Free Pick | NCAA | Tuesday | Feb. 28

Nelly’s Basketball is 7-1 the past four days – check out tonight’s offers or join us for March Madness. We went 30-14 in March college basketball last season and went 15-5 in the NCAA Tournament and NIT.

Free Pick Tuesday: #618 Syracuse -8.5 over Georgia Tech 6:00 PM CT

Syracuse has taken three straight defeats by 22, 18, and 17 points to slide from 9-6 in ACC play to 9-9. The final two games will be at home for the Orange and the three-game slide featured two road losses and a home loss to Duke, facing three of the top tier teams in the conference in succession since the notable home win over NC State February 14. Syracuse has lost four home games in ACC play but those losses came against four of the better teams in the conference. Georgia Tech is not in that category and Syracuse won by 17 in Atlanta in January. The Yellow Jackets are on a 4-2 run since losing nine in a row but the only noteworthy win was hosting Virginia Tech. Saturday’s home finale win against Louisville was a positive result but Georgia Tech’s only road win all season came by two points at Georgia State back in November. Syracuse has drawn one of the tougher ACC schedules and still grades as a very capable offensive team while Georgia Tech has the worst offensive numbers in the ACC. Syracuse is five percent better in 3-point shooting and seven percent better at the free throw line while the Orange seem likely to have  rebounding edge in this pairing. Syracuse was +6 on the glass in the first meeting and forced 16 Georgia Tech turnovers for a convincing win even after a poor start to the game. Georgia Tech is quietly on a 6-0 ATS run but they have been a double-digit underdog in three of those games and are only 5-9 ATS this season when dogged by fewer than 10 points. Syracuse is 6-2 ATS when favored by 7.5 or more points this season while 5-2 ATS vs. losing teams. Delvon Smith and Tristan Maxwell have been out in recent games for Georgia Tech while Chris Bell is a question mark for the Orange but this should be a good set-up and atmosphere for the Orange to deliver even at what looks like a steep favorite price for a mediocre team by past Jim Boeheim standards.