Rating: 2 Units

Seems best not to be “that guy” who insists on stepping in front of Baylor, 30-4 SU when favored at home the last two-plus seasons. They’re scoring more, giving up fewer, than the Jayhawks. As noted here recently, can’t trust KU’s David McCormack to step up inside on a consistent basis, especially against the conference’s best

Rating: 2 Units

The large mass of human form resembling James Harden will encounter more defensive resistance than it did in its Nets’ debut vs. Orlando on Saturday. Bucks have had two off-days before coming in and have not been dealing with many personnel absences.

Rating: 2 Units

Spurs have long had problems in this building. Popovich seems to use it as a place to rest guys, test out new lineups, let somebody else coach (he’ll get himself ejected). Weird.

Rating: 2 Units

Sacramento State is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600, 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games vs. a team with a winning home record, and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record. While Idaho State is 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 Monday games, 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall, and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.

NBA Game of the Week

It’s a great “situation” for the T’Wolves, although they are the type of team that tends to not take advantage. The Hawks were out West last week, return home with only one day in between their 6-point loss at Portland (taking +5) and this assignment, for which they don’t even get a break with a night-time tip. It’s 2:35 pm, ET! Are we feeling a bit sluggish today? The T’Wolves haven’t played since Thursday night at home against Memphis. They figure to be the fresher and more in sync side, because if recently injured and absent Hawks come back for this, they may need a game under their belts before re-jelling with their mates (actually, with so many new players, they haven’t originally jelled yet). Atlanta is a mere 13-15 SU – that’s straightup -- when favored the last two-plus seasons. T’Wolves have a built-in excuse for blowing this, with Towns out again, and probably Juancho Hermangomez and Ricky Rubio, too. But their 0-5 SU road record has been compiled vs. Utah, LA Clippers and Lakers, Denver and Portland. All winners. So, if they don’t come through for us, then we can just hate on them and insult them and win some other games starting tomorrow.

Rating: 2 Units

Home invasion situation with the Magic having been in god-forsaken New York since Friday, where they competed well against Brooklyn on Saturday but were victimized by a large mass of human form who resembled James Harden, swishing threes from way downtown. The Magic have their issues and obstacles but they have been waiting for the Knicks to arrive so they can take well-prepped advantage of losing-streaking New York playing the second of back-to-backs, road to home.

NBA Play of the Day

With a 42.9% rate on three-pointers, you’d think the Clippers should be undefeated, right? Utah led the NBA in that department with 38.0% last season, so expect that percentage to be dropping. The Pacers enter in what was supposed to be a second of back-to-backs, but their game at Phoenix was postponed last night. That’s a fortunate break that eliminates what would have been a fifth road game in seven nights, and instead makes it a Jan. 14 to Jan. 17 gap with time to practice on the road for what has been an undervalued team (8-4 ATS). Indiana’s response to trading Victor Oladipo was a 111-87 win at Portland, accomplished without yet-to-arrive Caris Le-Vert.

Rating: 2 Units

In the downturn the Pels have shown a lack of defensive intensity, losing the TO battle by 4½ per game, allowing foes to make 42% of their treys and giving up 9 steals a game. Sacto not doing any better, with a 2-7 SU mark since New Year’s Eve, ranking dead last in net differential in that period. The Kings average 113.6 PPG, but they allow a whopping 123.2. Look for New Orleans to improve to 6-1 ATS in its last seven following a straight-up loss of ten or more points in its previous outing and lay the short points.

ACC Play of the Day

Head coaches Mike Young and Steve Forbes squared off in the Southern Conference when Wofford and East Tennessee State matched up. Young beat Forbes five of the last eight times and his Virginia Tech team has a one-season head start in his systems vs. the first-season Forbes, whose Demon Deacons endured a long pause recently that should continue to be an obstacle as he attempts to make something of the mess that Danny Manning left behind. Nowhere to go but up, but hopefully not yet, as one of their guards suggests: "It’s just going to take a little time. Hopefully it happens sooner or later, and we can maybe flip the switch, but it’s just a matter of time before we get to it." Another guard, Carter Whitt missed the Louisville game and should still be out. Va. Tech’s Jalen Cone has been giving them a starter’s production coming off the bench.

Rating: 2 Units

Memphis, overrated due to incorrect assessment of Penny Hardaway’s coaching abilities being as good as his recruiting abilities, hasn’t played since Dec. 29 but it was because of their opponents, not them. But before the postponements, they were struggling to score. They face a host giving up an average of only 62.9 ppg, and who they already lost to at home by the score of 56-49. Oh, and they also lost 80-40 here last February. Good luck!

Rating: 4 Unit CAA Play of the Day

Hofstra is now 0-5 ATS in the Colonial following Friday’s outright loss as the road favorite. We had that happy-happy back-to-back against them last weekend with Northeastern, and they followed up on that SU/ATS L-L with an outright loss here by 18 points. People are looking at them as if they already won the CAA, like they did last year, and as if their head coach is still there, which he hasn’t been. They have a short roster, play mostly 40 minutes of zone, are easy to prepare for, have a target on their backs and aren’t shooting as accurately as they did last season.

Rating: 2 Units

Can you imagine Northwestern people when they’re 3-0 after beating Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State, thinking, ‘Oh, yes! We will dominate the Big Ten and get to the Elite Eight! Wowee!’ Because at that point, anyone who’s been around the block a few times realizes that 3-0 has a fine chance to turn into 3-10. At the moment it’s 3-4, the four straight losses by 15, 19, 25 and 10 points.

Rating: 2 Units

Both teams are dealing with injury issues, but the backcourt of Lillard and McCollum will just be too much for this young Hawks team to deal with in the second game of the back-to-back scenario, as note that Atlanta has indeed struggled in this spot for bettors, going just 2-7 ATS in its last nine road games after failing to score 100 points in a SU/ATS loss in its previous game and playing on no rest.

Rating: 2 Units

‘Fade the Raptors’ mantra worked again on Thursday night. They’re 3-8 ATS. Say no more.

Rating: 4 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Orlando won the first three meetings with Brooklyn last season until the very meaningless fourth, when Brooklyn won 108-96 led by Jeremiah Martin,  Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Dzanan Musa and Tyler Johnson. The Nets are in much better shape physically and scoring-potential now, and they’ll have had two days off since beating the Knicks. Orlando is not in better shape physically or in scoring potential. In fact, they’re worse off. They’ve scored 90, 98, 99, 97 points in their current four-game losing streak. Plus, they’re in a second of road back-to-backs (Nets are rested) coming out of Boston Friday last night, where they were without Mo Bamba, Michael Cater-Williams, Evan Fournier, Al-Farouq Aminu, and the three guys who were already out long-term, Chuma Okeke, Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac.

Rating: 2 Units

Thursday night’s result was more of the same from the San Jose State perspective – another beatdown suffered. This time it was 90-57. They’ve been relocated to Phoenix, AZ. The school’s women’s basketball program has been shut down, rather than deal with the fear-based banishment to another state. They lost to the Rams by 33 points despite 35 points from guard Richard Washington. “That’s not very good for us defensively,” said CSU head coach Niko Medved. So now they’ll key on Washington to add insult to another injury.

Rating: 3 Units

When you work with somebody who doesn’t want to be there and doesn’t think
you’re worthy of their personal goals, and then he leaves, the general feeling is more like, “Good riddance to the SOB!” than “Oh, how can we possibly do our jobs moving forward?” Everybody is replaceable. The Rockets have one game under their belt since James Harden, to nobody’s dismay, was dealt. And, as we suggested in Thursday’s forecast, Houston would be more than merely competitive in his wake. They may not be a championship contender, but neither are the Spurs. However, using Pop off a loss in a quick-turnaround, second crack at an opponent definitely playing without John Wall, Danuel House and Eric Gordon, plus possibly DeMarcus Cousins, and Harden if you want to count him, as well as yet-to-report Victor Oladipo, doesn’t seem like an unreasonable move.

Rating: 4 Unit PAC-12 Play of the Day

Undefeated in conference play and looking to move back into the national rankings, UCLA is set to put its much-improved offense up against visiting Washington today. The Bruins (10-2, 6-0 Pac-12) will enter off an impressive 91-61 victory Thursday over Washington State when the leaders of the conference shook off their tendency to play to the level of their opponent. UCLA has not gone 7-0 to open conference play since 1993-94. Washington (1-10, 0-6) will enter the game off a brutal 95-68 loss Thursday at Southern California. UCLA is 4-0 since the start of the new year, but Thursday was the first time the Bruins defeated an opponent by double digits in that time. Consider that Washington is 6-20 ATS in their last 26 games as an underdog.

CBB Mismatch of the Day

And, like we said before picking them at LSU (d-oh!), Arkansas is known for SEC road losses and losing a lot of games after recording 0- and 1-loss non-conference seasons. Alabama has a couple of injuries (Jordan Bruner, Herb Jones) that will no doubt draw Arkansas money but those folks can have ’em ‘cuz we don’t want ’em. Look at those injury chasers, driving the number down.

Rating: 2 Units

The under is 14-5 in Monarchs last 19 Saturday games, 13-5 in Monarchs last 18 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600, and 15-6 in Monarchs last 21 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. While the under is 8-3 in Owls last 11 overall and 5-2 in Owls last 7 games following a straight up win

Rating: 3 Units

After winning their first three league outings, including a 76-58 thumping of Florida on the road, the Wildcats (4-7, 3-1 SEC) took a huge step back in falling to Alabama 85-65 at home Tuesday night. It was the Wildcats' worst loss to the Crimson Tide ever in Rupp Arena and worst to the Tide in Lexington since 1974. Auburn has become a different team since getting a favorable eligibility ruling on freshman Sharife Cooper. Though the Tigers (7-6, 1-4) lost 94-90 to Alabama in the talented point guard's first outing last weekend, they cruised past Georgia 95-77 in Athens in their next outing. Cooper has 54 points, 21 assists, nine rebounds and five steals in his first two collegiate games. Consider Auburn is 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400.

Rating: 4 Unit MAC Play of the Day

We could have a little zig-zaggy action here with Akron coming home off a road loss at 2-9 Northern Illinois (after a seven-hour bus ride), and Toledo coming in just a little too hot for us to sincerely believe it can continue, off 95-78 and 96-63 home wins vs. Ohio and Eastern Michigan. And, of course, there were the six straight wins before that. And the 99-89 win by Toledo on this floor last season. And yet, we go with the home dog coming off two road losses. It’s their only MAC home game in a five-game stretch.

Rating: 2 Units

The typical Oral Roberts game is a track meet where they try to outscore the other team and fail to cover the spread in the process. You know, like yesterday’s 88-84 win against now 1-9 Denver in which ORU was favored by a heck of a lot more than four. Now, we ask this question: How many chances in life do you get to go against a road favorite in the high altitude of Denver, CO that is playing the second of back-to-backs, off a win, after their point guard played all 40 minutes and scored 34 points on 13-for-30 shooting the day before? Hey now

Rating: 2 Units

The over is 6-2 in Aztecs last 8 games after scoring less than 50 points in their previous game, 8-3-1 in Aztecs last 12 games following a ATS loss, and 5-2 in Aztecs last 7 road games.

Rating: 4 Unit SEC Play of the Day

Tell me how will the virus pause affect the Tigers? Tell me Cuonzo, Cuonzo, Cuonzo!’ “I’ve been in leagues where you’ve had a week off. It’s not a bad thing in my opinion. I assume we’ll be fine.” Martin likes it when his 6’10”, 260 Jeremiah Tillman plays against opponents with traditional bigs who don’t step out and shoot three pointers. A&M’s Emanuel Miller and Kevin Marfo have combined to shoot 0-for-5 on three-pointers this season. There you go, coach. A&M has chances to win when they hold opponents to 50-something. Get to 60!

Rating: 2 Units

Georgia responded to a 30-point road loss at Arkansas by coming home and losing by 18 points to Auburn – which we were very happy about. So, we’ll see how Ole Miss reacts to coming off a 14-point home loss to LSU, followed by a  9-point road loss at Florida. They’ve ordered up the right opponent, it seems. The Florida game was 66-63 with :50 remaining when Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis got a technical for arguing a foul-out called against his 6’8”, 235 Romello White. Good to have some anger carrying over.

Rating: 2 Units

The Lakers pounded the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-99 on Wednesday to remain the NBA's only unbeaten team on the road. But the Lakers, who are an NBA-best 10-3 overall, are 3-3 at home, with losses in two of their past three games at Staples Center. Consider that LA is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games as a home favorite.

Rating: 2 Units

Kings won two of three against the bad-favorite Clippers last season. L.A. managed to “get past” New Orleans the other night, 111-106, when the Pelicans were playing without Zion Williamson, Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe. Paul George… ugh. But the Kings are allowing 122 points per game, most in the league. That’s just too many.

Rating: 3 Units

Wisconsin won't find any sympathy for its Tuesday night plight when it hits the floor in New Jersey. The Scarlet Knights (7-4, 3-4) were ranked as high as 11th after starting 6-0, but they have dropped four of the past five, including a 79-68 decision at home Saturday against Ohio State. A lack of post depth, poor first-shot defense and sketchy offensive execution have plagued Rutgers lately. Ohio State canned 51 percent from the field. Consider that Wisconsin is 9-4-1 ATS in their last 14 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.

Rating: 2 Units

Billy Donovan has one of those Nick Saban-like staffs in Chicago, with an assistant for everything. He had one at Oklahoma City, too, where he was the head coach for the last five years until he stepped down after last year, not wanting to be part of the stated rebuild. (His former assistant Mark Daigneault has only four assistants on the current OKC staff). Mo Cheeks was Donovan’s assistant in OKC for five years. The Bulls are off three straight narrow losses out West, before a home game with the Celtics was postponed Tuesday. All the more time to focus on an opponent that Donovan and Cheeks know as well as anyone not connected to the OKC. Both Lauri Markkanen and Ryan Arcidiacono have returned to practice for Chicago (both out since Dec. 31).

Rating: 3 Units

Middle Tennessee State is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games following a straight up win, 3-9 ATS in their last 12 games following a ATS win, and 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games overall. While Southern Miss is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up loss. 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall, and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as an underdog.

Rating: 2 Units

Cleveland is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 Friday games, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games playing on 2 days rest, 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 games following a straight up loss of more than 10 points. While New York is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall, 0-4 ATS in their last 4 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game, and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 when their opponent allows 100 points or more in their previous game.

Rating: 2 Units

The Under is 4-1 in Bulldogs last 5 overall, 4-1 in Bulldogs last 5 home games, and 5-2 in Bulldogs last 7 games following a straight up win.

Rating: 4 Unit CBB Play of the Day

The visitor – who won the MAAC last year and is the favorite to win it again -- has won 15 straight in MAAC play. The host – picked to finish last in the MAAC -- has lost three straight conference home games. Siena had every right to be behind the curve after a very long pause before they could play a single game. They had no non-conference tune-ups. But they’ve zipped past Monmouth and Fairfield for 4-0. Rider is 17-28 ATS in MAAC games the last two-plus seasons, which includes 0-3 ATS as a home underdog.

Rating: 4 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day

With only one day between the loss/no-cover at Dayton and this schlep from there up to Olean, NY, struggling Duquesne seems to be in a tough spot. Starting point guard Sincere Carry said ‘no mas’ earlier in the week and joined guard Lamar Norman, Jr. in the transfer portal. Another guard, Maceo Austin, is on leave for personal reasons. Carry did not leave for playing time reasons, which would seem to be a problem because it’s not like Dambrot was happier with somebody else when Carry – a junior playing a lot since his freshman season -- was getting 30.2 minutes per game. Consider that St. Bonaventure is 15-5-1 ATS in their last 21 games as a favorite.

Rating: 2 Units

You already know that Riverside caught USC in a tough spot on Tuesday! USC shot 3-for-21 on three-pointers to make it even harder on themselves. Usually, that would discount the up-in-class strong performance and set them up to be overvalued as a road favorite vs. their own kind. But, we must also consider that they have been on a Big West upswing (7-9 last year was a drastic improvement for the Highlanders), beat Cal Poly by 33 and 12 points last season, and Cal Poly is currently 1-6 vs. Division I teams, the one win against everyone’s favorite patsy San Jose State.

Rating: 2 Units

Georgia Southern is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record, 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as a favorite, 0-5 ATS in their last 5 home games vs. a team with a losing road record, 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400.

Rating: 3 Units

BYU is 12-2 ATS in their last 14 games following a straight up loss, 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog, and 19-7-1 ATS in their last 27 Thursday games. While St. Mary's is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Thursday games, and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. In addition, the underdog is 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings.

Rating: 4 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day

The Wildcats’ Saturday game at Oregon has been postponed, so Sean Miller doesn’t have to play with an eye to Saturday. That wasn’t going to happen anyway, because Arizona is off two home losses and shooting guard Jemarl Baker, Jr. was lost for the season to injury in the most recent. Miller will shuffle the rotation some and Oregon State, forced to pause for seven days with seven players in isolation and back to practice only this Tuesday, can’t scout the shuffle. The Beavers have their own problems to worry about coming off the pause.

Rating: 2 Units

Portland is 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 games after scoring more than 125 points in their previous game, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games when their starting 5 players combine for more than 160 minutes of the previous day, and 22-9 ATS in their last 31 Thursday games.

Rating: 3 Units

CBS Sports Network televises the first of two between Mountain West contenders, with the re-hook coming Saturday. The host Aggies are covered in the loser-dust of six straight wins and covers against San Jose State, Air Force and New Mexico. You can’t fault ‘em for who they were scheduled to play, but the visiting Aztecs’ most recent games were: Arizona State, Saint Mary’s, two against Colorado State, two against Nevada. The home side has double-revenge but they also have something to prove, against a senior-laden side with class, while having no margin for error. This arena is known for a raucous, home-assisting crowd. But outside influences have turned 10,000 into 1,500.

Rating: 3 Units

San Francisco is 7-16 ATS in their last 23 games following a straight up loss, 8-20-1 ATS in their last 29 road games vs. a team with a winning home record, and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss. While Portland is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a home underdog and home team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

Rating: 2 Units

Hornets go second of back-to-backs, home to road, after being the successful target of Dallas’ re-introduction of Porzingis. You know how we feel about the Raptors: fade ’em.

Rating: 2 Units

Ah, we meet again, stranger! But Philly will have a more familiar look than in their Tuesday night win vs. the Heat, as Matisse Thybulle, Shake Milton, Tobias Harris and Terrance Ferguson are all "probable." Last night, eight Heat players were still listed as out, including Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic. Meyers Leonard was listed as doubtful with a left shoulder sprain. Miami could be going 8 against 12 or 13.

Rating: 2 Units

Montana is  4-0 ATS in their last 4 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record, and 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games following a straight up win. While N. Arizona is 7-16 ATS in their last 23 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog. In addition, the favorite is 5-2-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings.

PAC-12 Play of the Day

Washington State’s bigs have length, size and rebound well but they are butchers with the basketball. Head coach Kyle Smith is advertising starting four freshmen here. The loss of guard Chris Smith was supposed to hamper UCLA – according to others. Guess what? They’re 5-0 in the Pac 12, and have won all three games he hasn’t played. The last four wins by the Bruins have been close – by 2, 3, 6 in OT, 5 points. This doesn’t have to be

Rating: 3 Units

The Colorado Buffaloes were set for a Wednesday night matchup against Pac-12 rival Cal, but in what has become the new normal, the game was moved back 17 hours. So instead of a primetime slot, the Bears and Buffaloes now have a lunchtime game Thursday. The way Colorado has played of late, however, it doesn't matter that tipoff is at noon local time, this team is ready to go. The Buffaloes (9-3, 3-2 Pac-12) are coming off two impressive wins, the first over then-No. 17 Oregon a week ago followed by a road win at Utah on Monday. Colorado rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Utes, and they did it with leading scorer McKinley Wright IV having a so-so game. Consider California is 4-12 ATS in their last 16 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.

Rating: 2 Units

The L.A. Clippers… a favorite that can’t hold a lead. A favorite that falls behind before making a rally. In short, not a good favorite

Rating: 2 Units

The Over is 13-3 in Cowboys last 16 games following a ATS loss, 20-6 in Cowboys last 26 home games vs. a team with a winning road record, 16-5 in Cowboys last 21 games following a straight up loss, and 12-4 in Cowboys last 16 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600. In addition, the Over is 4-0 in Broncos last 4 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points.

Rating: 4 Unit NBA Play of the Day

The T’Wolves are 1-6 SU and ATS when Karl-Anthony Towns hasn’t played, 2-1 SU, 3-0 ATS when he has played. Well, that makes it easy-peasy Great Lakes breezy, doesn’t it? Sunday’s instant-revenge vs. the Spurs was their first straight-up win without him, when they intentionally rested him after his first game back from his injury. With that non-injury absence in the books, he would figure to be a go in this match-up. Minnesota is geeked up about allowing only 88 points to the Spurs in victory and jazzed about playing defense for a change. They’re not good defensively. But Memphis is #27 in points per game (105.9), Morant, Jackson and Winslow aren’t walking through the locker room door and onto the floor for this, and now C Jonas Valanciunas has ‘hit the list!’ The contact police actually pulled him off the floor in-game on Sunday. Second-line guards around Gorgui Dieng – probably not a winning formula.

Rating: 3 Units

Incarnate Word is 5-13 ATS in their last 18 games following a ATS loss and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points

Rating: 2 Units

Pistons lost by 10 and 15 points to the Bucks last week. They lost by 14, 24 and 20 points to the Bucks last season. They lost four playoff games in a row to the Bucks the season before, three of them by 35, 21 and 23 points. During that regular season, they were 0-3 vs. Milwaukee, two of the losses by 23 and 23 points. Do you really want to be “that guy” who steps in front of a 13-0 bulldozer? Good luck

Rating: 4 Unit SEC Play of the Day

He’s still flying a little under the radar so may as well try to leverage him, him being Auburn freshman guard Sharife Cooper, who became eligible late last week and played his first game for the Tigers in the 94-90 loss vs. Alabama. How’d he do? In 36 minutes, Cooper scored 26 points, 9 assists, 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, against a pressure-oriented Alabama group. Yes, the Tigers are still looking for their first SEC win (0-4). But given that Georgia is 0-3 in the SEC, turning it over 18 times per game, and not suddenly introducing a high-scoring freshman guard of their own, it’s not unreasonable for them to be Auburn’s first victim.

Rating: 2 Units

There are worse things to embrace than 10-2 road underdogs that can score (Arkansas, 97, 99 points in their two SEC wins). A headline tries to make Arkansas’ situation sound worse than it is: “Razorbacks saddled with injuries in early SEC ride.” They have nine healthy scholarship players available. That’s more than they need! Says head coach Eric Musselman:”No big deal, as long as we have seven, we’re good.”

Rating: 3 Units

La Salle is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 games following a straight up loss. In addition, the underdog is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings

Rating: 3 Units

UMass is 20-6-1 ATS in their last 27 home games, 21-7 ATS in their last 28 games as a home underdog, and 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 games overall. In addition the underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings while the home team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings

Rating: 3 Units

Mercer is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 Wednesday games. Chattanooga is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. In addition, the road team is 6-1 ATS in the last 7 meetings

Rating: 3 Units

Florida State (5-2, 1-1 ACC) will end its longest in-season layoff since a holiday break during the 1956-57 season when it plays host to North Carolina State (6-3, 2-2) in Tallahassee, Fla. One of Florida State's strengths is field-goal defense -- a category in which it ranks 45th nationally. The Seminoles have held opponents to under 70 points in four of their five wins but have allowed an average of 81.5 points in their two defeats. Their offense has come primarily from three guards: M.J. Walker (15.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists per game), Scottie Barnes (11.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists) and Anthony Polite (10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds). Forward Balsa Koprivica has contributed 9.9 points and 5.9 rebounds. Consider NC State is 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.

Rating: 3 Units

VCU is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall, and 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games as a road favorite. While George Washington is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games overall. In addition, the favorite is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

Rating: 3 Units

After Creighton's Christian Bishop dunked with 0.8 seconds left on Jan. 2 to beat Providence 67-65, Xavier's Colby Jones drained a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining Sunday for a 74-73 win. Instead of entering this one with a four-game winning streak and a possible top 25 ranking, the Friars are 7-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference. Sunday's difficult defeat wasted a great performance by David Duke, who canned 7 of 9 3-pointers and scored a game-high 30 points to go along with six assists. Nate Watson added 17 points and 14 rebounds. The duo continues to provide more than half of the Friars' offensive output, averaging 38.5 points per game between them. As for Marquette (6-6, 2-4), it's coming off perhaps its most bitter loss of the season, made worse by the fact it's had to sit on that defeat for a week. Ahead 43-25 with 15:39 left on Jan. 5 at home against Connecticut, the Golden Eagles completely collapsed. They were outscored 40-11 for the game's remainder and ate a 65-54 setback. Consider that Providence is 16-6 ATS in the last 22 meetings.

Rating: 2 Units

Big class difference here but one must consider the circumstances: USC had not won in Tucson since 2008, hadn’t swept the Arizona schools on the road since 1985. There is some quirky, on the fly scheduling taking place by which USC could be hosting Washington and Washington State on Thursday and Saturday. In the middle of what would be five games in eight days, with this the lone non-conference, expect USC head coach Andy Enfield to use his bench players much more in this game after four of his five starters played 32 minutes or more at Arizona State

Rating: 2 Units

Grambling is 6-15 ATS in their last 21 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400 and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record.

Rating: 2 Units

Just a hunch, based on observation and experience. Relatively short road lays against opponents they perceive as challengers to their dominance are better pro-Lakers situations than when they are 10-point more favorites against lesser opponents that don’t get their blood pumping over the course of a long season. We told ya’ that before the first Lakers at Rockets get-together here on Sunday, which L.A. won by 8 points laying -3.5. At home, vs. weaker, they layed more and won by less! Rockets, adjust off a loss? It’s the Rockets. Do they ever adjust?

Rating: 4 Unit CBB Play of the Day

6’9” and 6’10” scorers on TCU, Texas and West Virginia did damage against OSU in the Cowboys’ three Big 12 losses so far. Although KU’s 6’10”, 265 David McCormack is coming off 20- and 17-point games he’s averaging 11 ppg. Need to see more. The worst OSU has done so far after 40 minutes in a Big 12 game is trail by 3 points. NBA-bound Cade Cunningham gets only one chance in his life to play against Kansas in a home game.

Rating: 4 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Jazz are 3-2 on their seven-game trip. A win here would guarantee a winning trip and allow them to take a vacation day in their next spot, at Washington tomorrow night, which will be the Jazz’ ninth game in 13 days. A headline about last night’s Cleveland loss to Memphis doesn’t really understand them: ‘Growing pains emerge as Cavs lose without Garland, Sexton.” They lost a lot with them! The story proceeded to further indicate that the writers don’t get it: “Andre Drummond extended his Cavaliers record for most consecutive double-doubles to start the season with his 11th straight.” His team lost! By 10 points! To an opponent with four key players missing!

Rating: 3 Units

Nets are 3-3 when both Durant and Irving play, 2-3 when one or both are jaking it. Nuggets are 4-1 last five, with team defense gradually getting back to its normal good level. Jamal Murray is shooting less (11.5 shots per game) during their current five-game run.

Rating: 3 Units

Kent is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games overall, 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record, and 19-9 ATS in their last 28 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points. While Central Michigan is 5-11-3 ATS in their last 19 games overall, 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points, and 10-28-2 ATS in their last 40 games as a home underdog

Rating: 2 Units

The Raptors are now 2-7 SU with the only wins coming against the Kings and Knicks. Oddsmakers are probably scrambling to downgrade this team, so I recommend jumping on Portland quickly here before the line gets too high. The Blazers are off B2B convincing wins where they scored 125 and 135 points. Toronto is 0-6 ATS so far against teams that have winning records. Portland is 5-4 SU on the year and should win easily.

Rating: 2 Units

Northern Iowa is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up win,  2-8 ATS in their last 10 games overall, and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games. Bradley is 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss and 11-5 ATS in their last 16 road games vs. a team with a losing home record. In addition, the road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

Rating: 2 Units

Hopefully this won’t be postponed, with all the 76ers’ virus stuff floating around. Lloyd Pierce’s Atlanta coaching tenure began with 0-3 vs. the 76ers, where he was an assistant under since-fired Brent Brown (replaced by Doc Rivers & Co.). But Atlanta has won four of the last six outright vs. his former team, and one of the losses was 105-103.

Rating: 2 Units

This did not go well for us on Thursday when Memphis lost outright as the rested home chalk vs. the injured, second-of-back-to-back on the road Cavaliers. Cleveland should go favored this time. We’ve pointed this out before: Cleveland has lost outright 10 of the last 15 times they’ve been favored dating back to the start of 2018-19. Unreliable little, er, tall SOBs, aren’t they? Unless you’ve been on the underdog. In that case, call them a meal-ticket!

Rating: 3 Units

UConn suffered its lone defeat this season 76-74 in overtime to now-No. 7 Creighton in the league opener back on Dec 20 but the Huskies have won three straight by an average of 14.7 PPG since. That run began with an 82-61 rout of DePaul on Dec 30, the Huskies ninth straight win over the Blue Demons.

Rating: 3 Units

According to STATS, Illinois (9-3, 5-1 Big Ten) became the first Division I team in the past 25 seasons to trail by at least 15 at halftime and come back to win by 20 or more. The Illini are also the first team to outscore a major conference opponent by at least 40 points in a single half since Kentucky outscored Vanderbilt by 43 in the second half of a 106-44 win on March 5, 2003. Cockburn, last season's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is averaging 17.0 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He scored 13 of his 18 points and grabbed 10 of his 12 rebounds in the second half of the game as Illinois won its fourth in a row since a 91-88 loss at Rutgers on Dec. 20. The Terrapins (6-6, 1-5) have lost three in a row and have struggled mightily against strong post players including Iowa's Luka Garza, Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis and Michigan's Hunter Dickinson - all of whom scored 22 or more points against them.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

In the first of a four-game Eastern trip last season, the Nuggets won here 129- 92. The Knicks had two days off before the game, coming off a 44-point loss at Milwaukee. It was the last game that David Fizdale coached for them. He was fired the next day. Off the home loss to OKC – no surprise, and OKC assistant Mike Miller was the Knicks’ interim head coach last season and their former assistant -- this would be a good spot for first-season head coach Tom Thibodeaux to point to and say, ‘Hey, bosses and fans, looky what we can really do against this Western Conference contender who buried us here last time.’ It’s a good player rally-around-each-other game, as well. It doesn’t hurt that it’s the second of back-to-backs for Denver coming out of Philly yesterday, with the Knicks rested and off that loss.

Rating: 3 Units

Cincinnati is especially bad at shooting the 3 at 28% which is 320th in the nation. The Bearcats had lost five in a row before upsetting SMU in their game on Thursday. Cincy is just 2-11 ATS their last 13 games versus a team with a winning record. The Shockers are 43-11 SU at home since 2017 with an average winning margin of +11PPG. The Shockers have also won 20 of their last thirty-one games when coming off a loss.

Rating: 3 Units

Consider that Morgain State is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 7-0 ATS in their last 7 road games. Norfolk comes into this one 1-6 ATS in their last 7 Sunday games.  In addition the underdoing is a perfect 4-0 ATS in the L4 meetings between these two.

Rating: 3 Units

Consider that South Carolina State is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games overall, 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400 and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games. While Floriday A&M is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 home games,  7-1 ATS in their last 8 home games vs. a team with a losing road record, and  5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

The Blazers are rested while the Kings are on second of back-to-backs after fighting the Raptors last night. Fighting is not really the right word because they rolled over and played dead in the second half, allowing an opponent struggling to score to get to 144. Portland may have payback on their minds given that the most recent meeting was a 123-111 Kings victory in Portland in March, just before all the stuff hit the fan and prior to the eventual return of long-absent C Jusuf Nurkic (who showed in the summer re-launch for Portland). Kings were unconscious from three-point range in that game, 21 for 39 (53.8%). Said head coach Luke Walton afterwards, “We knew they were on a back-to-back, so we wanted to make a point to push and push and push.” Uh-oh. Turnabout is fair play. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. The shoe is on the other foot. Are there any other appropriate clichés?

Rating: 2 Units

“In the Pac-12, it’s going to be hard for us to overcome 1–for-15 from our starting backcourt, 0 for 7 from 3,” said Arizona head coach Sean Miller after Thursday’s home loss to USC. He also noted that USC was 21-for-28 from the field in the second half. Two groups of “percentage things” went very much not Arizona’s way. On the bright side, they got 31 points from 6’11” Lithuanian freshman Azuolas Tubelis, so now they know they have a big scorer who, in this match-up, shouldn’t be eaten alive in the paint.

Rating: 2 Units

Stansbury is favored again after not covering last night. The guy is almost always outcoached in C-USA play. If 24 points, 17 boards by Bassey couldn’t get them scoreboard separation… La. Tech is tired of losing to these guys and the losses haven’t been by much.

Rating: 2 Units

“Having the ability to play a lot of guys who are willing to sacrifice will definitely impact games, especially the second of the two game schedules,” said Georgia Southern head coach Brian Burg recently. “80 minutes of basketball in two days is a lot of basketball. The depth we have playing up to 10 or 11 guys is definitely going to benefit us in the Sun Belt Conference.” His GSU kids can’t shoot straight, but App State is no offensive juggernaut and has been missing guard Kendall Lewis for a few games, including last night’s 3-point win where four starters played 5 minutes more than their averages

Rating: 2 Units

This Valpo squad is shooting a mere 27.2% on three-pointers after eight games, and has had five straight postponed or canceled because of their virus issues and a program pause. They haven’t played since Dec. 19, a span in which Missouri State has won five of six games while scoring 79, 75, 84 and 70 in Missouri Valley action. Two players no longer with Valpo shot the lights out from three-point range to beat the Bears twice last season.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers began putting the new plan in place during their road trip to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State over the weekend. It took a while for them to get going with a four-guard lineup but they eventually got the hang of it with huge second halves each time in their 1-1 split. Their centerpiece Derek Culver had a horrible time of it vs. Oklahoma but rebounded with 22 points, 19 rebounds at Oklahoma State. Texas hits Morgantown, WV ranked #4 to West Virginia’s #14 and the Mountaineers are thinking, ‘Those ranks should be reversed!’ 6’9” senior Royce Hamm should still be in virus protocol for the Longhorns.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

The Scarlet Knights have revenge for a 80-68 road loss on Dec. 23. This is a program that was 2-16, 1-17, 3-15 in its first three Big Ten seasons, which beat the Buckeyes here in their fourth during a 7-13 conference season, went 11-9 in conference last year when they lost only 72-66 at Ohio State. Guess what we’re saying is that Rutgers belong now. Rutgers led the earlier meeting 38-28 at halftime, got out-scored 52-30 in the second half. “I needed to do a better job of getting this team ready for the two things this team (OSU) does well — rebounding and shooting free throws,” said Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell. And, if you’re thinking he was being sarcastic about the second thing, you’re right. “I just have to do a better job with the officials. They’re great. They do a great job.” Senior guard C.J. Walker – leader on the Buckeyes in minutes per game – suddenly out with an injury

Rating: 3 Unit CAA Play of the Day

A match-up so nice, they’re doing it twice. Hofstra is now 0-3 ATS in CAA play while their head coach Joe Mihalic is out on medical leave. There isn’t much of an adjustment they can make, as a team that plays 40 minutes of zone defense. They play a short rotation that can’t press for long stretches for fear of foul and fatigue. They’re not shooting the rock as well as they did last season. Northeastern head coach Bill Coen can tell his team, “Listen, if you slackers hadn’t come out and trailed 46-29 at halftime at their place on Thursday, you wouldn’t have had to make those fine Winning Points people worry and you wouldn’t have had to sweat overtime just to get out of there with a win. Now, let’s go! From the get-go! Those guys beat us three times last year and we still owe them!

Rating: 2 Units

After you lose outright as -12 chalk at lousy Fordham with only seven players plus a project 7-foot freshman playing, does it stand to reason that playing another road game, against a better Davidson team, would be grounds for improvement? Sounds like no! Dayton’s 55-54 loss to Fordham came six days after a 67-65 loss to La Salle. Fordham and Lasalle were picked to finish last and next-to-last in the 14-team Atlantic 10. If Fordham and Lasalle could shoot 50.0% and 43.5% on threes against them (they did), then the Wildcats should so as well or better

NBA Play of the Day

Tough luck for the Magic. Markelle Fultz, somebody else’s #1 overall draft pick, who they coached up and made into a real player for a short while, tore an ACL in the win vs. Cleveland the other night and is out for the season. Rookie from North Carolina, Cole Anthony, will begin seeing more minutes as the point guard than the 20 he’s been getting. He’s been shooting it worse than Fultz (29.7% from the field vs. Fultz’s 39.6%). Guards Michael Carter-Williams and Evan Fournier didn’t play against Cleveland the other night. Rockets’ head coach Steven Silas bemoaned how Indiana drove the ball into the paint repeatedly against the Rockets on Wednesday night but the Magic aren’t as good at doing that.

Rating: 2 Units

Normally the Jazz start out well in the East and then get sour. For this current seven game trip, after first winning at conference rival San Antonio, they lost by 34 points in Brooklyn, then by 12 points at the Knicks. Have they been saving themselves for a better foe, the Bucks? Eh, probably not. It’s probably just another Eastern Conference road trip working vacation mail-in spree that they all get paid extremely well to walk through without being prepared to hand

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

Tarleton State – located in the south of Utah -- moved up into Division 1 this season, has played only four games – none since Dec. 9 after eight straight postponements – and lost to Abilene Christian by 21 points in their most recent game against a D-1 foe. Off three straight losses to legit post-season tournament sides San Francisco, Colorado and Arizona State, in which they were undervalued going 3-0 ATS and out-rebounded all three, Bryce Drew seems to be in a Grand spot to right the ship and start WAC play A-OK. Since they last played, TSU assistant coach Steve Shields has resigned to become a parks department director in Arkansas

NBA Play of the Day

Cleveland couldn’t get a reversal against Orlando last night despite one day in between games (which was very much expected by all of us, hence the Play of the Day on Orlando against Cleveland last night). They travel to Memphis to play the second of back-to-backs on the road against a host that’s had one day of rest since taking the Lakers to the wire in their “second chance.” There aren’t many teams with more key guys missing than Memphis, but Cleveland, as we noted yesterday, is one of them! Stat geeks keep reporting that Andre Drummond has eight straight double-doubles and Collin Sexton’s eight straight games of at least 20 points to start a season has broken Lebron James’ franchise record (for what?), which is a good “distraction” that masks the fact that Cleveland has topped out at 99 points in its last five games, failing to cover four of them by -12.5, -8, -14 and -5 points.

CBB Mismatch of the Day

The host Rams were sharpening the saw at San Diego State earlier this week, “finishing” strongly in each second half of their two-game, back-to-back series (37-27 the first night in victory, 41-28 the second night in defeat.) Given that UNLV hasn’t played since Dec. 5 after a program pause, and is kind of a ratty team, anyway, for the Runnin’ Rebels to take the court after such a long break, to play at high altitude against an opponent that just finished strongly two nights in a row against a quality foe…

Rating: 2 Units

Brooklyn managed to beat Utah by 34 on Tuesday without the services of Kevin Durant (contact tracing), but fact is the Nets had lost 4 of previous 5 games with Durant active. Meanwhile, Philly has won and covered 4 straight and leads the league in defensive efficiency. The Sixers have won and covered 7 of the last 8 against Brooklyn, none with KD on the floor, but then again, he won’t be there for this one either. Definitely give the nod to Philly, with F Tobias Harris hitting a sizzling 56% from beyond the arc in his last 5, and the Sixers holding foes to just 41% shooting in that stretch

CBB Play of the Day

Hofstra has won seven straight in the CAA dating back to last season. Northeastern has lost five straight road games. What’s it all mean? Hopefully not much. The Huskies’ five road losses were at UMass in their opener with UMass having games under the belt, Syracuse, Old Dominion, Georgia and West Virginia. They lost three times to Hofstra last season – hey, another losing streak! The three losses were by 2, 4, 9 points. You think they’re not jazzed up for this game? Hofstra pretty much plays 40 minutes of zone defense, which Northeastern saw at Syracuse when they lost by only 6 points taking 18. Hofstra has begun CAA season 0-2 ATS without head coach Joe Mihalic, who is on medical leave.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

The Sooners caught West Virginia in the Mountaineers’ first go-round without power forward Oscar Tshiebwe, working four guards around Derek Culver, who got them a big 2 points in 22 minutes, with 7 turnovers. D-oh! Wrapped up in working their new arrangement, WVU missed a lot of shots early, which messed up their transition defense, and they fell behind the Sooners by a considerable amount (38-20) at halftime. Oklahoma was able to weather a late charge by West Virginia to get the win. They travel to Waco, TX to face an opponent with no such transitional learning curve in their game on either end of the floor. The Bears have won five straight over the Sooners over the course of the prior three seasons, when they weren’t unbeaten and ranked #1. For all the bitcoins.

Rating: 2 Units

Searching for their identity, the 1-5 Raptors – 0-3 on the road already after being one of the best road teams in the NBA last season -- begin a four-game Western swing. It usually takes time for displaced Easterners to find themselves out West and we have a feeling that before they do, the trip will be over. It’s two franchises heading in different directions. Fred Van Vliet has now led Toronto in scoring for three straight games – 25, 27, 35 points. But they won only one of them. We’ve said it before – if he’s the guy, then something is wrong over there. The team that knocked them out of the post-season – the Celtics – just waxed them in their temporary Tampa home that’s doing no favors for them and now they must face a stranger riding an upcurve that has had two days off to get in a Raptors-specific practice and prepare for double-revenge. Sextuple-revenge, actually. Suns haven’t beaten Raptors since the 2016-17 season.

Rating: 2 Units

Prospective road dog backers might be encouraged by the fact that Virginia needed overtime to dispose of the last Danny Manning-coached Wake Forest team last season. But that game came off a 2-point loss at Duke for the Cavs, and was played under hangover conditions. The Cavaliers are currently fresh and fit, seven games under their belt vs. only two for Wake Forest, and you know that Wake’s only real game was the 70-54 loss at Georgia Tech, our Sunday ***BEST BET. Steve Forbes can’t help but eventually coach them up beyond what Manning did, but at the moment he’s handicapped by the long pause in his first season after inheriting a not-so-hot spot. Forbes played nine kids for 10 to 30 minutes at Tech, got only 6 points from four players in 71 bench minutes.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Much of the world awaits to see how the Cavaliers react after the 103-83 defeat here on Monday night, their fifth straight loss against the Magic. Why wait? Anticipate. Already without starters Kevin Love, Darius Garland, and Isaac Okoro, Cleveland lost guard Dante Exum to a leg injury 47 seconds into the Monday night loss. The Cavs are down seven players. “It is what it is and we’ve just got to figure it out,” first-season Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We are down bodies and we talked about adversity a few games back and this is the epitome of it. We’ve just got to figure it out.” Take a little more time with that, coach, if you don’t mind.

Rating: 2 Units

Angry Vols, off their first loss! (Also, angry Arkansas, off their first loss!) Arkansas couldn’t get Missouri’s rim protector, James Tillmon, in foul trouble. In fact, the 6’10” senior had himself a day with 25 points. Vols’ 6’9” John Fulkerson’s eyes light up. Arkansas is the St. John’s of the SEC – zips through non-conference season at home, doesn’t class up within conference play. Doubtful they can rebound with Tennessee.

Rating: 2 Units

Let’s see how the Jayhawks respond to the whuppin’ that Texas put on them in Lawrence. TCU’s Andrew Nembhard: “All these games are personal. We want to put the conference and the nation on notice that we’re legit.” Two road wins in the Big 12 already by TCU hint that he may have something there. Said Jamie Dixon after the Horned Frogs’ win at Kansas State: “This was the first time we’ve had our full team and I think we’ll get better and better.

Big East Play of the Day

Welcome back to the Big East, UConn, Love, Marquette. This Huskies bunch was one of the nation’s worst long-trip travelers when it was in the American Athletic. They’ve been cuddled in their home-state bubble, and the confines of their friendly home floor, since the beginning of this season and have left the area for the first time. They shot only 35.8% when they lost by 2 points to an off-kilter Creighton team, then had the pleasure of facing pause-problem Depaul after that. Off a difficult stretch to open Big East season (at Creighton, Seton Hall, at Xavier, Villanova), Marquette got a reprieve at Georgetown and comes back home for what appears to be another.