Rating: 3 Units

What the? They lost in Houston, these Raptors? In a blowout! They have all their guys back. They’re supposed to make a run towards the bottom rung of the Eastern Conference playoff ladder! Our initial impression of the Raptors early this season was “Fade the Raptors!” and it was a good take, for a while, until they started to win a few games. But now, we’re back to, “Fade the Raptors!” as their losing streak has hit nine. Some say they’ve “hit bottom” after losing to an opponent on a 20-game losing streak but after they lost to the worst team goin’, and haven’t won since Feb. 26, they’re probably still approaching bottom.

Rating: 3 Units

The last Brooklyn trip out West went 5-0, including outright wins as the underdog at Phoenix, LA Lakers and LA Clippers, three teams above the Blazers in the Western Conference standings. That’s the all-too-logical approach for picking the Nets with the points tonight. It might still work. But, the Blazers’ big scorers all tanked vs. Dallas here in their last game, and the Nets will be without Kyrie Irving (of course!) and Kevin Durant (of course!). These two guys obviously don’t care about whether or not they finish first in the East.

Rating: 3 Units

Miami’s Goran Dragic has been nursing a bad back and is iffy for this game but don’t be shocked if he plays. He left the Phoenix organization with some bad blood. The Heat have lost 3 in a row. Before this losing streak Miami had won 5 in a row but none of the teams they beat during this time frame have winning records. The disturbing stat about Miami is that they are 29th in the league shooting the ball from downtown. That makes it a bit easier for opponents to scheme for the Heat. The Suns were unbeaten in the bubble last season and that momentum has carried on. They did get lucky on Sunday against the Lakers as L.A. missed their pair of superstars. Phoenix has won 8 of their last 10 games and they do it on both sides of the ball. They are just outside the top 10 in scoring and only 2 teams allow fewer points nightly.

Rating: 3 Unit CBI Tournament Play of the Day

Pepperdine didn’t show much excitement to be in the CBI Tournament
for much of Monday’s game, trailing an inferior Longwood team at halftime. While the Waves did wake up in the second half, they won’t be able to rely on their talent to bail them out today against Bellarmine. Bellarmine is exceptionally coached and will have an advantage on the sideline with Scott Davenport going against Lorenzo Romar. Bellarmine’s precision offense will prove to be a tricky prep for Romar and his staff with such a short turnaround.

Rating: 3 Units

From March 18-21 the Magic flew from Orlando to New York, then from New
York to Orlando for a back-to-back, then from Orlando to Boston, then from Boston back to Orlando for this. That’s a long boring flight, many times in a short period of time. The Nuggets were home for five straight games before leaving for this trip, so they’ve actually logged a lot fewer air miles in this recent span. The finale of their homestand was a loss to the Pelicans, so they arrive as a winning team coming off a loss, to face the losing Magic for the first time this season. They’ll have to lay more points in the re-hook at home coming up on April 4. Why not lay fewer, here? They need to play. They’re 25-17 but only 3 games ahead of the West’s #9 team. Orlando is the kind of team that’s able to target the occasional big game against opponents they like the least and know the most, like Brooklyn and New York.

Rating: 3 Units

Points will be hard to come by for the Jayhawks when they take on one of the nation’s best defenses. USC ranks 10th-best in defensive efficiency and 2nd-best when it comes to defending inside the arc. 7’0 star freshman Evan Mobley has been a difference maker this year and will own a sizable advantage against Kansas’ David McCormack. Kansas ranks 181st in finishing from two-point range, a major problem when going against Mobley and the Trojans.

Rating: 3 Units

Once again, the piñata known as the Houston Rockets has been fastened to the tree branch, hanging low enough for the tall kids to have at it with their bats, bust it open and enjoy all the goodies that rain down upon them. The Raptors have pretty much been made whole again. And yet, they’ve lost eight straight. But they’ve arrived to play against a home underdog that has lost 20 straight, and has no strengths to speak off, just a lot of weaknesses. There’s always somebody in worse shape than you. But in the NBA, they don’t force you to feel sorry for them. They encourage you to beat them down again like everyone else has.

Rating: 10 Unit NBA 10* Total of the Month

Consider that the over is  4-0 in Jazz last 4 games following a straight up win, 11-1 in Jazz last 12 Monday games, 7-1 in Jazz last 8 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of less than .400 and 6-2 in Jazz last 8 games as a road favorite.  While the over is19-8 in Bulls last 27 games following a straight up win of more than 10 points and 7-3 in Bulls last 10 games as an underdog.

Rating: 2 Units

Maryland, a two possession underdog, will lean on their defense to hang around during Monday’s contest against Alabama. The Terrapins are exceptional at making opposing offenses go deep into the shot clock, something Alabama would prefer not to do. Maryland’s defense ranks 20th in the average of length of defensive possessions, at 18.4 seconds. Forcing Alabama to execute in the half court should help the Terps chances.

Rating: 3 Units

Charlotte’s Terry Rozier had to leave the Saturday game with a left hip contusion and never returned. Both Terry and LaMelo Ball are probable for this game. This has not been a good trip for Charlotte as they lost the first 3 on the road. Before the trip the Hornets had won 4 in a row but the opponents they beat are a combined 56 and 110. The Spurs just went 3 and 2 on the road and the losses came against Philly and Milwaukee. In the Saturday loss to the Bucks, the Spurs were only down by 4 with 12 minutes to go but could not pull off a win. They only had one poor quarter and they were missing Dejounte Murray, Trey Lyles and Paddy Mills.

Rating: 2 Units

Bellarmine was one of the better stories of the college basketball season before being tripped up late. The Knights lost in the Atlantic Sun Conference  Tournament to Stetson, but the Knights will still be motivated to play in their first Division I Tournament after moving up from Division II this season. The Knights offense is terrific, and their spacing and precision will be difficult for Army to prepare for. Army comes into the CBI Tournament struggling, having lost five of seven games.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

Florida State’s athleticism and versatility on the defensive end allows the Seminoles to switch constantly, creating a roadblock for Colorado’s motion offense. Georgetown proved not to be able to guard Colorado on Saturday, practically ignoring the three-point line. That won’t be the case against a Florida State defense better equipped to utilize their size and speed. Junior RaiQuan Gray continues to impress for Florida State, as the swiss army knife forward totaled 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists in an opening road win over UNC Greensboro.

Rating: 4 Units

Creighton hasn’t looked like the team they were for the majority of the season, as the Blue Jays were fortunate to advance out of round one. UC Santa Barbara let one get away against Creighton, failing to convert in the final seconds. Creighton is likely to get pushed to the limit again on Monday against underdog Ohio. The Bobcats have a point guard in Jason Preston who is fully capable of going toe to toe with Creighton’s Marcus Zegarowski. Ohio’s offense can hang with anyone, as the Bobcats rank 15th nationally in effective field goal percentage.

Rating: 5 Unit CBB Game of the Week

UCLA impressed on Saturday night, winning wire to wire against BYU. Mick Cronin’s group defended at a high level and former Kentucky transfer Johnny Juzang paced the offense with 27 points. The Bruins catch a bit of a break here as Texas failed miserably against Abilene Christian. The Wildcats pulled off the upset despite shooting 29.8% from the floor. That type of performance won’t be near good enough to advance again.

Rating: 2 Units

Friday's loss came in the first game of a stretch in which the Mavericks play eight of nine games on the road. Next Friday's game against the Indiana Pacers is the lone one at home during the span. Doncic looks ready to carry Dallas through the stretch after averaging 40 points over the past two games. But he will need some help on Sunday as the Mavericks try to slow Lillard and the now-revved-up McCollum. Consider that Dallas is 7-2 ATS in the last 9 meetings in Portland.

Rating: 3 Units

Oregon State, which won the Pacific-12 Conference tournament to earn an NCAA berth, never trailed in upsetting the Volunteers. Roman Silva scored a career-high 16 points for the Beavers, making all eight of his field-goal attempts. Jarod Lucas added 14 points, Ethan Thompson 13 and Zach Reichle 10. It was the Beavers' first NCAA Tournament victory since 1982. They're in the tournament for just the second time since 1990. It has been quite a run for Oregon State, which was picked to finish last in the Pac-12's preseason media poll. The Beavers shot 48.2 from the field percent in their first-round victory and registered 20 assists on 27 field goals. They built a 33-19 halftime lead, and Tennessee never got closer than 10 points in the second half. Consider that Oregon State is 14-3 ATS in their last 17 games as an underdog.

Rating: 3 Units

Orlando, with some pieces of the puzzle back, spread the floor against disinterested defense the other night, rained 52% three-pointers and prevented the Nets from claiming first place in the Eastern Conference. We shall make an anger play to get our money back, on good team returning home off that road loss, while the kind of bad team, Washington, hits the road off a home win against the team with the NBA’s best record Utah. It’s a zig-zag move. Blake Griffin’s Brooklyn debut is tonight, so they’ll have somebody who at least will give the Wizards’ driving duo something to think about as they propel themselves in penetration. A spread floor with Russell Westbrook shooting from the perimeter doesn’t have to be spread as much – just let him shoot from there.

Rating: 2 Units

Road dog. Not road favorite. Road dog. Like Chicago was the other night at Denver, where the Bulls raised their pointspread performance to 11-2 ATS when taking points away from home, performing to expectations against a good host – competing well, hanging in there, failing to win outright. Because they lack the winning instinct, expecting Chicago to make enough of a margin against a lesser team away from home is not the right thing to do, in our estimation.

Rating: 5 Unit Tournament Game of the Week

It required less than one minute of game action for the second-seeded Houston Cougars to face their first measure of adversity in this NCAA Tournament. Senior DeJon Jarreau, unanimously described as the leader of the veteran Cougars, was lost to a right hip pointer and spent the remainder of the game rooting from the sideline with heating pads stuffed in his shorts. Without Jarreau spearheading their offense and defense -- Jarreau was named American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year -- the Cougars (25-3) appeared to be a rudderless ship for most of the first half against Cleveland State. Jarreau's status for Sunday is unclear. But what Houston received in his absence, notably from forwards Reggie Chaney, Justin Gorham, Brison Gresham and Fabian White Jr., eased any frayed nerves. Defensively, the Cougars limited Cleveland State to one field goal over the first 10 minutes of the second half. Houston also grabbed 16 offensive rebounds. Consider that Houston is 23-8 ATS in their last 31 Sunday games.

Rating: 4 Unit Mismatch of the Day

When it comes to shooters and scorers, there might not be anyone hotter than Syracuse's Buddy Boeheim, the coach's son. Boeheim scored 30 points as Syracuse (now 17-9) beat San Diego State 78-62 on Friday, making 11 of 15 shots from the field, including 7 of 10 from 3-point range. He has back-to-back 30-point games -- he had 31 in an ACC tournament loss to Virginia -- and is averaging 26.2 points over his past five outings. Syracuse is trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the third time as a double-digit seed. The Orange made a Final Four run as a 10th seed in 2016 and won two games as a No. 11 seed in 2018. Consider that West Virginia is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall and  1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.

Rating: 3 unit Play of the Day

Baylor continues to move further away from their mid-Feb. program pause. The Bears have slowly shaken off the rust and clearly still do have another gear that they can hit this March. The Bears are exceptional on the perimeter, with Jared Butler leading the way on offense and Davion Mitchell doing so on defense. Mitchell is fully capable of shutting down Wisconsin guard D’Mitrik Trice, leaving the Badgers offense handicapped. If there’s a weakness for this Baylor team, it likely is their interior defense, which isn’t likely to be exploited by Wisconsin (#286, 46.5% two-pointers.

Rating: 2 Units

Roster attrition via injuries and defections robbed the Rockets of their potential, or at least of the opportunity to evaluate how those available pieces could mesh. That Houston has been unable to get a clear view of what that trio can accomplish together underscores why things have come undone, with the 113-100 loss to the Pistons extending the franchise-worst losing streak to 19 games. But some of what ails Houston, which is set to host the Thunder today, has little to do with who has or who hasn't been available for duty. As the losses mount, the Rockets have fought the urge to relent to this lost season, and truthfully, some yielding has come defensively. Consider that Houston is 8-22 ATS in their last 30 games as a favorite.

Rating: 2 Units

Illinois matches up favorably with Loyola Chicago, as 7’0 big man Kofi Cockburn will give the Ramblers’ Cameron Krutwig his toughest test yet. Krutwig, the Missouri Valley Player of the Year, has always had a size and talent advantage against opposing frontcourts but that is no longer the case. Cockburn’s presence paired with the Illini’s explosive scoring attack on the perimeter will likely be too much for the Ramblers to keep pace with.

Rating: 2 Units

UCLA has stumbled down the stretch as the Bruins have made little progress on the defensive end in year two under Mick Cronin. The Bruins rank 198th in effective field goal percentage allowed, and that’s a bad mix when paired with BYU’s precision based offense.

Rating: 2 Units

In the 4 recent games that Joel Embiid has missed, Philly has won three of them. Tobias Harris has picked up his play with Embiid gone and Ben Simmons has been more engaged offensively. Ben had a triple/double in the overtime loss to Milwaukee 3 nights ago. Philly should be motivated here in the get-away game before a 6-game Western swing. Before Friday’s game vs. Boston, the Kings had lost 13 of 17 games and they only had one quality win during that span. Only one team gives up more points than the Sacramento. Sacramento will be missing starting power forward Marvin Bagley for this game and for several weeks. The Kings are 2 and 5 in back-to-back games this season. Against the Celts on Friday Sacramento stayed close and then they got a break when Boston could only score 15 points in the last 12 minutes. The 5 Kings starters played between 32 and 39 minutes.

Rating: 5 Units

Missouri is one of the most veteran laden teams in the tournament and that should bode well for the Tigers. One of their seniors, big man Jeremiah Tilmon, is a mismatch for an Oklahoma team that often prefers to play smaller. Tilmon will make the Sooners defense uncomfortable as they try to combat one of the SEC’s best post players. Oklahoma has also been weakened on the perimeter, as it was announced starting guard De’Vion Harmon will not be available this weekend.

Rating: 3 Units

It’s another “Escape from the Big Ten.” We’ll see how the conference’s second-tier teams like Wisconsin, Rutgers, these Terps, and yes, even Michigan State, do after going through their regular-season gauntlet of games against highly ranked opponents. Quicker than we thought he could after the Huskies spent some seasons tossing bricks in The American conference, UConn head coach Danny Hurley has wiped away some tarnish from the brand name. But the Huskies are pretty much a “defense-to-offense” team which, as the favorite, needs to prove it can do a better job at it than Maryland has been doing with the same approach. “We got some great length with Eric Ayala, Hakim Hart, Aaron Wiggins, Darryl Morsell, Donta Scott,” said head coach Mark Turgeon recently. It’ll be surprising if the Terps allow the Huskies to get into an open-floor flow, not surprising if UConn players stand around in the halfcourt waiting for James Bouknight to score.

Rating: 2 Units

The Hawks’ arrive off a set-up similar to how Charlotte entered Denver before getting crushed: a seven-game win streak to get over .500, the last six against opponents barely breathing. Reality bites.

Rating: 3 Unit Play of the Day

The Gauchos emphasis on the defensive end of the floor aligns well for an upset of the higher seeded Blue Jays. Santa Barbara ranks 15th-best in limiting three-point attempts and they have the ability to slow the game and keep Creighton in the half court. Creighton has not looked the same as the controversy surrounding head coach Greg McDermott continues to loom over the team.

Rating: 4 Units

While talent is on the side of LSU in this matchup, coaching and composure resides on the side of the Bonnies. St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt will look to slow the game down and force an impatient LSU team to execute in the half court. Schmidt has said if the score is in the 60’s, he likes his team’s chances.

Rating: 2 Units

Eastern Washington is a sizable underdog with a chance to compete against a Kansas team that continues to have shuffling parts. The Jayhawks will be trying to integrate big man David McCormack back into the lineup after being away from the team due to COVID-19, while also now being without starting forward Jalen Wilson.

Rating: 3 Unit Mismatch of the Day

Georgetown has simply turned into a different team since Patrick Ewing changed his starting lineup following a program pause. The insertion of Chudier Bile has made the Hoyas bigger, more athletic and more tenacious on the defensive end. Since that move, Georgetown has compiled a record of 11-3 against the spread. The Hoyas run through the Big East Tournament was not a fluke, as they were playing solid basketball before that stretch.

Rating: 3 Unit Upset of the Day

Villanova has not looked nearly the same since losing starting point guard and leader, Collin Gillespie. The Wildcats have lost games to Providence and Georgetown, as they’re trying to reconfigure their offense on the fly. Wildcats head coach Jay Wright likened this Winthrop team to a Creighton team that they’ve struggled with. The Eagles will fly up and down the court and will not be at a size disadvantage that many smaller programs face this time of year. Winthrop owns one of the more unique players in the country in 6’7 guard Chandler Vaudrin, who ranks 8th nationally in assist rate.

Rating: 2 Units

Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense can be difficult to prepare for in a tournament setting for teams who have seen limited amounts of zone during the course of the year. Said Aztecs head coach Brian Dutcher, “We’ve seen very limited zone all year,” Dutcher said. “I think Air Force tried to zone and they played a matchup and some switching. We haven’t played against a 2-3 zone, the entire season.”

Rating: 3 Units

Toronto got a couple of their best players back on Wednesday but they still could not muster and effort to beat Detroit as they lost by 4. Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam were the players returning but they were just 5 for 24 from the floor combined. The Raptors have lost 6 in a row, 8 of 9 and the win was against the 11 and 28 Rockets. Before Covid gripped the country and when Toronto played their home games in Canada, the Raptors were 23 and 9 at home last season. Now, playing in Tampa, they are a game under .500 at home. If the Raptors aren’t aggressive defending the perimeter, it will be a long night for Toronto. The Raptors are 24th in the league in defensive 3-point field goal percentage. Only the Clips and Brooklyn have shot it better from the 3-point line this season. Utah is 4 and 1 this season in the second of back-to-back games. The Jazz were in D.C. on Thursday and they come to this game in a very foul mood after the Wizards put a spell of them. Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles did their thing but the Jazz reserves were dismal and Utah allowed Bradley Beal to control the tempo.

Rating: 3 Units

Home invasion situation for the Nets. The Brooklyn bunch, now tied for first place in the East, flew here on Wednesday night after winning at Indiana, before the Magic flew outta town yesterday morning with a round trip ticket to and from New York, where they hopped off, took the Knicks to the wire in defeat, re-boarded, flew home to go to bed before playing the better NYC squad tonight, taking only +8 after covering +7 (as we expected) at the Knicks, who played without guards Derrick Rose, Elfrid Payton, Immanuel Quickley and Austin Rivers.

Rating: 2 Units

The Pistons proved themselves willing and able conquerors of an opponent in distress when they walloped absentee-laden Toronto in Tampa recently, then came back to win the re-hook when the Raptors were reinforced by Van Vleet and Siakim’s returns following extended layoffs (and Anunoby was still out). Houston, 0-17, but Christian Wood and Danuel House have returned. So what?

Rating: 2 Units

Drexel was a surprise winner of the Colonial Conference Tournament, prevailing after a regular season conference record of 4-5. The Dragons will take a major step up in weight class against the Illini now. Drexel relies on their interior play on the offensive end of the floor, but now will be matched with one of the most stout interiors across the country, as 7’0 sophomore Kofi Cockburn mans the interior for the Illini.

Rating: 3 Unit Play of the Day

Virginia Tech and head coach Mike Young will put the brakes on the Gators, as the Hokies own one of the most stout transition defenses in the country. Young recently compared starting guard Wabissa Bede to a brick wall, and he’ll be responsible for slowing down Florida’s Tre Mann. When forced to operate in the half court, the Gators are not nearly as efficient. Virginia Tech’s advantage on the sideline will push them through to the second round.

Rating: 2 Units

UCLA has fallen apart down the stretch, having lost four games in a row including an opening round loss to Oregon State in the Pac 12 Tournament. The Bruins and Mick Cronin now have to deal with Michigan State, which showed signs of life throughout the month February and March. The Spartans collected wins against Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan while competing in a strong Big 10. UCLA’s Cronin has not impressed in March, compiling a 4-9 record against the spread in the NCAA Tournament.

Rating: 3 Units

Teams have to force New Orleans to settle for perimeter shots. They are 19th in offensive three-point field-goal percentage. The Pelicans faltered on Tuesday against the Blazers even though their best two players went 21 for 39 from the floor. Once again, Damian Lillard was efficient and carried Portland to victory on Tuesday with 50 and 10 dimes. He had the third fewest field-goal attempts on way to a 50-point game in the shot-clock era. He probably will not just rest on his laurels after the big night either. Last month he had 43 in a game and came back with 35 points in the next out. C.J. McCollum has a shot to have a better game here after getting some rust off on Tuesday

Rating: 2 Units

The Hawks are 20-20, tied for #6 in the East with Boston, who failed in Cleveland last night. Charlotte is a half-game in front of them and playing better teams out West. OKC’s Luguentz Dort and Darius Bazley both had good games vs. the Hawks in their prior meeting but both are expected to be out as they go G-League-ish. It’s teed up for the home team, which has won six straight, the last five against the biggest collection of troubled bums in a row you could imagine: Orlando, Toronto, Sacramento, Cleveland, Houston

Rating: 2 Units

The Blazers went 1-1 in Minnesota, a 9-30 team, and were a mere +3 in points differential. The Pelicans are talented enough to be more than a handful for them. The nights we pick the Pelicans, however, tend to be the nights that Stan the Man can’t get them to do anything right. Over the last two weeks, only the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings are allowing more points per possession than the Blazers are. There has been a lot of losing among those two Western Conference standings anchors! Bad sign for the home favorite, considering that the Pelicans have unleashed some previously unrealized offensive potential in recent weeks. The Pelicans are 4 games out of the #8 seed in the West, but if they’re ever going to make one of their runs that perpetually get basketball writers to say, “New Orleans has arrived, and such a bright future!” only to have them slump and miss the playoffs, again, then a game like this – road, vs. a sixth-place host that barely made the playoffs last season, who could go either way from here – is the kind of game they need to win to start making up ground that will eventually be lost again.

Rating: 2 Units

The 76ers may be taking over from Utah and Phoenix as the new "hottest team in the NBA." Sure, Miami has won 10 of 11 but Philly, in their last five games, is scoring 1.27 points per possession, allowing only 1.03, 5-0 SU and ATS while covering the spread by an average of +20.6 points per game. It’s not sustainable, of course. Utah, our "peak too soon" team, is an NBA-worst -11.8 per game ATS in this same span. This is how things work. The problem is in attempting to detect when the big, long, hot spells will cool down and level off. You know the dips are coming, but when? We’ll figure that against a visitor that is offensively suspect, doesn’t beat winning opposition on a regular basis (it’s called being a bottom-feeder) isn’t home, and who played home vs. the Nets last hight, the Embiid-less 76ers stay hot.

Rating: 2 Units

Boston goes from playing one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best. In Houston on Sunday the Celts took advantage of a team in total disarray. Boston has won 5 of 6 but the last win was too easy and they also beat a Toronto team that has had a bad stretch with the protocols. Boston was also life and death to beat the 14-23 Washington team by a point. The Jazz figure to be motivated after allowing the Warriors to destroy them from outside on Sunday. Rudy Gobert should be able to control the glass. In the game vs. the Warriors, Golden State had 40 rebounds while Gobert had 28 all by his lonesome. When Utah beat this team last month they won the battle of the boards and Utah starting guard Mike Conley didn’t play.

Rating: 3 Units

Second of back-to-backs for the Clippers, but they were blown out after three quarters in New Orleans last night. All of the obvious recent signs point in Dallas’ direction. The Mavericks are 7-2 since Feb. 15 with a +5.4 points differential. The Clippers are 5-7 in the same span, with a +0.8 margin. But when they got on the airplane headed for New Orleans, the Clippers knew they’d be playing two games in three days at Dallas immediately afterwards. The eighth-place Mavericks are only 3.5 games behind the fourth place Clippers today. Not only is there the matter of keeping at bay a team near them in the standings, there was a 124-73 home loss to the Mavericks in the third game of the season. That was an incredible 51-point losing margin, at home! Professional athletes who have attained certain levels of what is described as “success” aren’t always motivated to play their best emotionally and physically. But 51-point home losses (Kawhi Leonard didn’t play, and he and Paul George played only 29 and 23 minutes last night) tend to be remembered at payback time! L.A. is the #1 three-point shooting team (41.7%).

Rating: 2 Units

The Nets won 116-109 at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 12, after they’d beaten Denver 122-116 the night before. The Knicks don’t beat winning opponents. Maybe once in a while they do. But when the opponent wants to get serious, they normally won’t. Playing good defense against lousy teams has helped New York to become 20-19, currently #7 in the East. Attempting to play good defense against one of the most potent offensive teams will probably be for naught. The Nets are a half-game behind Two Week Embiid-Less Philadelphia, have won nine of their last 10. They eased past Detroit in a sandwich game the other night, between beating real threat Boston and tipping it off here against real threat (to their neighborhood manhood) New York. No Durant, no Blake Griffin yet, no problem?

Rating: 3 Units

Sacramento has dropped 12 of 15. Two of the wins came against Detroit and Houston and the other came against the Lakers when they were without LeBron and Anthony Davis. Charlotte beat this club the last night in February despite 3 starters for the Hornets shooting 6 for 18 from the floor. The Hornets have won 3 in a row, 4 of 5 and the loss was in Oregon to the pesky Blazers. Their rotation got deeper immediately after the break.

Rating: 2 Units

Despite playing without All-Star and NBA leading scorer Bradley Beal, Washington took Milwaukee to the limit in Saturday's 125-119 Bucks win. Russell Westbrook, who recorded a triple-double of 42 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, made a 3-pointer that pulled the Wizards into a 119-119 tie before Milwaukee scored the game's final six points. Despite the output allowed on Saturday, Washington. Coach Scott Brooks praised the defensive effort in holding the Bucks below 44 percent shooting, and cited the interior defense of center Alex Len, who Brooks called "active." Consider that Washington is 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games overall while Milwaukee is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.

Rating: 2 Units

A very telling scenario: For weeks, the Warriors had been going along steadily in the Western Conference’s top eight, not really threatening the top four but holding service in the group that was vying in the #5 to #8 range. But their last three games before the All-Star break were on the road against the Lakers, Blazers and Suns – winning Western Conference teams familiar with them. The results were L-L-L. They came out of the break to get killed on the road at the Clippers, another in the group of Western Conference opponents in the stratosphere above them. They have fallen to #9, possibly with a lead weight attached. Although they are finally back home, the opponent is the one team that’s been flying clearly above everybody else in the West, and the league in general, for the last seven weeks. Recent results suggest that the Warriors are outclassed in match-ups like this.

Rating: 5 Unit CBB Total of the Month

Consider that the over is 9-1 in Bearcats last 10 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600,  6-1 in Bearcats last 7 games following a straight up win, 4-1 in Bearcats last 5 games as an underdog, and 16-5 in Bearcats last 21 overall.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Second of back-to-backs for the host Thunder following yesterday’s crash and burn by our new least favorite basketball team. Hopefully they get what they deserve and lose ten more games consecutively. They are very excited that 7-footer Moses Brown, in his second career start, got a double-double in their 22-point home loss to a Knicks team with three guards out, and one on the floor who can’t score (Frank Nktilina). Good God. Rested Memphis can be a defensively harassing pest on any given night, especially when they didn’t play the night before and the other guys did. Actually, when both sides were playing second of back-to-backs in Memphis on Feb. 17, OKC turned it over 18 times and lost 122-113.

Rating: 3 Unit A-10 Play of the Day

St. Bonaventure enters Sunday with an experienced team, prepared to handle the pressure of VCU. The Bonnies have stability in the backcourt with Kyle Lofton and Dominick Welch, who have helped the Bonnies rank 79th-best in turnover rate nationally. St. Bonaventure has a group of juniors and a bit more experience than VCU, fueled by past failures. “The whole entire time leading up to this game, I have been seeing stuff on TV about how Saint Louis won that game (2019),” Osun Osunniyi said. “That’s just giving us extra motivation.” The Bonnies will lead the way, having held four straight teams below 0.88 points per possession.

Rating: 3 Unit SEC Play of the Day

Following the blowout win against Mississippi State, the Crimson Tide covered by the hair of a rattled-in free throw in the final seconds vs. offensively challenged Tennessee yesterday. LSU is not offensively challenged. Quite the contrary. Although Alabama has put up big points in many blowout victories, LSU has been the more offensively efficient side, overall. The Tigers have won nearly 70% of their games straight-up and are taking two possessions worth of points – the kind of commodity that we are happy to pay our price for before the chips, er, shots, fall where they may. Sure, we see, “Alabama, 105-75” and “Alabama, 78-60” over LSU in the regular season. In the first, Alabama set an SEC record for three-pointers made in a game, 23. In the second, in the words of LSU head coach Will Wade: “We went 1-for-17 for a stretch there in the second half. We’re just not capable of overcoming that, especially on the road against a very good team.” Right. Re-set to 0-0, take the points with the double-revenge dog averaging 82.2 ppg

Rating: 3 Unit Big West Play of the Day

Let’s try this again. Get up off the mat and punch back. Last night’s embarrassing result in the Cal-Irvine game was triggered by six Riverside guards shooting a combined 9-for-33. Way to go. Way to be there. Way to show up in the big game. Geez. Leading 41-28 at the half, Irvine defense wasn’t going to allow a comeback. Double-revenge is a dish best served cold. Way back on Dec. 27-28, the Anteaters beat the Gauchos 75-56 and 73-69 in the first two games of Big West Conference season. That’s as cold as an in-season revenge dish can be served. UCSB has lost one (1) game since. As noted yesterday, Irvine’s most experienced players don’t handle the ball very much. Cal-Santa Barbara’s most experienced players are senior guards Jaquori McLaughlin and Devearl Ramsey, a couple of ball-security experts who combined for 9.0 assists per game on a team with a 16.4-11.1 Assist/Turnover rate. They may not be the world’s greatest-shooting three-point team, but 35.0% isn’t shabby and they can stretch the floor enough to create space for Amadou Sow to go to work inside.

Rating: 2 Units

The Mavericks lost the second of back-to-backs at Oklahoma City on Thursday after they’d beaten San Antonio at home the night before. They were in Denver yesterday, as the Nuggets were in Memphis, winning no less. It’s a home invasion situation for a Dallas team that’s been doing quite well in this match-up of late. In the last five meetings, the Mavericks have outscored the Nuggets by +21 points. That’s an average margin of +4.2 per game and the oddsmaker gives the rested road dog a head start here.

Rating: 2 Units

Stansbury, for a championship? Well, maybe. But he’ll have to get through us to get it. “The toughest team always wins,” is what North Texas head coach Grant McCasland often tells his team. Being tougher than La. Tech yesterday was testament to the NoTex toughness because it was 40 minutes of contested baskets against an underrated defensive squad. There will be more open floor for the Mean Green in this game. Going 15 rounds with UAB yesterday may have taken a just enough out of Western Kentucky. In the end, Charles Bassey’s idea of rebounding was attempting to tip it to teammates, and being glad the big one that he couldn’t get to went out of bounds off a UAB player. The guy they want to play through looked a little gassed and off on his left leg.

Rating: 2 Units

Florida State’s size and depth will pose a major issue for a smaller Georgia Tech team that often is limited to just a six or seven man rotation. Florida State center Balsa Koprivica has rapidly improved, going for 17 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks against a stout North Carolina interior on Friday night. The Seminoles ability to disrupt smaller teams on the perimeter due to their  athleticism will be a factor when taking on a pair of diminutive guards in Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado and Michel DeVoe.

Rating: 3 Units

Toronto, who has several players dealing with health and safety protocols, hosted the Hawks on Thursday. The Raptors were beaten off the boards in the defeat and the game would not have been all that close if Chris Boucher didn’t have a huge game. Chris has 29 points and he has only reached that many points or more two other times this season. The Pistons visited North Carolina on Thursday in a game where Scary Terry Rozier dominated down the stretch. The Hornets lost back-toback games to Toronto in January but there were  reasons. In the first loss, the Hornets rally fell short when Gordon Hayward didn’t play and LaMelo Ball was not even starting. In the second loss, the Charlotte bench just didn’t show up as they scored 11 fewer points than their average this season. Charlotte has won 4 of 6 including a win over Phoenix and in one of the losses during this time span Melo had a ‘glory days’ game for Portland.

Rating: 2 Units

Georgetown, a three possession underdog, continued their run in New York on Friday, knocking off Seton Hall. The Hoyas’ defense continues to lead the way, a unit that grades out as one of the 15 best nationally since early February. Patrick Ewing noted that the change to move 6’8 forward Chudier Bile into the starting lineup once they returned from a program pause this season has changed the team. Bile has brought a physicality along with the size that Georgetown needed. The Hoyas were the last Big East school to get on campus this season and it’s taken time to gel, but it has all started to come together over the last few weeks.

Rating: 3 Unit Mountain West Play of the Day

San Diego State will be out for payback, after falling to Utah State in a back-to-back series in January. The Aztecs did not have their best player, Matt Mitchell, available for the second meeting and that cost the Aztecs in a big way. With Mitchell on the floor along with sharpshooter Jordan Schakel, the Azetcs have the shooting to space out and take advantage of a bigger Utah State team that prefers to pack the paint. Schakel and Mitchell combined for 39 points and six mad threes on Friday night against Nevada.

Rating: 3 Unit SEC Play of the Day

Arkansas continues to roll through the SEC, having not lost a conference game since January 16th. The Hogs are clicking on both ends of the floor and have the versatility to slow down a potent LSU offense. Arkansas starting forward Justin Smith is an ideal matchup to go against LSU big man Trendon Watford. Eric Musselman’s ability to adjust on the fly with schemes should bode well for a quick turnaround into Saturday. In the last meeting against LSU, Arkansas limited LSU to 43.8% shooting from two-point range, as Watford shot 4-for-13 inside the arc.

Rating: 3 Units

What can the Knicks do for an encore following the expected 25-point loss at ***BEST BET Milwaukee on Thursday? The Knicks don’t beat many good teams. They have beaten enough losing teams to have a .500 record. OKC is a losing team. Since the Knicks acquired Derrick Rose from Detroit, they are 8-4 SU when he plays. But Rose didn’t play in Milwaukee and he won’t play today. Aha. The Thunder beat the Knicks 101-89 in New York on Jan. 9. Little-known fact: Mike Miller, former Knicks assistant and their interim coach last season after David Fizdale fizzled out and was sent packing, is top assistant for first-season OKC head coach Mark Daigneault. Double-aha! Ya’ think perhaps Miller and fellow former New York, now OKC assistant Royal Ivey – Harlem-born and Queens, NY high school champ -- had a little something to do with fashioning that prior win? Shea Gilgeous-Alexander out for OKC. Yeah, seen that movie before.

Rating: 2 Units

With rest, Alabama rendered utter destruction upon unrested Mississippi State yesterday. Freshman guard Joshua Primo was injured in the game but they have guys. Tennessee is easy to knock for their inconsistency, but they were 5-5 in “Quad 1” games to Alabama’s 6-4, the difference having been the Tide’s 71-63 road win way back on Jan. 3. Vols’ head coach Rick Barnes pulled no punches with his senior forward John Fulkerson afterward, at least to the media: “We knew they were going to try to drive and make him play defense. Offensively, he never established what we needed to get done. We got the ball there, but he went three-for-eight from the free throw line. That is tough when you got a guy you’re counting on to give you something around the rim or get you there.” Tough love! Jaden Springer was unavailable due to injury for much of the game, questionable foul trouble took away Tennessee’s best defender Yves Pons for a while, and a ref on the other side of the floor hit Rick Barnes with a technical for the sin of Barnes correctly arguing a bad call against point guard Santi Vescovi, which left Tennessee without a true point guard for the last four minutes of the first half.

Rating: 3 Unit Big West Play of the Day

The most experienced players on Irvine don’t handle the ball a whole heck of a lot. The Anteaters are a favorite that has scored less than 1.0 points per possession in conference play. After 4-19 Cal Poly was able to hang with them for 40 minutes last night, Irvine seems to be asking for somebody with better offensive capabilities to come along and beat them, kind of like Northeastern in the CAA when that team got beat by Drexel. Cal-Riverside is the Saint Mary’s of SoCal, with an infusion of Aussie and New Zealanders and, in fact, a former Saint Mary’s player, 7’1”, 250 center Jock Perry. Usually, every Highlander is a three-point shooter including Perry (and they all have percentages to respect), which can lure Anteater rim protector Brad Greene away from the hoop to begin an unraveling of their normally good defense.

Rating: 3 Unit AAC Play of the Day

Facing Memphis is a tall order for a Central Florida team that has proven to not be able to handle pressure this season. The Knights turned the ball over 33.3% and 29.6% of the time in two meetings against the Tigers this season. Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway has noted that his full defensive system is now installed, as a COVID-19 pause helped his team implement it, “The two long pauses gave us the time to do that. Now we’re definitely way more prepared to shut team downs.” Memphis appears highly motivated to find itself in a rematch with Houston on Saturday, as the Tigers lost on a buzzer beater finish against the Cougars last weekend.

Rating: 2 Units

LSU is a difficult matchup for Ole Miss, as the Tigers are plenty capable of dissecting the 1-3-1 zone defense of the Rebels. In the first meeting between the two teams, the Tigers produced 1.07 points per possession. Impressively, LSU did that without star guard Cam Thomas, who logged just four minutes before exiting due to injury. LSU’s offense displayed its depth in that outing, as the Tigers are the nation’s 5th-best offense nationally in efficiency. Tigers head coach Will Wade noted this week that his program is well aware of the struggles they’ve had in the SEC Tournament and it’s been a focus and a goal this year to correct that.

Rating: 2 Units

The Magic travel for a second of back-to-backs, against a rested home team that is coming off a loss. Shooting guards Evan Fournier and Terrance Ross were out last night. They tried to go big and hung in there for a while, but wilted badly in the fourth quarter. Good luck to them, and their backers, if those two are out again tonight. Fournier is definitely out, Ross questionable. Not to mention point guard Cole Anthony having been out since Feb. 9, and 6’6” small forward James Ennis III out since Feb. 25. Oy. Compared to what San Antonio had to deal with against Doncic and Porzingis the other night, this is quite the class drop.

Rating: 3 Unit Big East Play of the Day

Huskies head coach Dan Hurley downplayed the status of James Bouknight on Thursday, saying it was only cramping and he’ll be ready for Friday. With Bouknight back in the fold, the Huskies are now 11-2 against the spread and UConn seems intent on sending a message to their new conference this week. Said starting wing Tyrese Martin, “We’re a different team. We’re at full strength. We’re probably one of the hottest teams in the country right now. So to beat us, you’re going to have to do a lot of things. And I don’t think that there’s a team right now that’s going to do that.” The physicality that the Huskies play with will be difficult for Creighton to match.

Rating: 2 Units

Iowa and Wisconsin just met on Sunday, which ended in a narrow 77-73 Iowa victory. The Hawkeyes should be encouraged that their next meeting on Friday results in a more comfortable margin. Iowa shot 65.6% from two-point range against the Badgers, but made only 7-of-23 three-point attempts. Wisconsin played a near perfect game, turning the ball over just seven times, while making each of their free throws and 37.5% of three-point attempts. It’s unlikely the Badgers can replicate such a performance, and even that was not good enough.

Rating: 2 Units

Florida State remained idle on Thursday, and Seminoles leader Rai-Quan Gray said the additional time off was helpful. “I think it is a recharged group. ... We met a little bit, and had some good practices, and we got back to who we are, back to the basics.” The Seminoles’ size and athleticism will be a match for a North Carolina team that continues to simply lean on their size and physicality to get by. Florida State can match the Tar Heels in that department and force North Carolina to execute.

Rating: 2 Units

Eager Beavers get a second chance at the Ducks after Oregon rained a season-high 15 three-pointers against them in Sunday’s 80-67 win at Corvallis. Said OSU head coach Wayne Tinkle, “We got off to a slow start offensively. The whole objective was to pound it inside, and I think once they got a little bit of a lead, we thought we were going to just shoot our way back into it, rather than staying on plan.” Live and learn, baby.

Rating: 2 Units

Cleveland doesn’t make it easy on themselves. They are the only team that has averaged fewer than 10 three-pointers a game. Coach Van Gundy has to get his team to play more consistent in the second half of the season. The Pelicans take good shots and are tied for 5th in the league in offensive field-goal percentage.

Rating: 2 Units

No Embiid, no Simmons in Chicago last night? No problem! Come on, man, that was a fun set-up, taking points with the 76ers against the Bulls without those two, once again watching the “high-profile absentee chasers” go down to defeat with information that everybody knows, but attempts to leverage while not accounting for the reality of professional players and coaches doing their jobs in the absence of “superstars,” who are merely guys with big stats. It was so much fun that we are emboldened, as Embiid returns tonight but Simmons is still out, to figure “Washington outright” as the Sixers lay two possessions in the second of back-to-backs vs. the rested home side that is coming off a loss. Simmons is a danged good defender.

Rating: 3 Units

Memphis hosted the Wizards on Wednesday in a game that the Grizzlies controlled in the second half. Memphis was a bit on the fortunate side since Washington’s best player Bradley Beal shot only 27% from the floor. That was Beal’s second worst shooting night of the season as he has averaged 48% from the field this season. Denver has won 4 in a row including a 31-point win over Milwaukee on the second of a back-to-back game. They have also won 5 of 6 and the loss during this period was by a bucket. The Nuggets play the right way and they have several guys that can get their own shot. They are in the top 8 in the league in scoring, allowing points and assists. The Nuggets are behind only Milwaukee, Phoenix and Utah in point differential

Rating; 3 Units

Ha. They can’t trap us. The Bulls have been best as road dogs, as we often note on these pages. Tonight, because neither Joel Embiid nor Ben Simmons is playing for the 76ers, Chicago is a -3+ home favorite against the Eastern Conference’s first place team. You know what they say. First, they say that what everybody and his brother knows is not worth knowing. Also, they say that when the big cats are away, the mice will play!

Rating: 3 Units

The Bucks have revenge for a 130-110 loss in New York. They seem to be pacing themselves this season as opposed to last, when they were the clear #1 team throughout, then fizzled badly in the post-season. The Knicks have been playing well, it’s true. But who have they been playing? Mostly nobody. Prior to a recent rare loss for New York, in San Antonio, we noted that they’d been beating losers. The Knicks were supposed to lose that game, against a winning team, by 4 points. They lost it by 26. They went home to win against banged-up, travel-weary Detroit. Big whoop. Milwaukee shot 7-for-38 from three-point range when they lost in New York. With Mitchell Robinson out for the Knicks, Giannis can posterize Nerlens Noel a few times.

Rating: 3 Units

Toronto was hit hard at the end of the first half of the season with health and safety protocols. It is kind of amazing the way the NBA has continued to carry on despite all the health issues. When Toronto lost to the Hawks in February Atlanta did a good job on both of the Toronto starting guards and Atlanta won despite turning it over 18 times. Atlanta went 3 and 2 in their last 5 in the first half but in that span they beat Boston and they also handled Miami. Atlanta kicks it off here only 2 games out of the 6th spot in the East.

Rating: 3 Units

“You can’t let Missouri play downhill,” said one SEC head coach, Kermit Davis of Ole Miss, who beat the Tigers twice. Meaning, don’t let them get into an up-tempo groove by winning the boards and triggering transition. Plenty of  Georgia’s losing scores indicate that the Crean game can’t get played like that. Their defensive rebounding rate is one of the nation’s worst. The overall experience edge for Missouri is strong and while the Tigers aren’t a strong three-point shooting team, neither is Georgia

Rating: 2 Units

We frequently say that opposing defensive players can just hold their ground and watch Saint Peter’s run their lengthy offensive sets that create nice open looks before they miss the jump-shot or fail on the lay-up. Therefore, with two possessions worth of points as a head start, against a low-possession opponent, we’ll take Rider on two days’ rest since their first round win.

Rating: 2 Units

Despite a loss to close the season, Tulane head coach Ron Hunter left encouraged. “Our defense in the last week-and-a-half has been awful, and then we got back to who we were in the second half. We played about as well as we can play in the second half.” Tulane will now take on a Tulsa team that previously knocked off by a score of 58-48 on the road. The Green Wave’s tricky zone defense perplexed a limited Tulsa offense.

Rating: 2 Units

As a team with better-than-average percentages on three-pointers offensively and defensively, against an opponent with lower-than-average percentages in both, and with NoCo also being decent at offering resistance in the paint against a Southern Utah squad that likes to do business inside the arc despite not being very big, the unrested, underdog Bears seem like worthy adversary against the #1 seed. The favorite’s tallest starter is 6’7”. Their 6’11” Ivan Madunic has been coming off the bench for about 17-18 minutes to score anywhere from 0 to 4 points – yawn.

Rating: 2 Units

Villanova had its work cut out without senior point guard Collin Gillespie, but now the Wildcats have also lost starting shooting guard Justin Moore for the time being. Moore was set to take over point guard duties, but severely sprained his ankle against Providence. That resulted in Villanova scoring 52 points in a loss to a mediocre Friars team. Now, Villanova will take on a rapidly improving Georgetown defense that can keep the Hoyas competitive on Thursday afternoon as a substantial underdog. The Hoyas have now gone 5-2 against the spread down the stretch, with the only losses coming against a UConn team with James Bouknight back in the fold.

Rating: 3 Unit ACC Play of the Day

Virginia’s ability to dissect Syracuse’s 2-3 zone should help the Cavaliers
create separation on Thursday. Virginia produced 1.16 points per possession in the first meeting against Syracuse this year, opting to stick point guard Kihei Clark in the middle of Syracuse’s zone. That allowed Virginia to space the floor with shooters and the result was a 81-58 Virginia victory. Jim Boeheim has had tough luck going against Virginia, with a 3-7 record against the spread in his last 10 meetings against Tony Bennett.

Rating: 3 Unit SEC Play of the Day

Kentucky enters the SEC Tournament with a chance to save a disappointing season and John Calipari appears ready to empty the tank. “There will be no pitchers left,” Calipari said during a teleconference Wednesday. “I’m using every pitcher I can. The knuckle-baller. The curve-baller. The fast (ball) pitcher. The middle reliever. The last-pitch (closer).” Part of the Wildcats adjustments as of late has been moving senior Davion Mintz into the point guard role. That move should benefit the Wildcats, as it removes struggling freshman Devin Askew from the lineup. The Wildcats will now be bigger, more athletic and will not have sacrificed shooting.

Rating: 2 Units

Michigan State continues to fight to keep their season going, and a win on Thursday over Maryland would likely punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans have been a different team as of late, going 5-2 against the spread down the stretch. They won’t lack motivation in this spot, as they previously suffered a loss on the road to Maryland. That first meeting for Michigan State occurred as the fourth game in eight days for the Spartans in late February. Michigan State was a bit taxed from winning back to back games against Illinois and Ohio State prior that outing.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

The Sooners enter off four straight losses. As far as we’re concerned, they’re going into this “the right way.” The last three were against the fan base’s two most hated rivals, Oklahoma State and Texas. They were right there in all three, losing each by 4 points. The “slide” actually began in the second half of their second win against Iowa State, when they turned a 41-25 halftime lead into a non-cover in the road win. Hey, they’re entitled. It’s a tough conference, long season, and somebody has to lose a game involving two high-class winning teams. But enough is enough, and now they drop in class. It’s not like Iowa State is coming into this any better. Actually, the Cyclones current losing streak is four-and-a-quarter times worse, with 17 in a row!

Rating: 3 Unit C-USA Play of the Day

Owl not be denied? Last Friday, we won a ***BEST BET on Florida Atlantic against an admittedly weaker foe, Middle Tennessee, in which we described them as a poor man’s version of the highly ranked Houston Cougars. They hit the offensive glass (11.4 ORs per game) and get many second-chance opportunities after missed three pointers. But they miss fewer treys than most, with a good make rate of 37.5%. They are also in the national top 20 in defensive rebounding percentage. UTEP has played close games against Arizona and Kansas, beat Arizona State. Those were exhibitions for Arizona and Kansas, and we all know that Arizona State was/is a joke. UTEP is more accurate then FAU only at the free-throw line, but they don’t get there with any fearful frequency.

Rating: 2 Units

Duke will take on Louisville for a third time this season, having lost both prior outings. Duke should feel confident however, as the Blue Devils took Louisville to overtime on February 27th despite a 4-for-21 shooting performance from three-point range. The Blue Devils can certainly shoot the ball better than that, and have a mismatch in Matthew Hurt. Hurt torched the Cardinals for 37 points, making 13-of-15 two-point attempts before fouling out. Duke hardly had to break a sweat on Tuesday and the concern of a back to back should be lessened as no starter played more than 27 minutes.

Rating: 2 Units

Iona looked quite sharp after a two week layoff on Monday night, rolling past Quinnipiac by a score of 72-48. Rick Pitino’s defense looked as good as it has this season, limiting the Bobcats to 29.0% shooting from two-point distance. Pitino is certainly capable of now slowing down Siena guard Jalen Pickett and forcing others to attempt to beat him. Iona impressively ranks 24th-best nationally this season in effective field goal percentage allowed, a testament to Pitino still being as sharp as ever on the sideline.

Rating: 2 Units

It’s an annual March tradition for us to take points with Air Force in the Mountain West Tournament first round. Usually, they’re a double-revenge underdog and that’s the case once again. In two wins in three nights here in early February, UNLV could muster only 68 and 69 points vs. the Falcons while actually scoring at a healthy rate: 1.20 and 1.18 points per possession. They probably can’t do much better than that. They might do worse, because they’re not known for quality of shot selection.

Rating: 3 Unit Big East Play of the Day

Marquette’s defense has made strides lately, looking like the physical and attentive group that Steve Wojciechowski had been hoping for this season. The Golden Eagles have held five of their last six opponents to 0.93 points per possession or less. That has helped lead Marquette to a 4-1 record against the spread in those outings. Marquette’s physicality poses as an issue for a Georgetown offense that prefers to play inside through big man Qudus Wahab. Wahab will have to deal with senior center Theo John, one of the better interior defenders in the Big East.

Rating: 2 Units

The Big Sky passed by without a regular season meeting between the #7 PSU Vikings and #10 NAU Lumberjacks. Portland State posted a program-best 66.0 points per game allowed, out of necessity because on the other end of the floor so many of them couldn’t hit a cow’s ass with a shovel. Most of NAU’s players share the same erratic traits, as 32% of the team’s 62.7 ppg have been scored by junior guard Cameron Shelton. NAU’s defensive FG% of 51.5% is difficult to embrace, even against erratic-shooting PSU, who helps make up for their misses by being good on the offensive boards.

Rating: 2 Units

Wake Forest, a multiple possession underdog, gets a chance to reset their season in the ACC Tournament. Said head coach Steve Forbes after a competitive outing against Georgia Tech this week, “Kind of hit a wall in February, maybe it was conditioning. But they’ve kept being positive and we hadn’t always played great, but for a while there tonight I thought that was more indicative of what we saw in January and what we’ll see on Tuesday in Greensboro.” Wake Forest will face a similar minded team in Notre Dame, as both offenses can make shots while both defenses lack physicality.

Rating: 3 Unit Horizon League Play of the Day

Oakland enters as a slight underdog on Tuesday night, with a strong chance to win the Horizon League title. The Grizzlies continue to get exceptional point guard play from Jalen Moore, who totaled 14 points, seven assists and two turnovers in Monday’s win over Northern Kentucky. The Grizzlies will get a third crack at Cleveland State after falling to the Vikings twice in early February in two close contests. Oakland starting guard Rashad Williams missed the first game and only played 11 minutes in the second outing due to injury. Williams is now back and has totaled 39 points in the first two games of the Horizon League Tournament this week. With Moore’s running partner back in the fold, the Grizzlies can more than even the score with Cleveland State.

Rating: 2 Units

The Hurricanes have been playing with less than a full boat all season, but many of the few (get it?) hands on deck are seniors. “Our guys have had a great attitude, a great work ethic,” said Jim Larrañaga after they won at Boston College in the regular-season finale. “To me this was a huge game, to be able to go to the ACC tournament and feel a lot better about ourselves.” Pitt isn’t getting replacement-scoring out of the guards playing more minutes since the #2 and #3 scorers left the program. After head coach Jeff Capel was reprimanded yesterday (‘Stop tickling my wrist!’) for saying that ACC officiating has been biased against his team, the refs probably won’t bend over backwards to help him out.

Rating: 2 Units

Pepperdine is a sizable underdog on Monday night against a BYU team they were competitive against this season. The Waves lost by 11 to the Cougars on the road and then knocked off BYU at home, 76-73. Pepperdine has played exceptional perimeter defense this season, ranking 4th-best nationally in three point percentage allowed. That will be key against a BYU offense that often relies on their perimeter shooting to lead the way. Pepperdine was led on Saturday in the quarterfinals by their star duo of Colbey Ross and Kessler Edwards, who combined for 46 points.

Rating: 3 Unit Horizon League Play of the Day

In an odd twist, Oakland and Northern Kentucky have not met yet this season and will see each other for the first time on Monday night. The meeting will be a clash of styles with Oakland’s uptempo system facing off against a very slow Northern Kentucky team. Where Oakland holds an advantage is with terrific point guard Jalen Moore leading the way. Moore leads the nation in assist rate and will likely be able to get the pace of the game on the Grizzlies’ terms. Also helpful for Oakland is their willingness to pack the paint and allow opposing teams to shoot from three. That’s an issue for a Northern Kentucky team that ranks 288th in three-point percentage.

Rating: 2 Units

Appalachian State has carried Winning Points Executive Club members through a pair of 5-Star victories on Saturday and Sunday as outright underdogs against #1W seed Texas State, and #2E Coastal Carolina. We don’t view these as “upsets.” Heck, if we think an underdog will win outright, how could it be an “upset?” The ability to suddenly pivot away from, and against, your winners is an important trait for handicappers and bettors to have in their mental/emotional arsenal. (Example: shoulda been that way dealing with VMI yesterday). Or, there’s always the option to be neutral and walk away. It’s a fourth game in four nights for App State. Their starters have played 38-42 minutes in the last two and they’ve lost junior 6’8” forward James Lewis to injury along the way. The bench scored 0 yesterday. Soph guard Donovan Gregory got 8 steals for them last night vs. Coastal (3 and 0 the prior two nights). Yesterday, we mentioned how Georgia State’s good ball security was an asset. After getting swept by App State on the road in January when they hadn’t played in two weeks, Georgia State won 85-71 the next time the teams met on Feb. 23.

Rating: 2 Units

Ya’ gotta love the Horizon League. Milwaukee’s ousting of #2 seed Wright State in a delayed second round was typical of this conference, not an upset despite the 14-point line, as per the picture we painted for everyone in one of last week’s daily issues. When lower seeds play with six days’ rest, instead of in back-to-back situations, these things tend to happen with more frequency than in more traditional tourneys. By the way, Milwaukee trailed Wright by 24 points in the second half! They closed on a 33-4 run! We won’t expect UW-M to advance here. Anybody that can fall behind by that much may do it again, and be trying to come back vs. better defense. They need to prove they can make a lot of shots against somebody other than Wright State, against whom they’d hit 80 in both prior losses. The Panthers lost 64-53 off a six-day break at Cleveland State, then needed OT the next night to get to 81. But there’s no second night if they lose this.