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John Morrison's pick(s) for November 17 2009
Michigan State -11 This game is against Gonzaga at 8 PM ET

THE SPORTS ADVISORS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17
COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Gonzaga (1-0, 0-0 ATS) at (2) Michigan State (1-0, 0-0 ATS)

Perennial college basketball powers Gonzaga and Michigan State hook up for the first time since 2005, with the second-ranked Spartans serving as host at the Breslin Events Center.

The Bulldogs opened the season with Saturday’s 92-74 non-lined home win over Mississippi Valley State. Going back to last January, Gonzaga is on a 20-2 SU roll, with the only losses coming to ranked foes Memphis (68-50 as a four-point home favorite) and eventual national champion North Carolina (98-77 as a 7½-point underdog in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament). During their 20-2 run, the Zags have scored at least 77 points 16 times.

Michigan State also tipped off the season with a non-lined home game, crushing Florida-Gulf Coast 97-58 on Friday. The Spartans, who advanced to the NCAA Championship Game in April where they fell to North Carolina 89-72 as a 7½-point underdog, are 32-7 since the start of last season (21-13-1 ATS in lined action), including 14-3 at home (7-7 ATS).

Gonzaga knocked off the Spartans 109-106 as a 1½-point underdog in the 2005 Maui Classic. In the other two meetings, Michigan State scored wins of 70-68 as a six-point favorite in 1997 and 77-62 as a 9½-point chalk in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga failed to cover the spread in all three of its NCAA Tournament games last spring and enters this season in a 6-9 ATS funk (2-3 ATS in true road games). The Bulldogs are riding additional ATS funks of 1-4 on the road, 0-4 in non-conference play and 4-12 versus opponents with a winning record.

Michigan State is 1-6-2 ATS in its last Nine on Tuesday, but otherwise the Spartans are on pointspread surges of 5-1 overall, 5-1 at home, 7-1 in non-conference play, 5-1 versus winning teams and 11-3-1 following a SU win of more than 20 points. Also, the SU winner has cashed in each of the Spartans’ last nine games.

The Bulldogs are riding “over” streaks of 9-2 overall, 8-1 on the road and 4-1 in non-conference play, while the over is also 5-2 in Michigan State’s last seven lined games. However, the under is 7-3 in the Spartans’ last 10 at home and 16-5 in its last 21 on Tuesday.

ATS ADVANTAGE: MICHIGAN STATE

Win-or-lose 11/17

NCAA Basketball (We are buying 2 points on each game)
Rot# Team Spread Line Wager
738 Mich St -9 -155 $8