John Fredericks Quick Picks for March 17 2024

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia —

It’s not good to give out losers on St. Patty’s Day! I’m live at Wagener Field – home of the WVU Mountaineer baseball team, where WVU hopes to take two of three from Ohio State.
Let’s roll!

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Read below for John Fredericks Quick Picks for March 17, 2024

NHL

Devils at Vegas (-180)

New Jersey is playing its third game in four nights and its fourth straight road game. They got blown out by bottom feeder Arizona last night 4-1. They’ve now dropped seven of 10. This is a bad time to be in Vegas. The Golden Knights have only played at home twice since Feb. 23 and they are normally tough at home.

Pick: Vegas (-180)

Winnipeg (-1.5, +105) at Columbus 

The pure physicality and speed of this Jets team is something to behold. I love watching them skate.

Pick: Jets (-1.5, +105)

Detroit at Pens (-140)

Are the Penguins this pathetic? The Rangers blew them out last night.

Pick: Pens (-140)

College Hoops

Illinois (-3.5) vs Wisconsin

The Badgers fought like madmen yesterday to knock off the best team in the Big Ten – Purdue – in OT.  The Illini come into this game winners in six of their last seven games overall. Their lone loss in that stretch was to the Boilermakers, and that by just six points. Illinois has dominated this series, winning seven straight games against Wisconsin.

Related: Suns vs. Bucks Pick and Prediction

The Badgers lost nine of their past 12 games coming into the Big Ten dance and those three wins were all against below .500 teams in the Big Ten. Until the Big Ten tournament, they hadn’t beaten a team that finished in the top half of the Big Ten in two months. I don’t see it happening again here.

Pick: Illinois (-3.5)