Sports Handicapper William Burns's Picks & Predictions

(#807) Saint Mary's Gaels | ATS | . 

In the most highly anticipated matchup that the WCC can put together, I believe that we're going to see a very exciting game on Saturday evening. St. Mary's might not be on the Gonzaga "level." But, let's not forget that the Gaels have gone into Spokane and won B2B meetings here on the road. St. Mary's is more ready than ever to compete with the Zags once again in '25-'26. 

Gonzaga will be missing one of its better players in Braden Huff as he's been out for a while. Even though Graham Ike is expected to make his return on Saturday evening, he's not going to provide the Bulldogs enough to win this game by double digits. This is practically the Gaels' "Super Bowl" every year. Although I wouldn't be shocked at all for another upset, I'll grab the points. 

Burns' Prediction: 72-70 St. Mary's

(#45) New Jersey Devils @ (#46) Ottawa Senators | UNDER | . 

Jack Hughes is dealing with another lower body injury and could be forced to miss this game. Even if he plays, I don't expect him to be at 100% and that might change things within the Devils lineup. New Jersey has already struggled to score this season even with him playing and/or not, averaging 2.61 goals per game.

For the Senators, they've been playing great defense lately. As a matter of fact, they've allowed three goals over the past two games against both very strong foes in Colorado and Vegas. I expect Ottawa to keep it up and win this game, but I love the "under" even more as a selection on Saturday. 

Burns' Prediction: 3-1 Sens.

(#306613) Eastern Kentucky Colonels @ (#306614) Central Arkansas Bears | OVER | . 

While Eastern Kentucky is lacking quite a bit in the ASUN conference, it has been playing in some very high scoring contests. The Colonels don't play necessarily fast, ranking 196th in the nation in KenPom's tempo rankings. But, they have the 335th ranked defense with a 161st ranked offense. That definitely helps games end up higher scoring that expected. 

On the other hand, Central Arkansas' defense might be rated slightly stronger. But, the Bears have lighting up the scoreboard lately and it hasn't really mattered. Over their past four games, the Bears have averaged 86.5 PPG. Two of those games were on the road. I believe that playing at home should help C-ARK on Saturday and we should see another high scoring affair. 

Burns' Prediction: 84-77 Central Ark.

(#703) Nebraska Omaha Mavericks | ML | . 

If you haven't been following along this season, I've been absolutely riding Nebraska Omaha throughout the past month. I've been able to avoid the Mavericks in the bad spots and win whenever they win. As a matter of fact, I'm 4-0 on them this month. Having said that, this is another great spot for them to be in having won consecutive games and not playing for nearly a whole week after today. 

Denver, on the other hand, I'm not a big fan of. Don't get me wrong, winning on the road against UMKC was a great result for the Pioneers. But, they have struggled dearly against any sort of competition in the Summit League and this one's going to be a real challenge. I think that Omaha is among the best in the conference. Getting it at plus money is an absolute gift in this spot. 

Burns' Prediction: 84-73 Omaha.

(#627) UNC Greensboro Spartans | ATS | . 

It hasn't been that good of a season for UNC Greensboro. It's only won eight games and has lost consecutive games. That being said, this matchup is against one of the worst teams in the conference and even though the Spartans are on the road, they should be able to do some damage this Saturday afternoon. 

The Citadel has played a lot better through nine games inside the conference this season than last. Nonetheless, I believe that this team is still very, very weak. The Bulldogs won five games total last year and zero inside the conference. Don't expect many more wins the rest of this season. When these teams played two weeks ago, UNCG came out on top in OT. I've got it to win again in this one. 

Burns' Prediction: 80-70 UNCG.

(#41) San Jose Sharks | ML | . 

San Jose just blew one of the worst leads of the season. Leading 3-0 heading into the third and blowing it against a division opponent in the Oilers is never fun. But, at least the Sharks were able to secure a point. What Macklin Celebrini has done has been absolutely special and I expect him to continue the excellence with more points this evening. 

Calgary's lost five straight and we're finally seeing it collapse down the standings. The Flames are second last in the West and just don't seem in the right head space at the moment. When these teams played back in December, I had the "over" in a 6-3 Sharks win. San Jose scored early and often in that one. Expect more of the same today. 

Burns' Prediction: 5-2 Sharks.

(#577) Chicago Bulls @ (#578) Miami Heat | OVER | . 

Chicago and Miami have been two of the fastest playing teams in the NBA this season and I'm expecting a very tough battle. Miami ranks #1 among every team in the NBA in possessions per game, in all games as well as at home. In road games, guess who's #2? The Chicago Bulls are number two. 

When these teams met up on Thursday, they combined for 229 and finished "under" the number. While Miami shot under their average for FG%, Chicago shot a whopping 8% below. I don't expect that to continue here today. We're going to see lots of running up and down the court and we're getting a slightly better number than we would have a few days ago. Hammer the "over."

Burns' Prediction: 126-119 Bulls.

(#775) Connecticut Huskies @ (#776) Creighton Blue Jays | UNDER | . 

While it's difficult choosing the "under" in a game where it's expected to be tight down the stretch, I believe that we're going to see a very low scoring contest on Saturday in this Big East encounter. Connecticut currently ranks 298th in KenPom's adjusted tempo rankings with the 5th most efficient defense in the country. That's pretty good if you'd ask me. The Huskies just played a fast team in Providence and was able to change its game style to win that game. I expect them to come back down to earth against a much slower team. Creighton isn't "slow." But, the Blue Jays are still below average in pace, as KenPom has it at 231st this season. These teams have been two of the best in the Big East Conference over the past couple of years and I wouldn't be shocked if they slow it down even more and focus on defense in this massive contest. Creighton needs it more than anything so expect it to be calm and run its sets. The "under" should roll. 

Burns' Prediction: 70-61 UCONN.

(#202469) Bayern Munich FC | GOAL SPREAD | . 

With Bayern Munich bouncing back mid-week in the UCL from its loss suffered over the weekend, I believe that the German Giants are going to be back in full form on Saturday ready to go. Despite the recent "struggles" Bayern remains to have one of the most potent offensive abilities that we've ever seen. I expect goals galore this afternoon. 

Hamburg doesn't stand much of a chance in this game. However, I'm surprised that it's an underdog by this price even. In my eyes, Bayern should be at around the -2.0 price at the very least. Back in September, it was a 5-0 domination in this fixture for Bayern. Don't be shocked if the same thing happens here. 

Burns' Prediction: 5-0 Bayern.

(#207902) Beşiktaş J.K. | 3-WAY ML | . 

Even while off a pair of losses, I'm not the biggest fan of this Torku Konyaspor side. It's suffered defeat in five of its 11 road games this season and this match will be played at one of the toughest stadiums to play in, in all of Turkey. 

Although, Besiktas hasn't nearly been as strong this season as it has in recent years, it's still a threat to dominate the soccer game anytime that it touches the field. In five of its past six games in all competitions, it's gotten the three points. I'll go with the heavy home fav. here. 

Burns' Prediction: 2-0 Beşiktaş.

(#200045) Bournemouth FC. | GOAL SPREAD | . 

Playing on the road is never too fun. But, Bournemouth is starting to play much, much better and I believe that it's going to start making charges to challenge the teams fighting for a spot in Europe competitions for next year very soon. Bournemouth beat Liverpool last weekend and now have a date against the worst team in the EPL. 

That's right, Wolverhampton is dead last in the Premier League. It's lost 17 of its 23 matched this season with five draws and just one victory. With these odds, I'll gladly take the "draw" if a draw is a result in this match. Bournemouth is in much better form and is the better team. 

Burns' Prediction: 3-1 Bournemouth.

(#689) Arkansas Little Rock Trojans | ATS | . 

Despite the struggles this season, Little Rock remains one of my teams to beat in the Ohio Valley Conference this season. The field in this conference is so tight at the moment that anyone could make a run come March. We're going to see the Trojans on the road this weekend, and I expect them to finally start dominating the weaker teams. 

Tennessee Tech simply isn't very good. With a 7-14 record on the season, I don't expect it to pose much of a threat on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles have already gotten killed in this matchup back on the first of January (19pt loss.) If Little Rock is hot early, don't expect this one to be close either. That being said, either way, I expect the experience of Little Rock to prove too good on Saturday. 

Burns' Prediction: 77-69 Little Rock.

(#210345) U.S. Sassuolo Calcio @ (#210346) Pisa Sporting Club | UNDER | . 

While US Sassuolo Calcio is much better in the table this season, it's had struggles in front of goal this season averaging just 1.22 goals per game through 18 games. Sassuolo's been worse on the road as well, just like most teams in the Serie A and other competitions around the world. 

All season long, Pisa has struggled to establish any sort of rhythm. Currently in dead last in the Serie A, Pisa has scored only 18 goals in all of its 22 games played on the campaign. That's simply not good enough. Even at home on Saturday, I'm not expecting Pisa to get on the scoreboard. I expect a 0-0 or 1-0 contest to be played on Saturday. 

Burns' Prediction: 1-0 Sassuolo.

(#200349) Wrexham A.F.C. | GOAL SPREAD | . 

Even playing on the road I believe that Wrexham is going to continue its charge to become the first team ever to earn a fourth consecutive promotion in English football. It's playing great football this season and just knocked off 12th ranked QPR on the road last weekend. Sheffield Wednesday is dead last in the Championship and is definitely going to be demoted at the end of this season. Winners of only one game in 28 with 19 defeats, I simply don't see it having a chance against anyone in the top six of this league at the moment. Give me Wrexham, early on Saturday. 

Burns' Prediction: 2-0 Wrexham.

(#24145) Keiichiro Nakamura | ML | . 

The Japanese fighter comes into this bout feeling very good about himself. He's a training partner of UFC bantamweight and former "Road to the UFC" winner Rinya Nakamura. Now, even Keiichiro brings a different style of fighting and he's a legit striker opposed to a grappler like Rinya. I do believe that being able to train with someone like that will be able to help Keiichiro Nakamura though and help with his grappling. I believe that he's going to be the much better fighter on the feet in this one. On the other hand, Sebastian Szalay is a Karate fighter and I don't think that his style of fighting is going to work too much in this one. The Aussie is fighting in his home country, but he's got a four and a half inch reach disadvantage and that's a very large number when we're talking about two guys that like to stand up. I don't see Szalay getting the knockout and Nakamura will most definitely go for some himself. He's the more aggressive fighter. Expect that to help him get the win on Saturday. 

Burns' Prediction: Nakamura via. 3rd Round KO.