins @ CAPITALS

blue jackets @ BLUES

WILD @ oilers

Alright guys like I said I will be watching Opening Day all day but you can contact me if you have any questions, comments, or ideas just leave a comment below, text me at (256) 653-2393 or email us at wherethelandsharksare@gmail.com
Thank you for Reading

Batteman