1. Maggette Over Szczerbiak.
They didn't guard each other all the time, and Wally played ten fewer minutes (31:33 to 41:28) than Corey Maggette, but this is the matchup that doomed the Wolves to their second loss in three games against the L.A. Clippers last night. Maggette went 11-18 from the field, 8-9 from the line, and had 10 boards to go with his 30 points. Szczerbiak was 3-9 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, and had three rebounds to go along with 10 points. Wally did register three steals and Maggette had a game-high four turnovers, but the bottom line is Maggette made his shots when it mattered and Wally never got off.

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1. Wally's Groove
What a difference when Szczerbiak is hitting that jumper, eh?

2. A shorter bench
Friday was also the first time Coach Dwane Casey gave merely seven players double-digit minutes, and I think it made a difference in the team's rhythm.

3. KG when it matters, now and into the future.
As you probably read in the dailies, KG got nailed on the chin and took six stitches for the cause, costing him exactly 5:25 worth of playing time. He proceeded to score ten straight points on his return to the court, transforming a three-point deficit into a permanent Wolves lead.

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The grand experiment of BTI comes to an abbreviated close this weekend, as a truncated slate of college and pro football games will reduce my total number of picks from 15 to 10. After that, it's all championships and bowl games--not enough to prove my idiocy. But for those keeping score, I went 7-8 last week, meaning that just once in eight weeks did I pick more winners than losers. Can any other prognosticator provide you more reliability--and for free? Overall mark? 51-66-3.

Okay, on to this week's picks...

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1. Sorry Point Guards

Who do you want at the point, Jaric or Hudson? How would you like to die, poison or the electric chair?

Jaric's ineptitude is for me the biggest surprise, up or down, among all the personnel on the Wolves this season. I'm not going to go into lengthy detail, because blasting Jaric will probably be the subject of my next Hang Time in the paper a week from today. But the guy turns the fundamentals of point guard play--bringing the ball up the court, or making an entry pass into the top of the key, let alone the post, in the half-court sets--into a real adventure. He doesn't penetrate to the hoop nor post up nearly as often as he should. Tonight he had Chris Paul, seven inches smaller, guarding him. He tried three shots--two of them from outside the three-point arc--in 17 minutes. He had two assists and four turnovers.

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Last week's mark, 6-8-1. For the season thus far, 44-58-3. The numbers don't lie: Just buck the Idiot's 15 picks this weekend and enrich yourself at your bookie's expense.

On to this week's ten college and five pro football picks against the spread, leavened, as always, by the Idiot's pithy, oh-so-insightful justifications for his choices.

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1. KG's comments.

All the beat writers and columnists were in a state of high alert, smelling blood, or at least controversy, so I assume by now you are aware of at least parts of Kevin Garnett's interview with TNT's Cheryl Miller. (If not here's the link to the brief print synopsis and access to what I assume is the entire 3:17 video.) Here's my take.

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Sports Illustrated columnist Jeffri Chadiha dares to say in yesterday's column that the Vikings may be a better team without injured QB Daunte Culpepper: "I hate saying this because I like Culpepper, and his injury was gruesome. I cringe every time I see Panthers cornerback Chris Gamble barreling into Culpepper's right knee like a bowling ball crashing into pins. Yet here's the hard truth about Culpepper that anybody with an experienced eye could see before he went down: He was one of the Vikings' biggest problems." Chadiha feels the rest of the Vikes realize they have to step up now that they can no longer place the team's fate solely on Culpepper's arm. Read the entire column here.

1. Wally's woes continue.

Dwane Casey's plan for this season is as simple as ham and eggs: Play monster defense to establish a new team identity, depressing the score enough so that KG on the low block and Wally shooting from 16 feet and out are pretty much all the offense you need to win most ballgames. And everything is going according to script, except that Szczerbiak can't knock down any jumpers.

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1. No boards.

Kandi and Eddie Griffin corralled three rebounds in a combined 24 and a half minutes, one more than 5'5" Earl Boykins in the same amount of time. Szczerbiak had one in 26:34 minutes, and 6'7" point guard Marko Jaric was shut out in 24 minutes of play. Even KG was thoroughly beaten by Marcus Camby, who had 22 rebounds and 7 blocks. Two guys who live by hustle, Mark Madsen and Ronnie Dupree, had the Wolves' best rebounds-per-minutes totals. It was a pitiful effort made even more shameful by the fact that Denver has lost power forward Nene for the season and was without their rebounding tough guy Kenyon Martin, a late scratch last night.

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Take it to the bank, my friends. The Idiot once again muffed 60 percent of his picks against the spread last week, leaving his overall mark at 38-50-2. Because the college game is where his ineptitude seems most pronounced, you've only got a few more weeks to Buck The Idiot and cash in with your bookie.

On to the picks for Week 7...

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