Scott Rickenbach Free Sports Picks & Handicapper Review

NHL Friday 10* Top Play OVER 6.5 in Columbus Blue Jackets vs St Louis Blues @ 7:07 ET - Great set up for plenty of goals here as the Blue Jackets are off a 7-3 loss yesterday on the road and the Blues are off a 6-3 home loss Wednesday. Columbus has allowed 4 goals per game in last 5 games but the Blue Jackets also have scored 3.6 goals in their last 9 games on home ice! St Louis has scored an average of 3 goals per game last 9 games and had won 5 of 8 before the home loss to Vegas. Blues have had one low-scoring game last 8 games but the other 7 games averaged 8 goals apiece. Blue Jackets have seen 11 of last 17 games total at least 7 goals. Both teams allowing too many goals in many of their recent games but both are also in bounce back mode off high-scoring losses. Perfect set-up for another high-scoring contest here given all of the above. Also, Blue Jackets allowing 3.5 goals on the season. Blues have struggled on the penalty kill this season. Look for each team to get the 3 goal mark in this one and the result would then be at least a 4-3 final in this one. 10* OVER 6.5 in Columbus

NBA Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia 76ers (-) vs Atlanta Hawks @ 7:10 ET - This line in the 7 or 7.5 range and this is a bargain in my opinion. Looks like Trae Young could miss due to illness or at least would not be 100% here. That is bad news for a Hawks team that already lost to the Sixers by double digits earlier this season and that game was in Atlanta! Also, Philadelphia won their most recent home game by 44 points over the Lakers and the 76ers are getting healthy again with Oubre having come back as well. The Sixers are off a road game at Washington and have another game versus the Wizards at home up next. That said, the Hawks are certainly getting the full focus and attention of the Sixers right now. When Philly is focused they can blow teams out. They know they let that game at DC be much closer against the Wiz then it should have been and they will respond huge here with a strong home game. The Sixers have 7 home wins this season and all were by double digit margin except the Celtics. The Hawks are definitely not at the level of the C's. In other words, another blowout home win is imminent here! 10* PHILADELPHIA (-) 

Rotation #887: CBB Friday 10* Top Play OVER 130.5 in Jacksonville State Gamecocks vs Illinois-Chicago Flames @ 7 ET - As I mentioned in my write-ups earlier this season on UIC, the Flames have been developing well in recent years. They are well-coached and now the coach has been able to assemble the type of roster he wants here. It has been a process for sure but this Flames team looks stronger this season than they have been in a long time. Now Illinois-Chicago is coming off B2B losses in which they did not score well and this is the perfect spot for an over. I am sure that UIC is going to push the pace here as their 5-game winning streak saw them average 83 ppg while their 2-game losing streak has seen them allow just 63 ppg but also score only 60 ppg. That is not working for the Flames. They will resume with an up-tempo attack here plus I expect better shooting against a Gamecocks team that has played a rather weak schedule. I do like the fact that Jacksonville State is at home in this one and they had scored 71 ppg in a 3-game winning streak prior to losing their most recent game. So both teams off losses, both teams had been hot recently and scoring well, and now we have a rather low total to work with here. I look for a solid over here as both teams should get into the upper 60s here if not into the 70s! 10* OVER 130.5 in Jacksonville State

Rotation #206638: Portugal Primeira Liga: Friday Free Pick UNDER 3 -120 in Vizela vs Sporting Braga @ 10:30 AM ET - Vizela can make this a difficult match for Sporting Braga and they will lean on defense to do so. They are on their home pitch and they know they can ill-afford to get into a shootout with one of the most dangerous attacking clubs in the league. Vizela must slow this down to a defensive battle as the hosts are scoring an average of only 1 goal per match this season. We have good value with this total having moved up to a 3 as now a 2-1 final gets us a push rather than a loss. The fact is a 1-1 battle or even 1-0 seems even more likely than a 2-1 as a strong defensive game plan will be the story of the day for the hosts in this one. Free Pick UNDER 3-120 in Vizela

Rotation #207881: Turkish Super Liga: Friday 10* Top Play OVER 3.5 -135 in Galatasaray vs Adana Demirspor @ Noon ET - Both clubs are scoring an average of 2 goals per match this season. Galatasaray is motivated for a win here by the fact they can move into 1st place in the division. They are 6-0 at home this season. while Adana Demirspor has struggled away from home this season, this club will likely be very aggressive on the attack here as their goal is to score more goals away from home. They know they can not afford to sit back here against a club that is so ruthless on the attack at home. They must counterattack. The visitors lost the most recent meeting 2-0 but had scored at least 2 goals in 3 of 4 prior meetings. The hosts are heavy favorites here for a reason. I am expecting a 3-2 type match which is the result Adana Demirspor just had in most recent match too. The hosts in this one have scored 3.3 goals per match last 3 matches but did allow 3 goals in most recent match as a host. That was in Champions League action versus Man U and I look for another high-scoring battle in this one in Istanbul. 10* OVER 3.5 -135 in Galatasaray

Rotation #206938: Romania Liga 1: Friday 10* Top Play Poli Iasi Money Line +125 vs UTA Arad @ Noon ET - Arad won the first match 1-0 so this is a revenge spot for Iasi. Notice that Iasi is favored here on the 3-way line (draw and Arad both in +200 range) and this is even though Arad has the better record recently. This is a classic "someone knows something" situation when you consider this line. Of course I do like the fact that Iasi is at home for this one but how is a club that has no wins in last 6 matches (1 loss, 5 draws) put in this type of price range? Exactly! Someone does know something here and Iasi has scored 8 goals in last 5 matches as a host. Arad has scored an average of just 1 goal in their 9 road matches this season. Arad, prior to a scoreless draw in most recent away match, had conceded 1.6 goals per match last 8 matches away from home. With a win here, Iasi will move into a tie with Arad in the table as they currently trail by 3 points in the table. That means we have motivation, revenge, and home pitch all in our favor here! 10* IASI +125