Guard Mike Gansey doesn't see his former team getting out the first round of the 2011 D-League playoffs.

Mike Gansey is picking against his former team.

On the website, Ridiculous Upside, Gansey picked the second-seeded Reno Bighorns (34-16) to beat the fifth-seeded Erie BayHawks (32-16) in the D-League’s best-of-three playoff series beginning Sunday at 5 p.m. at Tullio Arena.

Reno won its lone game against Erie this season, 100-89, at home March 16. Gansey is playing overseas in Spain. While with Erie last season, Gansey averaged 18.4 points.

This one is a bit of a head scratcher as my buddy Scott pointed out the Bighorns were 6-1 vs. Bakersfield this season but chose the Bayhawks instead.  Now I know Erie has been up and down the last couple weeks of the season but with Blake Ahearn and Ivan Johnson they have one of the best 1-2 combinations in the D-League.  Reno has been LOADED all season with an NBA roster it seems the entire year but Coach Eric Musselman has been able to put it together and have to give him some credit.

Pick: I really had a tough time picking a winner in this one but I have to go with Reno in three games here.  They just have too many athletic bodies to throw at and slow down Ivan Johnson. Despite the outstanding job Erie Coach Jay Larranaga has done this past year, the Bighorns will advance.

Kyle Goldcamp, a teammate of Gansey’s last season, heard about the prediction from Blake Ahearn, who also played with Gansey last season with the BayHawks. Goldcamp and Ahearn are with the BayHawks this season.

“I’m going to have to get on him the next time I talk to him for not picking his boys,” Goldcamp said. “At least in the first round. I did see that. Hopefully we can prove him wrong.”

When Goldcamp heard Gansey picked Reno to win the D-League title, he was surprised.

“Oh does he?” Goldcamp said. “I didn’t know that. Well, again, hope we can prove him wrong. Maybe he mixed it up. He meant to pick us going all the way. I think that’s what it was. I’ll have to talk to him about that.”