The Pi-Rate Ratings

March 14, 2023

PiRate Ratings College Basketball — Tuesday, March 14, 2023

HomeVisitorSpread
Texas A&M-CCSE Missouri St.4.3
MichiganToledo7.2
RutgersHofstra9.1
UABSouthern Miss.7.9
LibertyVillanova1.8
VanderbiltYale2.9
Mississippi St.Pittsburgh1.8
WisconsinBradley4.5
ColoradoSeton Hall3.3
Washington St.Eastern Washington9.7

February 15, 2023

PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Filed under: College Basketball — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — piratings @ 2:00 am
HomeVisitorSpread
AlbanyUMBC-6.6
BelmontEvansville16.6
BinghamtonNJIT3.6
BradleyMissouri St.8.9
BryantUMass Lowell1.3
Cal BaptistSeattle0.4
Cal PolyCal St. Bakersfield1.7
CampbellCharleston Southern5.2
ClemsonFlorida St.10.2
ColgateArmy10.8
Colorado St.Boise St.-4.8
DuquesneSaint Joseph’s6.8
East CarolinaCincinnati-8.9
FloridaMississippi9.0
FordhamSt. Bonaventure3.6
Fresno St.San DIego St.-9.5
Gardner-WebbWinthrop7.5
George WashingtonGeorge Mason-1.4
Georgia TechVirginia Tech-6.7
Grand CanyonUT-Rio Grande Valley12.1
Holy CrossBoston U.-1.9
Illinois ChicagoIndiana St.-9.3
Illinois St.Murray St.0.5
Iowa St.TCU2.8
La SalleRichmond-1.3
LehighNavy-2.6
LouisvilleVirginia-16.8
Loyola (MD)Lafayette-1.7
MarquetteXavier4.2
Mississippi St.Kentucky2.1
Northern IowaDrake-6.3
NorthwesternIndiana-1.0
OaklandIUPUI15.1
PresbyterianHigh Point1.0
Rhode IslandVCU-6.7
Saint LouisDavidson5.6
Sam HoustonUT Arlington14.5
SamfordUNC Greensboro-0.1
Stephen F AustinTarleton St.6.1
StetsonFlorida Gulf Coast2.1
TennesseeAlabama1.1
Texas A&MArkansas0.9
The CitadelFurman-13.4
TulsaSouth Florida-4.2
UC DavisCal St. Northridge11.4
UC RiversideLong Beach St.1.7
UC San DiegoCal St. Fullerton-5.3
UC Santa BarbaraUC Irvine1.3
USC UpstateLongwood-3.9
VermontNew Hampshire11.1
VMIChattanooga-8.9
WashingtonOregon-3.3
Western CarolinaEast Tennessee St.2.4
WoffordMercer3.5

February 13, 2023

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Filed under: College Basketball — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — piratings @ 12:10 pm
Date2/13/2023
SeedTeamTeamTeamTeamTeamTeam
1AlabamaHoustonPurdueKansas
2TexasArizonaUCLABaylor
3TennesseeXavierVirginiaMarquette
4Kansas St.Iowa St.ConnecticutGonzaga
5IndianaSaint Mary’sTCUMiami (Fla)
6San Diego St.IllinoisCreightonRutgers
7MissouriDukeMichigan St.Iowa
8MarylandProvidenceNorth Carolina St.Auburn
9West VirginiaNorthwesternFlorida AtlanticArkansas
10Boise St.Oklahoma St.NevadaPittsburgh
11North CarolinaNew MexicoMemphisUSCTexas A&MMississippi St.
12CharlestonOral RobertsSouthern Miss.Liberty
13VCUToledoDrakeUtah Valley
14UCSBYaleFurmanColgate
15RiderE. WashingtonVermontYoungstown St.
16UNC AshevilleNorthwestern St.Morehead St.Alcorn St.HowardFairleigh Dickinson

Last 4 Byes: Nevada, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Pittsburgh

Last 4 In: Memphis, USC, Texas A&M, Mississippi St.

First 4 Out: Kentucky, Wisconsin, Utah St., Oregon

Next 4 Out: Virginia Tech, Seton Hall, Arizona St., Wake Forest

February 8, 2023

PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Wednesday, February 8, 2023

HomeVisitorSpread
AlabamaFlorida10.7
AlbanyBryant-8.3
ArmyLoyola (MD)8.8
BaylorOklahoma9.1
Boston U.American-0.3
CampbellHigh Point5.5
CharlestonUNC Wilmington8.2
ChattanoogaThe Citadel10.9
ColgateLehigh10.5
DelawareDrexel1.1
DuquesneGeorge Mason4.3
EvansvilleNorthern Iowa-9.6
Florida St.Syracuse-2.6
FordhamMassachusetts3.6
George WashingtonRichmond-1.6
Georgia TechNotre Dame1.5
Grand CanyonNew Mexico St.6.6
HartfordCentral Connecticut St.-4.6
HoustonTulsa27.8
Illinois St.Bradley-7.9
Indiana St.Valparaiso12.2
LongwoodPresbyterian12.9
Loyola (Chi)Saint Joseph’s1.4
MaineVermont-4.9
MercerSamford-2.3
MichiganNebraska7.7
Mississippi St.LSU9.4
Missouri St.Belmont1.0
NavyBucknell8.2
New HampshireBinghamton5.3
North Carolina A&TElon4.7
NortheasternHofstra-7.6
Oklahoma St.Texas Tech6.3
Penn St.Wisconsin4.5
ProvidenceGeorgetown16.2
SeattleUtah Tech5.9
Seton HallCreighton-2.2
SMUTemple-1.9
South FloridaMemphis-6.4
Southern IllinoisIllinois Chicago12.6
St. BonaventureLa Salle7.1
Stony BrookMonmouth6.0
TowsonHampton16.5
UMBCNJIT8.8
UNC AshevilleWinthrop6.2
USC UpstateCharleston Southern2.0
Utah St.San DIego St.0.9
Utah ValleyCal Baptist7.7
VanderbiltTennessee-11.9
VillanovaDePaul8.9
Virginia TechBoston College13.1
VMIFurman-14.1
West VirginiaIowa St.3.1
Wichita St.Central Florida-1.2
WoffordWestern Carolina4.4
Wright St.IUPUI18.0
WyomingUNLV-2.6

February 6, 2023

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date2/6/2023
SeedTeamTeamTeamTeamTeamTeam
1HoustonAlabamaPurdueTexas
2TennesseeKansasArizonaUCLA
3BaylorXavierIowa St.Marquette
4Kansas St.ConnecticutVirginiaSaint Mary’s
5GonzagaTCUIndianaRutgers
6San Diego St.Miami (Fla)IllinoisDuke
7CreightonProvidenceAuburnIowa
8Florida AtlanticMarylandNew MexicoWest Virginia
9MissouriNorth Carolina St.ArkansasUSC
10Boise St.Michigan St.NevadaKentucky
11Oklahoma St.North CarolinaNorthwesternMemphisPittsburghClemson
12Oral RobertsLibertySouthern Miss.VCU
13HofstraUtah ValleyDrakeAkron
14UC Santa BarbaraPrincetonFurmanColgate
15RiderE. WashingtonYoungstown St.Vermont
16RadfordNorthwestern St.Morehead St.MD Eastern ShoreSouthernFairleigh Dickinson

Last 4 Byes

Nevada, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, North Carolina

Last 4 In

Northwestern, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Clemson

First 4 Out

Utah St., Seton Hall, Texas A&M, Wisconsin

Next 4 Out

Mississippi St., Florida, Virginia Tech, Oregon

January 6, 2023

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date1/6/2023
SeedTeamTeamTeamTeamTeamTeam
1KansasPurdueHoustonArizona
2TennesseeAlabamaUCLAConnecticut
3TexasArkansasGonzagaVirginia
4BaylorXavierOhio St.Duke
5Iowa St.Kansas St.IndianaMiami (Fla)
6WisconsinTCUSan Diego St.West Virginia
7North CarolinaMarquetteRutgersMissouri
8KentuckyProvidenceVirginia TechAuburn
9New MexicoSaint Mary’sIllinoisCreighton
10MemphisMichigan St.UtahFlorida Atlantic
11CharlestonMarylandPittsburghNorth Carolina St.Mississippi St.Arizona St.
12IonaKent St.DaytonUtah St.
13YaleOral RobertsLibertyGrand Canyon
14U Mass LowellBradleyGeorgia SouthernUC-Irvine
15FurmanColgateMontana St.Youngstown St.
16SIU EdwardsvilleLongwoodGramblingTexas A&M CCNorfolk St.Fairleigh Dickinson

Last Four Byes: Memphis, Michigan St., Utah, Maryland

Last Four In: Pittsburgh, North Carolina St., Mississippi St., Arizona St.

First Four Out: Oklahoma St., Penn St., Texas Tech, LSU

Next Four Out: Northwestern, Clemson, Oklahoma, Wake Forest

October 6, 2022

PiRate Picks — October 6, 2022

After coming back down to Earth last week with a 2-5 record against the spread, our seasonal record now stands at 18-10. That’s still abnormally high. Let’s hope we can get back on the winning side this week with seven selections, hoping to go 4-3 and be happy with a profit.

About 18 other games came within a point or two of being playable for us in our in-house method of picking games either against the spread, the total, or in creating a money line parlay where the odds are +120 or higher, preferably higher than +130 or +140.

Here are this week’s selections. Remember: We never wager real money on our selections, and we suggest you follow this lead.

Selection #1: Alabama and Texas A&M Over 51 1/2

First, we expect Bryce Young to be ready for this game, and he will only need a half or so of time he will be needed, as Alabama exacts some revenge against the Aggies. We chose to take the Over here, because ‘Bama could cover the total by themselves. We aren’t saying that a 52-0 game is in the offing, but 41-14 would be realistic.

Selection #2: Georgia Southern and Georgia St. Under 67 1/2

Both of these teams can put points on the scoreboard and score 35 points against a defense the caliber of their opponent this week, but this heated rivalry game is liable to have added defensive stops. Thus, we think the total is a little too high. We think this game could be 31-28, as high as 35-28, and we still win at 35-31. As long as this game doesn’t go to overtime, we think this is our top play of the week.

Selection #3: Army and Wake Forest Under 66 1/2

Our thinking here is that Army will try to reduce this game to a minimum of plays, and Wake Forest is coming off consecutive big games. Army’s offense isn’t assessing the real estate like it has in recent years, so scoring 20 points is not automatic, as they could only manage 14 against a weaker Georgia State defense last week. Wake Forest gave up 25 points to a Vanderbilt team that is somewhat comparable offensively to Army’s offensive abilities, and the Demon Deacons put up a strong defensive effort last week. We see this game as a 35-14, and 45-21 still wins this one.

Selection #4: Arkansas + 9 1/2 vs. Mississippi State

It is not in our DNA to play an underdog at 9 1/2 points, as 10 1/2 gives us so much better odds for the money. And, we know that teams that play Alabama frequently show the effects of the pasting they received in the next game.

Our internal game projection makes this spread playable for us, as we see this as almost a tossup and only give the Bulldogs the edge due to home field advantage. We don’t see State winning by more than a touchdown, if they win at all.

Selection #5: Money Line Parlay at +144.92

Notre Dame over BYU

Utah over UCLA

We wanted to find a way to get the Utes into our selections this week, and this appears to be the best possible play. After dropping the opener to Florida, the Utes have begun to look like the class of the Pac-12. As for the Notre Dame-BYU game, it is our belief that Notre Dame’s game with Marshall was a wake up call for the Irish. Looking at how close they came to winning at Ohio State compared to how the Buckeyes have fared since, we believe Notre Dame is sitting on their best game of the year this week. This is a neutral site game in Las Vegas, and it could be one of the more exciting TV games. But, we think the outcome is not all that much in doubt.

Selection #6: Money Line Parlay at +148.05

Nevada over Colorado St.

Tulane over East Carolina

These two games are simply a matter of our thinking that the ML is too low for the favorites, and thus, it gives us an inflated potential payout for playing the two favorites.

Money Line Parlay at +202.93

Oklahoma St. over Texas Tech

Kentucky over South Carolina

North Carolina St. over Florida St.

Similar to the #6 selection, our beliefs that these three favorites will win, while not as strong as the two-gamer above, still remains strong enough to make it playable at better than 2-1 odds.

September 8, 2022

PiRate Picks For September 9-10, 2022

Last week, the most important part of our PiRate Picks publication was telling you that a broken clock is still correct twice a day. Please remember this, because we have experienced our broken clock accuracy up front this year. For the second week in a row, our selections went 3-0 to give us a 6-0 record to start the season. We know there are about 150-200 new visitors to this site since the 2021-22 College Football National Championship. Get this and get it good–we are not svengali’s. We are not Billy Walters. We aren’t even Brent Musberger and his incredible cast of handicappers. What are we? Really lucky and not much more than that.

Every week, we preface our selections by urging (begging) you not to wager real currency on the selections you read on this site. We know that there are a considerable number of professional speculators in the Nevada gold mines. We don’t have to tell you what to do with your occupation. It’s Joe Tackletrap in Wichita Falls, Texas, who makes $40,000 a year working himself silly that can ill afford to lose $500 that we have concerns about losing $500 because he wagered $100 each on five selections and lost them all, as he saw his mortgage payment money taken away.

Last week, we casually mentioned that there were some people in Nevada that we had information that they were following this site. Wow! We heard from six different people, two of whom represent a consortium of others, telling us they follow this site. And, they were not all from Las Vegas. We have to give some love to the biggest little city in America–Reno. There’s somebody there that sent us a little note.

For one paragraph, let’s pretend that we really did speculate these first two weeks of the football season, wagering $100 ($110) on margins and totals and $100 on the money line parlay. With the 6-0 record, including a parlay that paid back $241.77, our pretend starting bank account of $1,000 would now be worth $1,641.77. Making a 64% profit in two weeks in real life would quickly lead us to cash out and play no more games. That would be our Holiday Fund for this year.

What are the chances that our picks will be perfect again this week? The prior best first three week start we have ever had was a 9-3-1 start to the 2008 season. In most years, September is our worst month, with a big turnaround in October. Thus, we still do not have much confidence in our September picks. It’s merely the law of averages giving us a positive outlier.

Now that we have adequately warned you, we present our picks for this week. We are going with five selections.

Selection #1: Missouri and Kansas State UNDER 56 1/2

Our belief here is that the Wildcats will play a bit conservatively in the first half trying to keep the ball away from the Tiger offense, as Coach Chris Kleiman is a defense first leader. Missouri scored 52 points against a weak Louisiana Tech defense, and our belief is that the totals line might be a tad too high due to this. KSU’s defense pitched a shutout over FCS South Dakota. The Coyotes are not the top team in the Mount Rushmore state, but their offense is consistent. We see this game as a 28-20 win for the Wildcats. That gives us an extra touchdown to be wrong and still be right.

Selection #2: Iowa and Iowa State OVER 39 1/2

Iowa failed to reach the end zone against South Dakota State, winning 7-3 on a field goal and two safeties. The public looked at a Big Ten team’s offense failing to score on an FCS opponent and didn’t realize two important factors. First, South Dakota State is probably better than 60-75 FBS teams. Second, a college football team improves the most during a season in the practices between game one and game two. You can bet that this week in Iowa City, the offensive units in Hawkeye Land have had just about enough of hearing how lame they were in the opener. Over in Ames, Iowa State’s offense is far superior to its defense. Giving up 10 points to SEMO is nothing like Iowa’s holding SDSU to 3. SEMO is a mediocre Ohio Valley Conference team. Iowa will unleash its offense this week and top 20 points. Our hope is that Iowa State will respond in kind and make this a 24-21 game, topping 39 1/2 points.

Selection #3: Florida and Kentucky OVER 52 1/2

Florida came through for us last week, winning as an underdog when we believed the wrong team was favored. Kentucky overcame a slow start and eventually slaughtered a decent but not spectacular Miami of Ohio team. We believe that the Florida team that almost beat Alabama in 2021 before the team quit on former coach Dan Mullen has returned. If they could score 29 on Alabama last year and 29 on a tough Utah defense in week one, the Gators should put the chomp on Kentucky’s defense for more than 35 points. Can Kentucky’s offense produce 17 points or more? We think they Wildcats will top 20 points, and thus we believe the total in this game will top 56.

Selection #4: Arizona +11 1/2 vs. Mississippi State

This game is a tad different from how we normally play home underdogs. We tend to like our home dogs to get 1 to 7 points. We are making an exception here because it is our belief that few too people saw how the Wildcats went to San Diego State on the Christening of their new stadium and spoiled the party for the home team. We have been keeping our eyes on Coach Jedd Fisch since his arrival in Tucson. It is our beliefe that ‘Zona may have found their football equivalent of Lute Olson. His pedigree is about as incredible as a long-time assistant coach can own. Going up against a Mike Leach-coached team, this late night desert dogfight is going to give us reason to brew an evening pot of coffee. This could be the most entertaining game of Week Two, and we expect the home team to be in it for the entire 60 minutes. What’s great about this selection is that the superior SEC is having to play at the Pac-12 opponent’s home field rather than watch the Pac-12 team make the 2,000+ mile trip to the Southeast. Mississippi State could win this game 31-21, 34-24, 38-28, 35-24, 38-27 and still not cover. We tend to believe that this game will be a 3 to 7 point game in either direction.

Selection #5: Money Line Parlay at +172.97

Central Florida over Louisville

Arkansas over South Carolina

Florida over Kentucky

Louisville looked terrible in a blowout loss at Syracuse and did not look ready to play. Coach Scott Satterfield is sitting on a scorching hot seat, as he has had UL detractors since his hiring. At the same time, Gus Malzahn has quickly become a favored coach in Orlando, and Central Florida looks like a real contender for the American Athletic Conference Championship. In addition, UCF has had this game circled on their schedule and calendar. UL won this game on a pick six last year. The Cardinals are headed to an ambush in Orlando.

The Arkansas-South Carolina game should be quite interesting as two very good SEC teams face off in Fayetteville. We were a bit concerned with Spencer Rattler’s performance against Georgia State, as it was a little too similar to the performances he turned in at Oklahoma, which cost him his starting spot. Arkansas has a much better pass rush and secondary than Georgia State, and their offense at times pushed Cincinnati’s defense around. We see Pig Sooey winning by 10-14 points if not more.

Kentucky has defeated Florida twice in four years, after going mutiple decades without a win over the Gators. Billy Napier has quickly become a favorite in the Swamp almost on par with Steve Spurrier. He probably is the most like former Gator coaches Ray Graves and Doug Dickey than Spurrier or any coaches since. The Gators will be prepared and ready to play every week. Napier is part of both the Nick Saben and Dabo Swinney coaching trees. He knows how to run a program, and his year at Louisiana proved it. Kentucky and coach Mark Stoops are not exactly chopped liver. The Wildcats have a potent team with an NFL prospect under center. Will Levis could be a top three pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Kentucky could be the second best team in the SEC East, but they could be the third or fourth best too. We believe that the Gators will come into this game not resting on their laurels after pulling off the biggest win of Week One. Napier won’t let them get swollen heads. We’re going with Florida in a thriller, and we see the Gators winning 38-28.

February 1, 2022

PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Tuesday, February 1, 2022

HomeVisitorsSpread
VirginiaBoston College7.9
ConnecticutCreighton10.2
Iowa St.Kansas-3.7
MarylandMichigan St.-4.2
TennesseeTexas A&M11.5
SienaCanisius3.3
DuquesneRichmond-6.8
St. BonaventureDavidson1.5
Western MichiganNorthern Illinois0.3
OhioBall St.12.6
Eastern MichiganToledo-11.6
Central MichiganBowling Green-6.4
Miami (O)Kent St.0.8
Mississippi St.South Carolina7.7
NorthwesternRutgers6.5
LouisvilleNorth Carolina-3.9
GeorgetownSeton Hall-8.3
AuburnAlabama7.1
Texas TechTexas4.6
St. John’sProvidence0.8
LSUMississippi15.0
Wichita St.Tulsa8.4
Utah St.Air Force16.5
MichiganNebraska15.0
StanfordCalifornia5.6
UC RiversideUC Davis7.0
UNLVNevada4.2
San Jose St.Fresno St.-12.0

January 31, 2022

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date1/31/2022
SeedTeamTeamTeamTeamTeamTeam
1GonzagaAuburnArizonaBaylor
2KentuckyPurdueHoustonVillanova
3KansasUCLATexas TechDuke
4TennesseeLSUIllinoisMichigan St.
5ConnecticiutTexasOhio St.Wisconsin
6AlabamaXavierIowa St.Iowa
7Saint Mary’sUSCMarquetteIndiana
8ProvidenceLoyola (Chi.)Boise St.BYU
9North CarolinaOklahomaWake ForestMiami (Fla.)
10Colorado St.TCUArkansasWyoming
11MichiganOregonMurray St.Davidson
12ChattanoogaIonaFloridaSan FranciscoNotre DameSan Diego St.
13ToledoVermontSouth Dakota St.North Texas
14OaklandWagnerSeattleJacksonville St.
15Weber St.UNC-WilmingtonNavyYale
16HawaiiAppalachian St.LongwoodNorfolk St.New OrleansSouthern

Best of the Rest

69Creighton
70Seton Hall
71Mississippi St.
72West Virginia
73Belmont
74SMU
75Washington St.
76Virginia Tech
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