Rating: 3 Unit Southern Conference Play of the Day

Easy-peasy with our **PREFERRED winner on VMI yesterday – needed only one overtime! Although the Keydets invested a lot of sweat and limited manpower into yesterday’s upset (Wait, what upset? We thought they’d win!), this second of back-to-backs for them is against a Mercer bunch playing for the third straight night. And, they’re military kids. They’ve been through their share of off-the-court physical abuse, er, training! The lone regular season meeting went Mercer’s way, 83-80, at Mercer but our numbers, with an underdog that shoots and rebounds as well as VMI, say that today, it’s…

Rating: 2 Units

Texas beat the Horned Frogs by 15 points at home, rendering TCU center Kevin Samuel essentially invisible. Shaka Smart was impressed afterwards that his Longhorns could win by that much, despite being sloppy early with  turnovers and not shooting well from three-point range. NCAA Tournament-bound road chalk lays single-digits to .500 overall foe 5-10 in conference.

Rating: 2 Units

Drake is a wounded team, who needed a buzzer beater on Saturday to advance past Missouri State. The Bulldogs are now without both starters Roman Penn and Shanquan Hemphill due to injury, forcing a few players to log heavy minutes on Saturday. Now they’ll meet Loyola Chicago on Sunday who easily dispatched Indiana State on Saturday. The Ramblers look like a team on a mission, and will have a bit of extra motivation having lost their last game at Drake in overtime on February 14th.

Rating: 2 Units

Iowa put together a strong performance against the Badgers in their first meeting on February 18th. The Hawkeyes limited the Badgers to 22.2% shooting from two-point range, leading to a 77-62 victory. Iowa will send off All American Luka Garza on senior day, likely creating for a bit of extra motivation. Wisconsin has looked like a broken team as of late, having lost four of five games. The Badgers simply have not been able to compete with the top of the Big 10, having gone 0-7 against the spread against Michigan, Iowa, Illinois and Purdue. Their defense isn’t what it used to be

Rating: 3 Unit AAC Play of the Day

Houston has been dominant at home this season, having covered the spread in their last five home games by double digits. The Cougars have had a week to prepare for this AAC showdown, while Memphis has spent the week on the road playing Tuesday and Thursday road games. This will be a major step up in weight class for Memphis, who has not played a Top 100 Ken Pom team in more than a month. The Tigers’ carelessness on offense, where they rank 326th in turnover rate, will create issues against an aggressive Houston defense.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

Davidson’s 99-point outing on Friday against George Mason was impressive but the Wildcats are perhaps a bit overvalued off such a performance. VCU meanwhile saw the return of star guard Bones Hyland, who totaled 30 points in a victory against Dayton. Hyland missed VCU’s first meeting against Davidson last week, in which the Rams were competitive in a one-possession game for the first 30 minutes until losing distance on the road. VCU will have the luxury of having seen Davidson’s motion offense once recently, something George Mason did not have the benefit of on Friday. Consider that Davidson is 2-7 ATS in their last 9 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600, 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games following three or more consecutive home games, and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points

Rating: 2 Units

Belmont handled Morehead State in their first meeting this season, rolling to a 73-58 win at home in a game they never trailed. The Bruins would then lose the second meeting on the road in overtime, but did have starting center Nick Muszynski for that meeting. Muszynski is now back and the Bruins are 20-0 in the Ohio Valley when the big man suits up. Muszynski will help anchor a Belmont defense that ranked 2nd best in the Ohio Valley in two-point percentage allowed. That’s where Morehead State prefers to do their scoring, making this spot a challenge for the Eagles.

Rating: 2 Units

Furman, 8-13 ATS, is favored at this neutral site against a 13-7 ATS opponent it lost to outright, 74-73, as an 11-point road favorite on Jan. 20. The catch – oh, there’s always a catch – is that VMI canceled its last three regular season games due to positive tests and quarantining, which began Feb. 22. So, if ya’ like military dogs with the best three-point field goal percentage in their conference (38.9%), gap in games notwithstanding

Rating: 2 Units

Mississippi’s season will be on the line on Saturday, as the Rebels are just hanging onto the edge of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Ole Miss stayed in contention with a solid win over Kentucky on Tuesday and will have two extra days of preparation compared to a Vanderbilt team that has had quite the schedule as of late. This will be the third game in six days for the Commodores, having played at LSU on Tuesday, at Cincinnati on Thursday and now travel to Mississippi for Saturday. The Rebels will also be out for payback, having dropped a road game against Vanderbilt by five points. Vanderbilt shot 12-for-23 in that outing to escape with a home victory.

Rating: 3 Unit Sun Belt Play of the Day

USA’s short rotation has not done well in the second of back-to-back games this season, and those losses occurred against opponents who were also playing without rest. Tonight’s opponent is a 17-6 team with rest, and 6’9" and 6’10" forwards the smaller Jaguars will be scrappin’ for rebounds against with their shorter, tired legs. It took us about three-and-a-half months to acknowledge the existence of Bob Marlin’s Ragin Cajuns and if they don’t come through for us, then we can go back to forgetting about them.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

Indiana isn’t supposed to have a losing record in head coach Archie Miller’s fourth season, are they? But they have one, following four straight losses, scoring only 57 and 58 in the last two vs. Michigan and Michigan State. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 25 points but only 4 rebounds when the Hoosiers lost 81-69 to the Boilermakers at home. They’ve been missing guard Armaan Franklin, #2 scorer and 45% three-point shooter. By all accounts, he’ll miss this

Rating: 3 Unit ACC Play of the Day

Wichita State has plenty at stake when they take the floor on Saturday. The
Shockers have a shot to win the American Athletic Conference outright with a win and will be attempting to do so on Senior Day. The Shockers will also be fortunate to play in front of a crowd that will be at 25% capacity, creating a rare homecourt advantage this season. South Florida meanwhile has appeared lifeless lately, being blown out in three straight games. The Bulls interior  defense has been decimated as starting forward Alexis Yetan and center Michael Durr are dealing with injuries.

Rating: 2 Units

Florida State will enter Saturday with a chance to clinch an outright ACC title with a win at Notre Dame. The Seminoles are playing terrifically this season while Notre Dame has not displayed much fight lately. Said Mike Brey, “We really haven’t had much the last two games - fighting. You can’t use pandemics and all that as an excuse. It’s a little bit of the pride of digging in and competing. We did that to get out of a hole at 0-5, but we haven’t shown any of that lately.” The Irish have struggled all year with physical and athletic teams, especially those who can switch defensively. Florida State is exactly that.

Rating: 2 Units

Anyone still craving Morehead after its 17-8 ATS regular season was warned by us, then got beat by a hair Wednesday night in what we feel was some foreshadowing for tonight. We’re pleased to take the points with an EKU side averaging 81.1 ppg in conference action as the defensively-led favorite scores less than 1.0 points per possession.

Rating: 3 Unit ACC Play of the Day

Georgia Tech’s season will once again be on the line when they take the floor against Wake Forest. The Yellow Jackets simply can’t afford a loss, as they are squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. One area where Georgia Tech has struggled at times, defending inside, is not likely to be exploited by Wake Forest. Said Steve Forbes after a loss against Pittsburgh this week, “We’re not a team that’s going to drive in there and finish every time. It’s deflating when you get to the rim and can’t finish.”

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Mismatch of the Day

Taking two possessions worth of points on double-avenging Dayton. Not since Eric Maynor in 2009 (22.3 ppg) has VCU’s scoring leader averaged as many points per game as VCU’s Bones Hyland (19.2), who’ll be coming off a two-game absence and foot sprain if he plays. Given that second-leading scorer Vince Williams is playing through an injury and nobody else on the favored Rams averages more than 7.3 ppg, doesn’t Anthony Grant go with a box-and-one against Hyland?

Rating: 3 Unit Missouri Valley Play of the Day

Indiana State will rally around head coach Greg Lansing this week, as rumors that he will not return have surfaced. In what would be a bizarre decision by Indiana State to let Lansing go, the Sycamores can put forth a great effort in Saint Louis this week. They’ll return starting guard Tyreke Key to the lineup after missing games due to injury and Lansing feels this team is ready to break through. “In our tenure, in our earlier years, we did well in the Valley tournament,” Lansing said. “Then we went on a stretch where we weren’t good enough, prepared enough and the guys weren’t competitive enough. We’re not happy not going over any winning games, but this team is different, a special group of young men.”

Rating: 2 Units

Saint Louis easily took care of UMass on Monday, and the two teams now meet again in the quarterfinals of the A10 Tournament. The Billikens featured a bigger look in that meeting with the Minutemen, playing Hasan French more at forward next to centers Jimmy Bell or Martin Linssen. The played a part in Saint Louis dominating the glass, as they collected 46.7% of their own misses, on the way to a 78-57 win.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

Duquesne battled St. Bonaventure in both meetings this season before running out of steam late. Both games were one possession games after 30 minutes but at that earlier point of the season Duquesne’s conditioning was still an issue off of a program pause due to COVID-19. The Dukes are a physical bunch capable of playing a low scoring slugfest against the Bonnies. The Dukes ability to defend the three-point line, where they rank best in the A10, will be key against a St. Bonaventure attack that shot 37.5% from three-point range in conference play.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Not a good set-up for the Warriors. Following last night’s ding-donger defeat in Portland, they face the new "hottest team in the NBA" after a night flight into the Arizona desert, where the rested Suns await with some impressive recent numbers including: +14.8 points differential last eight games, including the second best offensive efficiency (1.24 points per possession) and fifth best defensive efficiency (1.09 points per possession) in that span. During it, the Suns are shooting 52.0%, tops in the league for the stretch, and turning it over only 11 times per game, fewest in the league. On Jan. 28, the Suns beat the Warriors by 21 points here without Devin Booker. 6’7" shooting guard Kelly Oubre (15.5 ppg, 5.7 reb in 30.3 minutes per) didn’t play for the Warriors last night

Rating: 2 Units

The Mavericks tried to do the Thunder a favor last night by resting Luka Doncic. OKC could not take advantage, losing the game and the spread 87-78 in a Festival of Bad Shooting. You’ll recall that last week, the Spurs came off a pause to lose 102-99 in OKC on a last-second corner three-pointer by Lu Dort. San Antonio played that game off a 10-day forced break, without Demar DeRozan, Derrick White, Rudy Gay and Keldon Johnson. Only DeRozan and Johnson have returned since, but that should be enough to turn the tables sufficiently.

Rating: 2 Units

The Sooners are stinging off overtime and 4-point losses to Oklahoma State, but that doesn’t earn them the right to beat the avenging Longhorns, who lost to them 80-79 at home despite playing without head coach Shaka Smart, starters Jericho Sims and Courtney Ramey, and 17-minute reserve Brock Cunningham. Three more Longhorns fouled out and they were down to just five scholarship players at the bitter end.

Rating: 2 Units

East Carolina was just recently cleared to practice five on five on Monday, meaning the team won’t be anywhere quite near game shape once the ball is tipped off on Thursday night. East Carolina head coach Joe Dooley said his team will be down to nine scholarship players due to Bitumba Baruti being out with COVID-19 protocols, and Tyrie Jackson and Charles Coleman continuing to be sidelined with injuries. The Pirates saw five straight games postponed or canceled during their latest COVID-19 pause as a result of multiple positive tests.

Rating: 2 Units

Jax State did it all wrong over the weekend, getting season sweeps of Austin Peay and Murray State for the first time in school history. Too many milestones reached already! Although head coach Ray Harper is a wily tournament underdog from way back, we’d have to say that adjustments are now all on Murray State for this one, as well as the emotional edge of being the better-pedigreed program owning double-revenge in the win-or-go-home game. While most people see JSU as heading into this “the right way” with seven wins in last eight games, the only loss by a mere four points at #1 seed Belmont, we’ve long felt that this is closer to the “wrong way” than right.

Rating: 3 Units

The Pistons are dead last in the Eastern Conference and they have struggled mightily on the road. Detroit’s best player this season, Jerami Grant, has been dealing with a bruised left quad. Detroit faced Toronto on Wednesday and they took advantage of the Raptors being shorthanded in the facile Pistons win. Toronto was missing several key players. The Spurs snapped a 3-game Knicks winning streak on Tuesday but New York was missing some key elements. Elfrid Payton was out with a hammy and Derrick Rose was dealing with health and safety issues. With a win the Knicks would go into the All-Star break a game over .500. Rookie Immanuel Quickley has been a bright spot. He had 26 points off the bench in the Tuesday loss and leads all rookies this season with games of 25 points or more.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

Rasir Bolton, Iowa State’s leader in points, rebounds, assists, steals – not to mention minutes with 33.6 per game! -- injured an ankle on Sunday and didn’t play in the second half. In Tuesday night’s hosting of Texas, Bolton did not play but two guards who played Bolton-like minutes when they normally don’t shot 2-for-11 and 1-for-8. If Iowa State was a good team, we’d say that these kids would definitely do better next time out. But their only 2 wins have been against low-Major competition. They’re not a good team.

Rating: 3 Unit C-USA Play of the Day

Host FAU is 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 make an above-average percentage of their threes: 38.0%. They are also in the national top 20 in defensive rebounding percentage. All of this would seem to work well against a 3-11 visitor that can’t shoot straight (.96 points per possession in C-USA games).

Rating: 2 Units

East Carolina was just recently cleared to practice five on five on Monday, meaning the team won’t be anywhere quite near game shape once the ball is tipped off on Thursday night. East Carolina head coach Joe Dooley said his team will be down to nine scholarship players due to Bitumba Baruti being out with COVID-19 protocols, and Tyrie Jackson and Charles Coleman continuing to be sidelined with injuries. The Pirates saw five straight games postponed or canceled during their latest COVID-19 pause as a result of multiple positive tests.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

Massachusetts did not have the luxury of easing back into play off of their
program pause recently, opening back up on the road against Richmond and
Saint Louis. The Minutemen now are closer to full health, as Matt McCall called
Wednesday’s practice the best they’ve had in a while. While St. Joseph’s has
impressed lately, their recent win streak is a bit hollow. The Hawks knocked off
a poor La Salle team narrowly in two games, defeated a depleted Richmond
and beat a Dayton team that inexplicably changed their lineup for one game.
The Hawks are not likely to be able to defend UMass star big man Tre Mitchell
in this meeting.

Rating: 2 Units

The Lobos are 2-14 in Mountain West action and have announced that head coach Paul Weir will not return next season. As further punishment, they’re making him coach until the season is over, which includes this road game (they’ve all been road games!) against a 15-4 overall CSU team eyeing first place as it enters 12-3 in conference, in a four-way logjam at the top with San Diego State, Boise State and Utah State. The home favorite sports the top FG% in the conference, 48.6%, which includes the #1 three-point percentage of 38.4%. New Mexico’s three-point percentage is #11 in an 11-team league, 26.1%. The Lobos’ 59.4% free throw percentage is the worst of any main-betting board team.

Rating: 2 Units

It’s been a difficult time for Texas A&M, as the Aggies have not played a game since January 30th. Head coach Buzz Williams said his team went a full month without having his full roster available for practice and in total could only complete eight partial practices throughout the month of February. They’ll take on a Mississippi State team that is in the flow of the SEC schedule and has avoided having any shutdown all season long.

Rating: 3 Unit Big East Play of the Day

Losses have been rare for Villanova since the formation of the new Big East, but when they do occur, the Wildcats respond strongly. Villanova is 22-13-2 against the spread after a loss, which they’re faced with here after a Sunday defeat at the hands of Butler. The motivation does not stop there for the Wildcats, as they also owe Creighton payback from their worst loss of the season on February 13th. In addition, Villanova is also hosting senior day for starters Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels, two pillars of their program for the last four years.

Rating: 3 Unit

The T’Wolves are lettin’ it fly. For the season, they’ve averaged a league-high 92.1 field goal attempts per game. But since the Saunders child was fired as head coach, replaced by the former Raptors’ assistant Chris Finch, they’re putting up 97.5 shots per game. The problem with that? With both D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley out, many of those shots are being taken by not-so-hot shooters, finding the net only 42.1% of the time. They’re hittin’ only 30.9% of their three-point attempts under Finch, and turning the ball over like crazy. Charlotte is 2-3 on their road trip, which ends here along with the first half of their season. They have a goal: go into their break following a .500 trip.

Rating: 2 Units

The Lobos are 2-14 in Mountain West action and have announced that head coach Paul Weir will not return next season. As further punishment, they’re making him coach until the season is over, which includes this road game (they’ve all been road games!) against a 15-4 overall CSU team eyeing first place as it enters 12-3 in conference, in a four-way logjam at the top with San Diego State, Boise State and Utah State. The home favorite sports the top FG% in the conference, 48.6%, which includes the #1 three-point percentage of 38.4%. New Mexico’s three-point percentage is #11 in an 11-team league, 26.1%. The Lobos’ 59.4% free throw percentage is the worst of any main-betting board team.

Rating: 3 Units

Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here and we are not talking about Appolo 13. The Rockets have not won a game since Feb. 4 and in that win they had one of their best guys, Christian Wood, playing. Wood is out until after the All-Star break. Brooklyn, on the other hand, is rolling. They have only lost twice since Feb. 8. Brooklyn showed grit in the Monday win after the Spurs closed the game with a 10-point run but the Texans lost in overtime. James Harden should be up for this one as he is back to face his former club. The guy who coached him in Houston, Mike Dantoni, who left before they could fire him after his four-season run, is the Nets’ #1 assistant.

Rating: 2 Units

Seton Hall finds itself in a desperate situation as the Pirates have lost consecutive games to Georgetown and Butler after having previously been safely on the right side of the bubble. The Pirates now can ill afford another loss and will not lack motivation when taking on the Huskies. It’s senior night for the Pirates and they’ll have fans inside the Prudential Center for the first time all season to send off star big man Sandro Mamukelashvili. The big man was a handful for the Huskies in their first meeting this season, as the versatile 6’11 forward totaled 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists in a 80-73 win.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Denver has several guys with nagging injuries and guys that are dealing with protocol issues. Denver lost to this team by 13 last month when the Nuggets not only lost the battle of the boards but they lost on a night when the Bucks Khris Middleton was 0 for 5 from beyond the arc. This season, Khris is shooting at 43% from distance. The Bucks got Jrue Holiday back Sunday and although he played limited minutes and the rust was evident, Milwaukee still had enough to take care of the Clippers. As usual, Giannis Antetokounmpo did a little bit of everything with 14 boards, 5 assists, 4 blocks and a steal to go along with this 36 points. Bobby Portis has found a niche with Milwaukee. On Sunday, he had 9 points, 7 boards and 3 thefts in 21 minutes. It’s a tough spot for Denver in their current shape with no rest.

Rating: 2 Units

Purdue is playing their best at the right time , winning and covering their last three games. Purdue has a rising star in freshman guard Jaden Ivey, who has totaled 40 points in those last three games while playing exceptional defense. Ivey has brought a physical and athletic preference that the Boilermakers needed. Purdue has only allowed one team to produce 1.00 points per possession or more in the last seven games. Purdue has a few long and athletic perimeter defenders including Ivey and Eric Hunter that will make things difficult for Wisconsin guard, D’Mitrik Trice.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day

Oakland gets to restart its season at home after finishing the regular season on the road for four straight games, which included two double overtime losses. The Grizzlies now have had more than a week of rest and preparation to face a team they beat handily in two regular season meetings. In two wins over Youngstown State, Oakland’s offense was clicking, producing 1.17 and 1.20 points per possession. Point guard Jalen Moore was in full control of those outings, dishing a total of 26 assists.

Rating: 2 Units

Central Florida has played well against zone this season, ranking in the 74th percentile in points per possession against zone while shooting 36.7% from three-point range on the season. The Knights shot 13-of-28 against Tulsa’s zone in their first meeting this season, defeating Tulsa on the road. Tulsa has hit a low point in their season with fans starting to question Frank Haith’s job status. Tulsa could not take advantage of a recent five-game homestand, losing four of five and now have to face an improving UCF squad.

Rating: 2 Units

Because Cleveland State finished in a tie atop the Horizon League, is the #1 seed, and went 3-1 SU and ATS against these Mastodons during the regular season, folks will assume that the first of the five meetings between the teams in Cleveland State’s arena is destined to go the way of the favored Vikings. That could be pre-historic thinking. We’ve already detailed IFPW’s high Effective Field Goal rate when we won our ***BEST BET with them at Wisconsin-GB last week in the opening round. Despite the good shooting, they’re a little sloppy. Their points per possession is only on a par with defensive-minded Cleveland State’s. But CSU is laying the highest number they’ve had to cover all season, in the most important game.

Rating: 3 Unit SEC Play of the Day

First game for Alabama since clinching the SEC regular-season title with a low-scoring win at Mississippi State. Some will expect a letdown for the home favorite. We do not. It’s an opportunity to put away the school’s archrival at home, convincingly, and not get involved in another 94-90 game like the one they played at Auburn, which was the collegiate debut of the Tigers’ freshman point guard Sharif Cooper. Cooper played well, but now the Tide knows who he is. Others know him as the kid who didn’t play in either of Auburn’s last two games. Auburn can’t play in the post-season, so many will assume they’ll go nuts here. But Alabama knows that. They’ll be ready to punch back.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

The 18-1 Wolverines have been darn near infallible against just about all comers. That their one loss came at Minnesota – who is 2-8 since – is pretty much the exception that proves the rule. They are 1 win away from clinching the Big Ten regular season title, with three games to play before the conference tournament. Illinois is their closest pursuer. The Illini’s star guard, Ayo Dosunmu, has been out with a broken nose. Illini head coach Brad Underwood made some recent comments about Michigan’s pause that Wolverines players may interpret as insulting. He also said, “These games mean nothing. There’s no Big Ten championship that means much. These games don’t mean much. They really don’t.” Seems like he’s more interested in pursuing a national championship, eh?

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

The Blazers have two days of rest. The visiting Hornets play the second of back-to-backs. We started saying this a few weeks ago: Portland – still 18-14 -- needs to win games like this while Nurkic and McCollum are out. They enter on a four-game losing streak, three of them on the road against winners (Phoenix, Denver, Lakers). For this they are home, with the favorable set-up, against a loser. They’re in sixth place in the West but only 1.5 games out of ninth. It may not appear so on the surface, but it’s as big a game as they’ll play. Consider that Charlotte is
2-10 ATS in the last 12 meetings in Portland.

Rating: 3 Unit PAC-12 Play of the Day

Oregon returns home after playing three games in a row on the road, and
ended that trip with two road wins at Stanford and California. The Ducks are
fully healthy and a dangerous team as they enter March. Oregon’s ability to
keep teams off balance on offense will be pivotal against an Arizona team that
wants to play inside out. The Ducks allow very little around the interior, as
they’ve forced Pac 12 teams to attempt 38.1% of field goals from three-point
range, the 3rd-highest rate in the conference. That’s a potential issue for an
Arizona team that takes the 2nd-fewest threes in the Pac 12.

Rating: 2 Units

Miami has a quick turnaround from a Saturday loss at Clemson, and will do so with six scholarship players. “We had six guys and two of them didn’t score any points,” Jim Larranaga said. “It’s hard. To only get 58 today, we thought that would probably be the most we could get, 58-60. We’re going to have to hold them in the low-50s to win the ballgame.” Scoring won’t get any easier as the Hurricanes are tasked with going against Virginia’s pack line defense

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

See the Dayton selection above for a reason to be against St. Joe’s this evening. The Hawks are a 3-14 team overall, 2-9 in conference, coming off a 97-point outing in victory. They hit a ceiling so hard, and now it’s time for the bounce-down crash against a 13-6 Richmond team coming home off a loss at Saint Louis where the Spiders played well enough to win despite losing and not covering. Saint Louis – who plays defense while St. Joe’s pretty much does not – beat Richmond where St. Joe’s cannot, in the paint

Rating: 2 Units

Quality dog figures to be taking a couple of possessions worth of points. Taking things at face value, Dayton is off a 97-84 loss at A-10 doormat St. Joe’s. St. Bonaventure is off their most dominant win of the season, 88-41 vs. George Washington Slept Here. Therefore, face-value folks will be all over the home favorite in its home finale. And that’s fine. If we don’t win, and it doesn’t push, then we hope they win. St. Joe’s flung 42 three-pointers at the hoop against Dayton and 18 of them happened to go through the net. It happens.

Rating: 2 Units

The hot-hot Suns conduct a home invasion, rested after winning in Chicago on Friday night, in town yesterday and casing the joint as the lowly T’Wolves were in Washington being abused, again. The home dog that lacks bite (and also lacks the offense of D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley) plays the second of back-to-backs, road to home.

Rating: 3 Unit

NBA Play of the Day

The Rockets’ latest misadventure was losing by 11 points to what was basically a self-coached Raptors team. When we heard that Toronto would be without six coaches plus Pascal Siakim vs. Houston on Fridayand doubled down on the ***BEST BET. People will cling to any piece of not-so-relevant news in order to take points, won’t they? But bad teams do not take advantage and are not good to latch onto. On Friday night, Memphis lacked defensive intensity in the second of back-to-backs vs. the Clippers. They’ve done that before in the same situation. This is not that situation. Consider that Houston is 1-9 ATS in their last 10 games overall and 1-9 ATS in their last 10 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.

Rating: 3 Unit

Summit League Play of the Day

North Dakota State will be attempting to even the series against South Dakota this weekend, and will have the benefit of not facing the Coyotes at their best. South Dakota star guard AJ Plitzuweit suffered a gruesome leg injury that likely ended his season. Plitzuweit has averaged 19.0 points per game while making 43.3% of three-point attempts. Without their leading scorer, the Coyotes will have a tough time fending off a North Dakota State team looking for payback on Sunday.

Rating: 2 Units

Beating real ranked Big Ten opponents on the road (not the fake ranked teams like Northwestern and Minnesota, who are ranked early and then lose everything!) has never been part of the Hawkeyes’ identity under Fran McCaffrey. As if anyone needs reminding. We’ll give them their recent win at Wisconsin (ranked #23 when they shouldn’t be!) but not here. Despite having the revenge angle for an 89-85 home loss on Feb. 4, we’ll let them prove they can handle the nationally #4-ranked team on the road when the Buckeyes are off two losses.

Rating: 2 Units

If Pitt head coach Jeff Capel has one or three guys capable of replacing the 28.6 points per game that left the program in the form of two starting guards last week, on the road where they hardly ever win, then he’s done a fine job of hiding them. The situation is almost way too obvious for us to be getting involved, especially since the home side often meets favorable situations it screws up. But considering that the two Panthers departees were 14+ ppg juniors as well as the two leading assist guys.

Rating: 2 Units

Villanova head coach Jay Wright has got his team back to basics after being routed at Creighton two weeks ago. Wright said that his team has re-focused their attention to the defensive end, and that has resulted in allowing 0.94 points per possession and 0.76 PPP to St. John’s in their last two outing. With an improved defense to go with an extremely efficient offense, the Wildcats could be geared for another March run. Complicating matters for Butler is that starting guards Aaron Thompson and Bo Hodges are once again game-time decisions for Sunday.

Rating: 2 Units

Second of back-to-backs on this floor for the host Thunder after they beat Atlanta last night. The Nuggets are rested and off a loss, but with a handful of guys out, their defensive abilities are on the wane. The Thunder have visited Denver twice already (0-2, 119-101 the first time, 97-95 the second). Double-revenge home dog shouldn’t be too taxed to give it a good go in their final home game before the league’s one-week break. They don’t play again until March 3-4 in Dallas-San Antonio. OKC sat Al Horford last night but he should play tonight. Leave it all on the floor.

Rating: 2 Units

The Pacers are 15-15. The Knicks are 16-17. An opportunity for the Knicks to hit .500, seems like a good time for them to fail. The next game after the Knicks scored 140 points seems like a good time for them to experience “what goes down” after “what went up.” Why the Pacers decided to take 50 of their 84 field goal attempts from three-point range the last time they played the Knicks (and lost 106-102) is a good question with no good answer. But perhaps, without menacing Mitchell Robinson on the floor for New York, Indiana will have the good sense to go inside much more. They also don’t have Victor Oladipo to shoot 3-for-16 like he did in that game.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

Earlier this season, KU suffered a home loss to Texas by the score of 84-59. Texas was ranked #8 then, is still in the Top 20. Baylor is ranked #2, with a points differential of +23.1, and beat the Jayhawks 77-69 in January after leading 41-28 at halftime. Wisely, the Bears didn’t pour it on in the second half, the better to lessen Jayhawk revenge emotions for this re-hook. Sweeping Kansas would put a nice cherry on top of Baylor’s seasonal sundae that sure is taking a long time in between spoon fulls.

Rating: 2 Units

If you’d told us in advance that Evansville would go out and score 81 points last night, we’d have figured it to have led to a winner for us, taking +5. However, it was not to be as Missouri State hit 69.4% of their shots (they’re at 48.4% for the season). Look, if that’s what it takes to beat us, then we probably should take some pride in that, and stick to our guns for the instant re-hook. Besides, Missouri State locked the MVC’s #3 tournament seed with the win.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

Duquesne was robbed of momentum earlier this month when their program had to go on pause. The Dukes now have two games under their belt and now will get to play in their renovated Cooper Fieldhouse for just the second time this season. In their first outing in their new gym, the Dukes impressed in a home victory over Rhode Island. Duquesne’s recent loss to La Salle has deflated their value and a buy-low situation now has appeared. Head coach Keith Dambrot said a good old fashioned butt kicking would be good for his team. The duo of Michael Hughes and Marcus Weathers inside can control the interior in this one for the Dukes.

Rating: 3 Unit Ohio Valley Play of the Day

JSU is off a season-best 54.2% from three-point range in a season sweep of Murray State. This happened on the same Thursday night during which Tennessee Tech pulled a shooting night out of their butts (56.4% overall, 50.0% from three-point range) to beat Austin Peay, who contributed to their own demise with a 5-for-20 (25.0%) outing on three-pointers. The traveling Governors have revenge against JSU, for a 76-70 loss in which their available bench was three players who totaled 3 points. They’ve gotten guys back since then. Consider that Jacksonville State is 5-14 ATS in their last 19 games as a home favorite

Rating: 4 Unit ACC Game of the Week

In their prior meeting, Va. Tech blocked 9 shots to Wake’s 0, shot 47.8% to Wake’s 36.7%... but won the game only 64-60! Despite that nonsense, we’ll side with the #16-ranked Hokies in their second game back from a pause. They returned from it in a hornet’s nest – all right, a Yellow Jackets’ nest -- at Georgia Tech, turning in their worst offensive game of the season against a good defensive foe. At the same time, Tech exploited their shaky interior defense with 26-and-10 game from Moses Wright, a 6’9” inside scorer the likes of whom Wake Forest does not feature.

Rating: 2 Units

Miami was dominated from the start in their last outing against Florida State as the Hurricanes are limping to the finish line. Miami is down to six scholarship players and will have to deal with another team that possesses depth and pressure defense. Clemson’s ability to defend for 90 feet will take a toll on a Miami team that simply has run out of bodies this season. Clemson has started recapture some of their play from early in the season and still have plenty to play for as they try to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. 

Rating: 2 Units

Boston College will be playing just their fourth game in the last five weeks, as the Eagles have been hit by two separate program pauses. In addition, the Eagles fired head coach Jim Christian and saw both guards Rich Kelly and Wynston Tabbs opt to transfer. The Eagles program is simply running out the string on the season at this point. Notre Dame has struggled with physicality at times this season as well as switching man-to-man defense. The Eagles do not pose that challenge as they’ve played a passive zone defense for most of the season.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

Texas Tech hasn’t been able to catch much of a break in the past week, as they had the challenge of playing at Kansas and at Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders lost both by narrow margins but now get to return home against a Texas team that is perhaps in for a letdown. The Longhorns had a different fortune against Kansas, narrowly escaping in overtime. Encouraging for Texas Tech as they have previously defeated Texas this season despite the Longhorns making 13-of-25 three-pointers. The Red Raiders limited Texas to 34.5% shooting from two-point range in that contest

Rating: 3 Units

After a win by the Lakers over the Wolves on Feb. 16, L.A. was 5-1 when playing without Anthony Davis. They basically were beating poor teams in that span. Since the win Feb. 16, L.A. has lost 4 in a row including a defeat by the 11 and 18 Wizards. The Lakers have failed to reach 100 points in 3 of the last 4 games. Portland comes to the Staples Center in a foul mood after dropping 3 straight games. That is their longest losing streak of the season. In Portland’s last loss, they were in the Mile High and were tied with 12 minutes to go but lost the last quarter and the game by 5. When Portland beat the Lakers early in the season, the Blazers high-flying Derrick Jones was only one for 9 from the floor. In Portland’s last loss, Jones was 7 for 9 from the floor with three blocks.

Rating: 2 Units

Golden State playing pretty well, coming off victories at New York and Indiana with a 6-3 SU record in the last 9 games. Warriors (or at least Draymond Green) will well-remember how their first encounter with Charlotte ended. A wild 102-100 Hornet win in the Spectrum Center, when Green lost it and was bounced with two technicals with 9.3 seconds remaining, as the Warriors blew their 5-point lead in the final 43 seconds of the match. Have to respect Charlotte on the road, where the Hornets have covered 7 of their last 10 but Golden State has the psychological edge, and remember Steph Curry was a late scratch in that game due to him just not feeling right after pregame drills. Golden State 6-3 as home chalk, and Curry (who scored 37 pts. in 37 minutes Tuesday vs. NY, knows his friends and family will be watching back in Charlotte, where he grew up when his dad Dell was playing for the Hornets.

Rating: 3 Units

Northern Iowa is 21-43-3 ATS in their last 67 games following a ATS loss, 19-39-4 ATS in their last 62 games following a straight up loss, and 7-19-1 ATS in their last 27 games overall. While Illinois State is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games following three or more consecutive road games.  In addition the underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

Rating: 2 Units

The busy-busy-busy Celtics dropped to 15-16 when beaten by Luka Doncic in  the final seconds Tuesday night. They flew to Atlanta after that to lose a Wednesday night battle of back-to-backers vs. Atlanta. They’re 15-17. If the 15-15 Pacers have a Doncic-type or Trae Young-type player, or somebody that could come out of nowhere to complement a guy like that such as Danilo Gallinari (an unlikely 38 points to Young’s 33 on Wednesday vs. Boston), then they’ve done a fine job hiding him as first-season head coach Nate Bjorken has the fans pining for Nate McMillan.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Rockets are supposed to go up during missions. These Rockets are going down, in flames. Nine losses in last 10 games, the latest to an opponent with the lowest power rating who makes the fewest three-pointers per game in the NBA. Cleveland had lost 10 straight games going into the match-up, but won it by 16 points. Houston has released DeMarcus Cousins (9.6 ppg, 7.6 reb, 2.4 assists, 20.2 minutes). They keep giving serious minutes to P.J. Tucker, who has produced nine games with 0 points. This is the NBA, fellas. If a non-productive player gets serious minutes, and you start nobody taller than 6’6,” and the only true big you bring off the bench is Justin (Who?) Patton, then you’ll lose a lot, by a lot.

Rating: 2 Units

Troy has double-revenge for 90-81 and 70-65 back-to-back road losses in late January. But they’re a losing team on a five-game losing streak, not taking many points against a winner. Their shooting percentages of 40.0% overall and 27.8% give you no confidence. Neither does the -4.0 Assist/Turnover Ratio.

Rating: 2 Units

Drake is 38-15-1 ATS in their last 54 games as a favorite, 27-11-1 ATS in their last 39 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record, and 57-27-2 ATS in their last 86 games overall. While Bradley is 2-11-3 ATS in their last 16 games following a straight up loss, 1-9-2 ATS in their last 12 games overall, and 0-6-2 ATS in their last 8 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record. In addition the favorite 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings.

Rating: 3 Unit Missouri Valley Conference Play of the Day

The road favorite has won six straight. The home dog has lost six straight. Evansville’s six straight losses were against the first, second and fourth place teams in the Missouri Valley, five of them on the road. Missouri State is in third place. But their six straight wins were against 5-11 Southern Illinois w/o Domask, 5-11 Bradley who played without four guys, and 4-12 Illinois State.

Rating: 3 Unit C-USA Play of the Day

Defense travels, they say. UAB is giving up only 59.5 ppg. They got a game in against Rust on Monday, 2/22, not necessarily to knock off the rust because they’ve been playing steadily since Jan. 8. But they’d lost their final “real” home game to Old Dominion two days earlier, so it was a good way to leave Birmingham for the season. Now, they play four straight on the road to close out their regular-season C-USA slate. A defense this good ought to figure out a way to contain 21+ ppg Jhivan Jackson and force UTSA to adjust in the next game. Consider that Texas San Antonio is 7-18-1 ATS in their last 26 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record and 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games as an underdog

Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

Penn State’s lack of interior defense is a major issue when facing an improving Purdue offense. The Boilermakers now rank 4th-best in the Big 10 in two-point percentage during conference play. They can use 6’10 big man Trevion Williams as an asset when facing a Penn State defense that ranks last in two-point percentage allowed in the Big 10. In the first meeting against Penn State this season, Purdue converted 63.3% of two-point attempts in a 80-72 victory. Purdue has been off since Saturday to prep for this spot, while Penn State had to play games on both Sunday and Tuesday

Rating: 2 Units

WSU just closed out five straight home games (3-2) with a triple-OT win on Senior Day against the Stanford Mediocre. Leading scorer Isaac Bonton did not play, again. Neither did another ‘floor general,’ Ryan Rapp. Assuming either or both is out again, we say, about travelin’ WSU, ‘No way, Jose.’

Rating: 2 Units

New Orleans beat this club last month but they got a couple of breaks which helped in the victory. The Bucks could not throw it in the ocean in that first quarter scoring just 21. The Pelicans were also a bit lucky that the Bucks Khris Middleton had a poor shooting night. Khris was one for 6 from downtown in that loss but is popping at 43% from deep this season. The Bucks have righted their ship. They kicked off this month winning 5 in a row and then they lost 5 straight. They are seeking their 4th consecutive win here and when they beat Minnesota on Tuesday, they did it the right way with 33 assists. Look for Milwaukee to come out ready to play from the opening tip.

Rating: 2 Units

It’s been a long road back for Eastern Illinois this year in regards to their health. The Panthers now do have their full core group back and they’ve been showing that they’re clearly a different team than “6-17 ATS” when healthy. Eastern Illinois went on the road and defeated both Murray State and Austin Peay last weekend. Josiah Wallace, Mack Smith and Jordan Skipper-Brown all started together for the first time in weeks for the Panthers. Smith’s shooting ability was especially helpful, making 8 of 9 three-point attempts over the course of two games.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

The Grizzlies own the NBA’s Sophomore Jinx of the Year, Ja Morant. Everybody was waiting for him to return after being injured very early in the season and in hindsight, given the well-known existence of the “jinx,” and NBA coaches’ adjustments on players such as Morant, the anticipation seems to have been quite foolish. The team’s strongest identity is the creation of havoc on defense. That’s nice, but shooting the basketball straight is also important, and when harassing defense nevertheless allows 144 points to New Orleans, and the team can score only 92 points when it gives up only 102 vs. Dallas, and the only opponents it’s been able to beat in the last 12 games have been Charlotte, OKC and Detroit

Rating: 3 Unit NCAAB Mismatch of the Day

The #10 Seed has an offensive Effective Field Goal percentage of 58.2%, fourth highest in the nation behind Gonzaga, Baylor and Belmont. (The first two are the undefeated, #1, #2 ranked teams in the nation, and Belmont is unbeaten atop the Ohio Valley conference.) So, what the heck is Fort Wayne doing as a lowly #10 seed in a First Round Horizon League game? Probably biding their time, tinkering here and there, learning about the opposition they’ve been facing for the first time in their first season in this league, and working themselves up for this double-revenge outing with a seven-season coaching staff vs. Green Bay’s first-season bunch.

Rating: 2 Units

While Michigan’s play this season has been impressive, it should be noted the Wolverines have yet to play either Iowa or Illinois, perhaps the two other most talented teams in the Big 10. Michigan will also be tasked with trying to respond after a huge road victory at rival, Ohio State. With C.J. Frederick back in the lineup, Iowa should again display their early season form, and have won the last four games, covering the spread in three of those outings. Michigan freshman big man Hunter Dickinson is likely to finally meet his match in All American Luka Garza of Iowa.

Rating: 3 Unit Horizon League Hammer

Detroit had little issue with disposing of Robert Morris last weekend and now meet them to start the Horizon League Tournament on their home floor. Detroit built leads as big as 23 and 19 points in the two meetings last week, producing 1.15 and 1.31 points per possession in their two wins. The Titans attack was led by Antoine Davis totaling 54 points. Detroit has gone on a tear to end the season, going 9-1 against the spread over their last 10 games.

Rating: 3 Units

If Miami-OH could beat Central Mich by 42 points (they sure ‘nuff did, on Tuesday), then imagine the margin Buffalo could make if they cared to, given that the Bulls have the #1 scoring offense and #2 scoring defense in the MAC. They should care, considering they need the game to move up into the conference’s top four. CMU is not playing with a full deck.

Rating: 2 Units

EMU is 1-9 in the MAC and has three home games after this final regular-season road date. They’ve lost six straight, the littlest margin by -11 points to a Central Michigan team that most recently got drilled by 42 points at home by a .500 foe. Ohio (12-6) has won five straight and nailed 52% of their three-pointers coming off a two-and-a-half week break on Tuesday.

Rating: 2 Units

Vanderbilt, a two possession underdog, continues to improve and fly a bit under the radar. The Commodores are now 5-0-2 against the spread in their last seven outings, as Jerry Stackhouse continues to put his offense in good spots to succeed. Stackhouse has a star point guard in control of the operation with Scotty Pippen Jr., and will likely hold an edge against an inconsistent Vols backcourt.

Rating: 3 Unit ACC Mismatch of the Day

Miami head coach Jim Larranaga called the Hurricanes situation currently as a ‘miserable’ one, as they’re down to six available scholarship players. Starting guard Harold Beverly has been ruled out indefinitely, joining a long list of sidelined ‘Canes. Miami’s lack of depth poses a serious issue against a Florida State team that can come at them in waves. That proved to be the case in the first meeting on January 27th, as Florida State rolled to a 81-59 victory. Florida State dominated the interior, making 59.1% of two-points compared to 35.5% for Miami.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Mismatch of the Day

The Spurs will be without DeMar DeRozan for this game because of a death in the family. LaMarcus Aldridge has not played since Feb. 1 with a hip issue but he did practice on Monday. Even if he does play, the rust could be evident. LaMarcus missed a few consecutive games last month and in the game he returned in, he only scored 14 points. Rudy Gay, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Derrick White did not travel for this game because of health and safety concerns. OKC lost Monday but they were playing in the second of a back-to-back game after winning in Ohio. The Thunder have some quality wins on their record against teams like Milwaukee, Phoenix and Brooklyn. When considering schedule strength based on opponents’ records, days of rest, and home and away OKC has had the second toughest schedule in the league according to ESPN.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

The Pacers are extra-rested after not playing since Feb. 17. By contrast, the Warriors come out to play for a second of back-to-backs on the road. At Golden State on Jan. 12, the Pacers had enough in the tank in a second of back-to-backs to beat rested Warriors 104-95, using a box-and-one defense against Steph Curry most of the game. (Curry had 20 points, 3 assists; he averages 29.9 and 6.2.) Not sure if the Warriors can adjust if the Pacers do it again. T.J. McConnell didn’t play in that first meeting so the Pacers have an extra, fresh guy to be the “1” chasing outside the box. Consider that Golden State is 5-17-1 ATS in their last 23 games playing on 0 days rest.

Rating: 3 Unit ACC Play of the Day

Off two road losses at Florida State and Duke, Virginia is eligible to come home and smoke the Wolfpack, who is eligible to be fat and happy off road wins at Pitt and Wake Forest as they enter this third straight away from Raleigh. Meeting in-game adversity head-on is not part of what NC State hoops is all about (at least not anymore). When you play Virginia, in-game adversity often strikes in the form of long scoring droughts and the resulting frustration that mounts. Consider that Virginia is 8-1-1 ATS in their last 10 games following a ATS loss while NC State is 3-8-2 ATS in their last 13 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.

Rating: 2 Units

Who is sitting on the New Mexico bench as a “special assistant,” who sat on Air Force’s bench for eight seasons before this? Oh, none other than Dave Pilipovich, the former eight-season Air Force head coach who was fired after last season. He walked off happy following the Lobos’ 73-65 win here on Monday night and it’s not like Air Force – losers of 10 straight -- has the personnel to play much differently than he knows, or will have become taller and faster in the 48 hours since.

Rating: 2 Units

Davidson will get another chance against St. Bonaventure after suffering a defeat on the road against the Bonnies on Sunday. Davidson should be encouraged, as the Bonnies needed to make 9 of 11 second half three-pointers to finally separate distance. Davidson was playing in their first Division I game since January 24th and should be much better in their second game back. Davidson has owned this series in recent history, having covered the spread in seven of the prior nine games.

Rating: 2 Units

Clippers are rested following Sunday’s certain loss vs. the Nets They catch the Wizards as Washington plays a second of back-to-backs after Monday’s overtime win at the floundering, semi-depleted Lakers, an effort that included coming back from a 17-point early third-quarter deficit. It’s not who you play, it’s when you play them. Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook each played 44 minutes last night to get their 32 and 33 points. Westbrook attempted all of one (1) three-pointer because even he knows he’s a lousy jump-shooter.

Rating: 2 Units

Missouri is clearly a different team with big man Jeremiah Tilmon in the lineup. The Tigers failed to cover both games without Tilmon last week, but then responded with covering convincingly against South Carolina on Saturday. The Tigers are now 11-7 against the spread with Tilmon in the lineup this season. The Tigers also have a bit of revenge on their mind in this spot, having lost by 21 points on the road to Ole Miss earlier this season. Playing at home, the Tigers should be able to push the ball more effectively, as they played to just 62 possessions in the first meeting against the Rebels.

Rating: 2 Units

Wildcats have revenge for 70-59 loss in New York. Who wants to lay a 12-point run with this version of their defense, which hasn’t been up to Jay Wright program standards? Not us. Winning teams that average 80+ ppg (okay, only 78.3 in Big East play, but 1 more than Villanova!) and take this many possessions worth of points don’t come around very often. When the Great College Basketball Card Shuffler deals one of them, playing that card doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Mismatch

Sunday night sweep of the West Coast when their largest lay was -4.5 while they went 5-0? Tuesday home game 3,000 miles away from their last victory spot, L.A., laying -7.5 against one of the teams they beat on the trip? Well, now. While covering this spread is certainly within the Brooklyn Ball Hogs’ scope, they are coming off a “mission accomplished” trip. Compared to what they just did out West, this match-up is a nuisance on the work slate. The Kings, on a 0-7 SU, 0-7 ATS skid, nevertheless are pros who want to snap that losing streak. Off two games in Chicago and Milwaukee, they’ve eased into the time zone change while the Nets are suddenly jarred back into it. Consider that Sacramento is 23-9 ATS in their last 32 games as a road underdog

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

This is a re-match of the Sunday game and again, the Pistons will be without Delon Wright, who is averaging 10 points, 5 boards and 5 assists a night. On Sunday, Orlando won the battle of the boards, held Detroit to 28% from beyond the arc and the Magic were just more aggressive getting to the free-throw line 29 times to 21 for the Pistons. Orlando also should now have an improved rotation as the returning Al-Farouq Aminu started and got some rust off.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic-10 Play of the Day

Virginia Commonwealth was dealt the unfortunate news that star guard Bones Hyland will not be able to suit up on Tuesday. Hyland is averaging 19.2 points per game, and there is no way to replace his individual talent on the offensive side of the floor. The Rams will also be welcoming in a ticked off Billikens team, coming off of a terrible effort at Dayton. Helpful for Saint Louis is their ability to protect the ball against VCU’s pressure, as they rank 63rd-best nationally in turnover rate.

Rating: 2 Units

CMU, 6-12 overall, 2-9 in the MAC, is coming off a break following self-inflicted virus protocols. Senior guard Devontae Lane, “Such a big part of what we do,” was on the bench with crutches during their most recent game, a loss to Western Mich on Feb. 6. The visiting Redhawks went through a tough, four-game losing grind vs. Kent State, Buffalo, Akron, Toledo but dropped down in class to win at CMU’s fellow bottom-dweller Northern Illinois to hit .500 again at 9-9.

Rating: 2 Units

OKC coming off a win in Cleveland last night, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander netting 31 pts. and 9 assists, as C Al Horford rebounded from his terrible night on Friday to score 16 pts, with 8 rebs, and a couple of steals to help the Thunder to a 117-101 victory. Miami also off a victory, an emotional, hard-fought win at Staples Center against the Lakers on Saturday, with Kendrick Nunn scoring 27 pts. on 10 of 14 shooting, and Bam Adebayo had another productive night (16-10-6 with 2 steals), and Jimmy Butler (24 pts., 8 rebs. 5 dimes, 2 steals) was once again the straw that stirs the drink. One setback for Spoelstra’s Heat is that G Tyler Herro was KO’d for the 2nd half of that game with a hip problem and is iffy pending Monday’s shootaround. Considering OKC has covered just 3 of last 12 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, have to lean to Jimmy-B’s Heat.

Rating: 2 Units

Oregon is at full strength for one of the few times this season, as junior wing Eric Williams was healthy and logged 25 minutes against Utah on Saturday. With Williams back in the fold along with starting point guard Will Richardson, the Ducks are primed for a late season run. Oregon’s ability to make opposing offenses beat them from the outside will be key against USC’s frontcourt. Oregon’s defense rarely allows two-point field goals, ranking 108th-best in two-point distribution.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

There could be some rust on the Dallas squad as this is their first game since losing to Portland 8 nights ago. The Mavericks have been on the selfish side as they are 25th in assists this season while Memphis leads the league in that category. Memphis has leveled off a bit since losing only three games in January. The Grizzlies figure to show some resiliency after being crushed Saturday by Phoenix. Memphis had a couple of guys out and they rested a couple of key players. They have shown they can respond after a bad beat this season. They lost to Toronto by 15 earlier this month and then beat Charlotte in the next game. They also were beaten by 31 by New Orleans 6 nights ago and won 24 hours later over OKC.