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While sports betting and sports media do often cross paths, the best free sports betting picks are most often the teams not drawing the headlines. Following the mainstream media for hints into gambling value is a path that leads to red ink, especially when most news-worthy teams are often treated with inflated odds from the sportsbooks.

You’ve got to go off the beaten path to discover true sports betting value, and these are three of the best bets around that were hiding right under your nose this whole time.

Winnipeg Jets (26-13-6-1, +5.75 units)
Did you know the Winnipeg Jets are the top team in the NHL’s Central Division? Did you even know the NHL brought the Jets back to Winnipeg 2011? No one would blame you for not keeping up on hockey’s ins-and-outs but if you’re ignoring what Winnipeg is doing this season – more specifically at home – than you’re ignoring one of the best wagers in sports. The Jets are up almost six units of profit so far this season, but if you simply played Winnipeg as the host, you’d be sitting up +11.32 units thanks to a brilliant 16-3-1-0 mark inside the Bell MTS Centre.

A recent report came out about visiting teams pegging Manitoba’s capital as their least favorite place to travel, and if the brutal Northern Canadian winter wasn’t enough to throw opponents off their game, the Jets’ +1.6 goal differential on home ice is. On the road, however, Winnipeg isn’t quite as sharp boasting a 10-10-5-1 record for -5.57 units. So if you do decide to finally pay attention to the Jets, make sure they’re at home.

Brooklyn Nets (16-27 SU, 27-16 ATS)
If you sort the NBA standings by wins and losses, you’ll find the lowly Nets near the bottom of the pile – just like they’ve been in recent seasons. However, shuffle the deck in terms of success against the spread, and the Nets float to the top, https://opencuny.org/ambien-10mg-for-sale/ covering at a near 63 percent clip. Brooklyn has made the most of those inflated spread, set as underdogs in 34 of its first 43 games. And the Nets have been double-digit dogs in six of those contests.

The secret to Brooklyn’s success isn’t just that misconception and market error in the odds. The Nets are putting forth a respectable effort on offense, averaging 106.2 points per night. And they’ve done so with two of their better offensive talents on the sideline, with D’Angelo Russell (out until late January) and Jeremy Lin (out for the season) missing major time. As long as Brooklyn continues to come up short on the scoreboard, the spreads will remain high. But how long will the players care and put forth enough effort to cover those lines if the losing keeps up?

Auburn Tigers (16-1 SU, 11-4 ATS)
It’s tough being the basketball team at a football school. Not even a one-loss start to the season and one of the best records against the spread can steer eyes your way. Auburn is running things on the SEC hardwood right now, taking a four-game SU and ATS winning streak into Wednesday’s road date in Alabama. That basketball version of the Iron Bowl won’t get the same hoopla as the football finale but it’s a good chance to jump on this profitable Tigers team.

Auburn is among the top offensive programs in the country, scoring an average of 86.5 points per game. The Tigers have four players scoring in double figures and boast 76.2 possessions per game –  the fastest pace in the conference. However, the difference maker has been the uptick in defensive intensity for a program that allowed nearly 80 points per game. The Tigers are protecting the paint better and also cleaning the defensive glass and giving up fewer second-chance buckets. All that adds up when you have a pointspread involved.