Rating: 3 Units

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

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

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

Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

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

Rating: 3 Unit CAA Play of the Day

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

NBA Play of the Day

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

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

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

NBA Play of the Day

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

CBB Mismatch of the Day

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

CBB Play of the Day

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Rating: 2 Units

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

Big East Play of the Day

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

Rating: 2 Units

Apparently, Kyrie Irving likes losing. “It’s not going to be put together overnight, nor am I expecting it to, nor am I going to get frustrated over six games… So I’m just gonna enjoy this.” Four losses in last five for the Nets. Enjoy! This is #2 of seven-game road trip for Utah, the first having been a 21-point win on the way here at San Antonio. So get ‘em now before they expire from exposure to the elements. Five different guys have led them in scoring in their seven games. Kevin Durant’s absence tonight could help the Jazz, but we were liking them before it was announced that this gold-bricker would be taking some time off

Rating: 2 Units

Kevin Keatts has readjusted the Wolfpack to take advantage of its big frontline and look into the paint on most of its halfcourt sets, and got good news when 6-10 F.J. Funderburk returned from a recent absence to score 21 in last Wednesday’s win over Boston College. With 6-5 sr. wing Devon Daniels (16.3 ppg) now handily assuming more of the scoring burden following the departures of last year’s stalwart backcourt tandem of C.J. Bryce and Markell Johnson, Keatts has other attack-end options. This one stays real close at Littlejohn and an outright Wolfpack success would be no surprise.

Rating: 2 Units

Nobody has stepped into the Northern Illinois void left by the program’s all-time leading scorer, departed Eugene German. He scored 20.8 ppg last season when nobody else averaged more than 8.5. The Huskies’ low-lights so far this season include 57.1 ppg, 9.1 to 15.5 Assist/Turnover, 21.2% on three-pointers. Ohio surrounds 6’8”, 250 senior Dwight Wilson (15.3 ppg, 8.4 reb) with a lot of guys who aren’t shy about shootin’ it, and Wilson isn’t the leading scorer. 6’4” guard Jason Preston, with his 48.3% three-point shooting, is

Rating: 2 Units

Toledo comes in hot – five straight wins, four straight covers – and has double-revenge in this 2 pm, ET matinee. But Kent State regained the services of 6’7”, 230 senior forward Tervel Beck in their most recent game on Jan. 1, a 66-62 road loss at Akron. They’re toughened up to protect home floor following the rivalry road loss

Rating: 2 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Raptors: ‘You beat us in a seven-game playoff series last season. We want revenge!’ Celtics: ‘You’re not as good as you were then. We have several guys who can take over a game, like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Your home floor is in Florida, but your fan base is in Canada. You have no real support here. You’re scoring 11.5 fewer points per game than last season and we’re not about to allow you to suddenly get better offensively

Rating: 2 Units

Steve Kerr getting a taste of what it’s like when trying to navigate the Western Conference with only one available all-star instead of the 4-5 he had at his fingertips during the heyday in the Bay Area, just 3 years ago. It also made a difference having one of, if not the, best perimeter defenders around in Klay Thompson, but he’s out again with a 2nd season-ending injury. Not unrelated is the fact that the Warriors are giving up 47% FGs this year, after foes burned them at a 47.6% rate a year ago. Golden State sits at 29th in defensive efficiency, and Portland has a very productive backcourt featuring Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum (combining for 53.2 points per game). Steph Curry is going to have his hands full

Rating: 2 Units

Utah, which has alternated wins and losses to start the season, is due for an L after beating the Clippers 106-100 on New Year’s Day behind a whopping 33 points by Jazz G Mike Conley, who became the 5th scoring leader in 5 games for Utah. Things getting a bit tense in San Antonio, after being stuck on 103 pts. for the last 2:34 of the game and watching the Lakers swoop by to snatch a win and send the Spurs down to a 3rd straight loss. The Spurs are 17-2 SU at the AT&T Center against the Jazz, so expect “Pop” to circle the wagons around the Alamo. Our eyebrows were raised when we saw the openers of Utah -4...perhaps a tad too aggressive.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Ja Morant could have been a pesky penetrator against the Lakers’ interior D but he’s out 3-5 weeks for the host Grizzlies. Jaren Jackson and Justice Winslow have yet to play and Grayson Allen (day-to-day) was hurt earlier in the week. (Really, you wouldn’t mind Allen being back out there to miss jumpers.) Actually, seven guys were out when Memphis managed to beat Charlotte the other night. But Memphis won only the last of four games vs. the Lakers last season, when the Lakers got a season-low 88 points on this floor with Lebron playing with a sore groin – just one of those nights.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

Wake played down in class on Nov. 25 and 27 vs. Delaware State and Longwood. Then, they paused for a while. They came back on Thursday to beat Division 2 Catawba, 70-62, without Ian Dubose (senior grad transfer guard) and Tariq Ingraham (6’9”, 255 freshman), each of whom led the team in scoring the first two games. Both will miss the rest of the season. “We had to find a game, at least one. It would have been nice to play four or five of those,” said first-season head coach Steve Forbes. How many times in the history of college basketball has a team played a couple games around Thanksgiving then not being to play or practice again until New Year’s Eve? That’s difficult. I don’t know the right answer for that one, but I know for us it’s been a tough and difficult path… We’re so far behind, it’s scary.”

Rating: 2 Units

Offensive production is off a bit this season for David Cox’s Rams, especially top scorer G Fatts Russell, one of the most-potent A-10 weapons a year ago down from 18.8 points per game to 13.8 points per game, and Rhode Island ranks well up the track (302 out of 329) in the telling assist- per-game category (only 10.4). The Rams should win, probably comfortably, but more intrigued by this 150s “total” that seems too high, especially considering these matchups landed on 132 and 128, respectively, a year ago

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

A match-up so nice, they’ll give it to us twice! UCSB didn’t even play with its real rotation last night, managed to win by 18 points. Head coach Joe Pasternack will probably take this second of back-to-backs more seriously, to  complete a sweep and reverse what happened to them last weekend at Irvine.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Rested home favorite 76ers, allowing only 99.8 points per game after five, vs. road dog Hornets, who travel for second of back-to-backs after managing to lose outright to Memphis as home chalk when Memphis didn’t have Ja Morant, Justice Winslow, Jaren Jackson, DeAnthony Melton or Grayson Allen. Okay, so a Grayson Allen absence was probably a good thing for the other side but you get the idea, the idea. “We can’t find a rhythm offensively. We can’t get good looks or we’re turning it over… There’s not a lot of practice time here. So, we’re just going to have to do it through game reps.” So says head coach James Borrego. C Cody Zeller hasn’t suited up yet (24 points in last season’s only meeting), so Joel Embiid won’t break a sweat against Bismack Biyombo.

Rating: 2 Units

In 2016, for reasons that made less sense than hiring Tom Pecora before him, Fordham gave head coach Jeff Neubauer a contract extension through 2020-21. Therefore, this season will more than likely be a death march through the A-10. They’ve played one game, losing by 24 points to a George Washington team they beat three times last season. Fordham normally begins a season playing down-down-down in class in games they win. This season, they start at their own level – which is a bad way to describe it because it’s a level at which they don’t belong

Rating: 2 Units

If Thursday night’s match-up between these two had been a fight, it would have been stopped at the end of the 22-6 run by Utah State early in the second half to take a 70-36 lead. But Air Force shot the ball okay, 47.2%. The 26 turnovers (vs. Utah State’s 9) hurt some, ya’ think? One of their senior forwards turned it over 7 times. Get him off the floor, Joe Scott! “They got 45 points off those 26 turnovers. That’s a great place to start right there,” Scott said afterwards. With a day between games, Scott has an opportunity to watch tape with the players and prepare for better execution.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

Not sure how sustainable Illinois’ 42.6% three-point shooting is. But this should be a good day to be Kofi Cockburn, with Purdue opponents hitting 71.7% of their shots at the rim. Purdue is 0-2 ATS on the Big Ten road so far and lost both meetings vs. Illinois last season, by 26 and 17 points. “Purdue basketball still looking to build defensive foundation,” said a local headline yesterday. Look to Salt Lake City, where Haarms transferred.

Rating: 2 Units

Mercer has double-revenge, but after promising beginnings vs. non-conference strangers, they’ve had some postponements and cancellations, and a performance decline with exposure that continued in Tuesday night’s 13-point home loss vs. Wofford that tipped off SoCon season. Furman’s season has been uninterrupted and the Paladins tested themselves with narrow, power-conference losses at Cincinnati and Alabama before winning at Chattanooga on Wednesday night to begin SoCon season

Rating: 2 Units

Down 56-37 at the half at Samford earlier this week, VMI held it together and “won” the second half in defeat. They come home off three straight road losses to play with double-revenge against the Mocs, whose 9-0 season got its first loss as soon as they faced a SoCon opponent Wednesday night. Not easy to lose when you sink 13 of 26 treys and the other side makes only 4 of them, but that’s what they did

Rating: 3 Unit SEC Play of the Day

Tell me can you, off a 20-point home loss vs. undefeated Tennessee, win a road game against a 9-0 Arkansas team that just scored 97 points on the road at Auburn? Tell me, Cuonzo, Cuonzo, Cuonzo!’ He didn’t seem too concerned about the Tennessee game, giving all the credit to the highly ranked Vols, who are probably the best defensive squad in the nation. Telling talk, perhaps, from Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman after the 97-85 win vs. Auburn, a team still being molded by Bruce Pearl (compared to a pretty set Missouri squad): “To be honest with you, this game tonight, knowing that we had two ranked teams in the top 15 in our next two games, since I’ve been at Arkansas, for a regular season game, this was by far the most important game that I have been a part of with this team.”

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Well, the expected-to-be-bad Warriors are 2-2 after four straight road games to start the season. However, they beat the Bulls and Pistons. Chicago had just gotten some guys back in only their third game for a new coach, and the Pistons – a bad team -- shot 15-for-50 from the field in the first half (30%) but nevertheless led Golden State at that juncture. They’re not returning home to a raucous, welcoming arena. They might hear more noise coming from Damian Lillard, who shot 0-for-8 on three-pointers, 3-for-14 overall, in Portland’s loss at the Clippers the other night. Alleged superstars often bounce back big from nights like that.

Rating: 2 Units

A two-day break since getting back from a week out West works well enough for the T’Wolves as the Wizards must fly out for the second of back-to-backs. The home side’s leading scorer, Karl-Anthony Towns, has a dislocated wrist and will reportedly miss this game, and a few more. But one thing we’ve learned while doin’ this: losing one high-scoring, leading rebounding big allows the rest of the team to float freely over the floor in celebration. Returning home off two losses, with an absence like that to bond over, is a fine situation. Not that Minnesota can’t screw it up, but…

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

Off losses on back-to-back nights at Cal-Irvine, the Barbarians – who’ve beaten Loyola Marymount by 11 points and Pepperdine by 12, on the road -- return home ready to take it to whomever they’ve had all week to prepare against. It happens to be the Fullertons, who have a grand total of one game under their belt so far, played against San Diego Christian of D-2 on Dec. 13, in which ten players got 11-24 minutes of court time. You know how to proceed.

Rating: 2 Units

The 6-3 Peacocks wake up in Buffalo, NY on New Year’s Day (Happy, Happy, Everyone!) for the first of back-to-backs vs. the locals, who they beat by 1 point on this floor last season (the other game was a 4-point home loss). Saint Peter’s is 11-1 SU, last 12 MAAC games. Canisius is shooting 38.7% from the field (a woeful number, in case you weren’t aware) and is off back-to-back 16- and 28-point losses at Monmouth. Who do ya’ like

PAC-12 Play of the Day

The Trojans four games postponed or canceled, hadn’t played since Dec. 8 before beating Santa Clara 86-63 Tuesday night. The tall Mobley brothers are combining to average 27.5 ppg, 17.6 rebounds, 4 blocks per game. The team has the best field goal percentage among Pac 12 squads (49.2%). Tad Boyle doesn’t coach his Buffs to experience lop-sided halves against themselves on the road, but he has yet to prove that he can coach them to avoid having lots of them. Let’s have another, bud.

Rating: 2 Units

Pre-season NBA results: Utah, 119-105 and 111-92 over Phoenix. “They handled us in many areas of the game,” Suns head coach Monty Williams said. “That’s the focus right now. How do we go up there and keep them out of our paint, do much better in transition, keep those guys off the glass?” Ricky Rubio knew how, but he doesn’t play for Phoenix anymore. He did when the Suns beat the Jazz by 20 points here the last time the teams played for real. “I know their game and I played with them for a long time,” Rubio said afterwards, talking about how he often knew where the Jazz wanted to go with their motion and their passes and stepped into the passing lanes. Is Chris Paul that cerebral? Don’t think so

NBA Play of the Day

John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins returned to practice yesterday after their seven-day absences and will make their Houston debuts. Cousins: “Sitting at home for seven days straight, then jumping back into a full-speed practice or game… there’s not a lot of positive things on that side. Maneuver through the BS, and make the best of what you can.” Alrighty, then. We know the Kings can beat Denver. And Phoenix. We also know that they won 119-118 in this building last season, playing only eight guys, none of them named Fox or Bagley

Rating: 2 Units

We did not buy Wisconsin’s high ranking against what had been an underperforming Maryland team earlier this week and we’ll stay on that track for this match-up against the Gophers, with Marcus Carr a tough guard and Liam Robbins a nuisance guarding the rim

Rating: 2 Units

The Spurs are shifting from veteran-laden rotations to a more balanced attack with younger talent. Doing it against the defensive length of the Lakers might set ‘em back a bit but they’ll have tomorrow night to adust. The Lakers are off a home loss in the second of back-to-backs against what was a rested Portland team, for which head coach Frank Vogel said that they appeared to be stuck in mud.

Rating: 2 Units

Revenge! WCU doesn’t care who’s in the uniforms for ETSU. They only care about having lost to them three times last season, twice the season before, twice the season before that, twice the season before that, twice the season before that. But now they’ve got five double-digit scorers, having added one of them in the most recent game – 6’7” junior transfer Cory Hightower. ETSU’s Assist/Turnover rate of 12.5 to 16.4 is a far cry from last season’s 14.0 to 12.1.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

UMass has beaten A-10 foe Lasalle by 19 points. George Mason is off a class-drop loss at home vs. Norfolk State, and had beaten Towson – who hadn’t played in a month – by only 5 points before that. Five double-digit scorers – four of them around 6’9”, 245 Tre Mitchell (21.5 ppg) is probably too much for GMU to guard and then match on the other end.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day

Temple has played two games. You’ll remember that we had Houston as a BEST BET against them in the second, laying a lot and winning by more (76-50). The Temple program seems like it’s been on the way down and still has a ways to go. As we noted Dec. 22, they haven’t had consistently accurate shooters for several seasons. One 50-point game at Houston doesn’t mean they can’t bounce back with many more in the next, but the capabilities haven’t shown, they haven’t played since, the Houston game was their seventh straight AAC defeat, SMU is 5-0 and allowing only 63 ppg

Rating: 2 Units

The Kings have beaten the Nuggets in Denver already, as we figured they would. They didn’t lose to them by much last season (7- and 5-point losses, plus a win). Denver beat the Rockets for us at home last night – for which they don’t get a gold star -- and now they make the trek to Sacramento for the second of back-to-backs. They didn’t have to do any of those, with travel, in the Bubble

Rating: 2 Units

7-0, #5-ranked Houston lays 8+ to an opponent they beat by 23 points at home in February as they come off a 9-point win at UCF. Margins of those sizes are difficult to sustain in conference play. Tulsa lost a home game to Wichita State earlier this month, but has since won at Memphis. “We learned a lot from that [Wichita State] game because I don’t think we were quite right in the first half, coming from the break,” head coach Haith said. “We got better in the second half, but we needed practice time.” Alrighty, then. They stay true to their defensive system, which is a good trait to have against a Houston bunch that keys on offensive rebounding

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

John Petty and James Rojas return for Alabama after being suspended for their win vs. ETSU a week ago. The Tide hasn’t looked as sharp as they did last season but they beat Ole Miss 103-78 on the road and it’s not like Ole Miss, en route to being 5-1, has beaten anybody that gives you the shivers. The number is just too short to pass up.

Rating: 2 Units

When they played here on Sunday, both teams shot better than 50% overall in the Pacers’ 109-108 win that obviously could have gone either way. But Jeff Teague was 0-for-6 on three-pointers for Boston, doing his new team a real favor (we kid!). Kemba Walker, come back soon! Yes, the need him! Teague took a 0 in 21 minutes vs. Brooklyn, had only 9 – all on free throws – on Sunday.

Rating: 2 Units

At Portland, the currently depleted Rockets scored 68 points in the first half, then 45 in the second half. They don’t know how to pace themselves. They just go out and run around quickly and shoot the ball, still. In the thin air of Denver, with only nine available, and four of them named Christian Wood, Brodric Thomas, Sterling Brown and Bruno Caboclo, they’ll be sucking wind by mid-third quarter against the angry, desperate, 0-2 home team

Rating: 2 Units

The Terps are getting their sea legs under them. They’re a tough athletic match for the Badgers in man-to-man. They turned it over only 5 times losing 73-70 at Purdue and should battle all the way attempting to avoid an 0-3 start in the Big Ten. They lost by only two points, 56-54, on this floor last season

Rating: 2 Units

Rested, classy road chalk vs. low-level home dog playing second of back-to-back nights after tussling with the 76ers yesterday. Initial thoughts are that they can’t make this line high enough. Already, Knicks’ rookie Obi Toppin had to miss the team’s second game of the season last night with an injury. Hey, maybe they’re load managing him! After all, he’s all of 22 years old and shouldn’t be playing back-to-backs! LOL! R.J. Barrett shot 2-for-15 last night for New York. Kevin Knox scored 7 points in 29 minutes. This is what they get from their first-round draft picks. The Knicks are so delusional that Barrett thinks having no fans in the stands is an edge for New York in home games

Rating: 2 Units

Evansville’s two true road games were a 35-point loss at Louisville and an overtime loss at a Tennessee-Martin team in disarray. They struggle to score, don’t rebound strongly. They lost by 17 points on this floor last season, when they went 0-18 in Missouri Valley play

Rating: 2 Units

Two nice wins for the Clippers in their first two games with Tyronn Lue coaching instead of Doc Rivers. Two ugly defeats for Dallas, without Porzingis on the floor. Sounds like addition by subtraction for L.A., and subtraction by subtraction for Dallas. Keep the trend going before the oddsmakers catch up and ruin it. The Lakers outscored the Mavericks in second-chance points 35-0 the other night.

Rating: 2 Units

Drake concluded non-conference play 9-0 and although Liam Robbins, who deserted them, is helping Minnesota (and us, Friday!), they haven’t missed him. Yet. Perhaps in their first Missouri Valley game, an opponent like Indiana State will know how to exploit them? Interesting, eh? This is hardly a reach. Drake beat Indiana State by 4 points home last season, lost 58-56 on this floor

Rating: 2 Units

The Raptors, along with the Warriors, were the only NBA teams to score fewer than 100 points in their first game. Warriors followed up with a second sub-100 game. Do you see some irony in that relationship, given that those two franchises played for the NBA Championship in 2018-19? For Golden State, it was expected. For Toronto, was it: Fluke, or Foreshadow? Could be Foreshadow, given the players they’ve allowed to leave via free agency over the course of the last two seasons, and considering that Wednesday night’s opponent, New Orleans, was one of the NBA’s worst defensive teams last season. Spurs

Rating: 2 Units

Let the Knicks show you some reasons why you should be on them. They specialize in losing. Until they change that, why bother? Obi Toppen, 3-for-12, all 3 of the makes on treys. What happened to attacking the basket? Oh, they have former #1 pick Kevin Knox (4 points) for that! Sixers struggled against Westbrook, as usual – no big deal -- but won the game. No big deal. Sixers seek to forge a new road identity. They were terrible away from home last season. No fans here is a good place to start

Rating: 2 Units

Green Bay had two cracks at Milwaukee at home, went 0-2 to fall to 0-6 in the first season of young Ryan as head coach. They shot 38.9% and 39.1% from the field in those losses. Hey, at least they’re consistent! But shooting in that range ain’t gonna get it done against a Wright State side shooting 51% from the field overall after five games, unless the Raiders have a bad shooting day in their own gym

Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

The Hoosiers have failed two serious tests already. Losing by 22 to Texas, falling behind badly at home vs. Northwestern. Illinois is the best foe they’ll have faced in nine games, and the reverse is not true for Illinois, who has played four of their last five games away from home vs. Duke, Missouri, Minnesota, Rutgers and Penn State.

Rating: 2 Units

Takin’ an anti-Denver stance here early on. Their big playoff run in the bubble was nice but creates expectations that they’re super-duper. They won’t be changing much about what they do. First and only chance to be on the Clippers in first game without Doc Rivers was a resounding win against the Lakers with a big game from the “star,” Paul George, who was most vocal about Rivers being the problem. Here’s a second chance! Under Rivers, the Clippers had the Nuggets down 3-1 in the playoffs, then lost three straight. No Rivers, and revenge

Rating: 2 Units

Little Pitino no doubt swayed the transfer of Liam Robbins from Drake with Iowa’s Luke Garza in mind – somebody a little taller than Garza to help keep him in check inside and perhaps make him spend more time on the perimeter taking lower-percentage shots and rebounding less. The Gophers shot just 35.6% from the field when they lost just 58-55 to Iowa on this floor last season so they know they can do a defensive job on an offensive-minded visitor. The Total of 162.5 seems too high, doesn’t it? We shall see

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

What happens to Northwestern one game after they destroyed Michigan State in the Big Ten opener? How about a crash at Indiana? Izzo is infamous for failing to prepare Michigan State early in conference season, which then gives him an opportunity to remind his players that they are terrible and need to listen to him in order to improve. It’s all part of the master plan of peaking later on, because he is Mr. March, not Mr. December. Northwestern is mostly a five-out offense, the type that in the Big Ten, would figure to be the most volatile night in and night out, meaning much variance in performance.

Rating: 2 Units

This visitor lost by 29 points at Minnesota, getting dominated by the Gophers’ 7’0” Liam Robbins. The home favorite lost by 8 points at Minnesota, playing well but running into a sixth man on the floor – Big Ten referees who sent Minnesota to the free-throw line 41 times to 17 for the Billikens. Three Saint Louis starters got fouled out. Saint Louis was also done in by 32 points (14 on free throws) by Gophers’ goto guy Marcus Carr, and 9 blocked shots – 4 by Robbins, 3 by 6’9” Isaiah Ihnen. The aggression that was thwarted should zip through unimpeded in this match-up

Rating: 2 Units

It’s all falling by the wayside for the Raptors, champions of 2018-19. Right? First, Kawhi Leonard left. Now, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol are gone. They’re playing home games at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL, a far cry from Toronto, Canada and their devoted faithful. How can they possibly compete? You’ll see. Hopefully via their zone defenses attracting three-point misses. For one thing, they shared best road record in the league with the Lakers last season

Rating: 2 Units

The Cavs suffered re-buildus interruptus when they had to can John Beilein. They ranked last in defensive field goal percentage and think that 6’6” rookie Isaac Okoro can be plugged in to help defend on the wing. The Hornets have had a defensive mindset during their inexorable process of attempting to become good. LaMelo Ball might give ’em a spark until he’s figured out next week or thereabouts, and needs to adjust to the adjustments. Kevin Love, out for Cavs.

Rating: 3 Units

CBB Play of the Day

Temple has played one game, three days ago, against NJIT. They won it 72-60, shooting 40% from the field on their home floor, with a 30-12 disparity in free throw attempts. They haven’t shot well for four years and should shoot it worse on this long road trip with a class rise into conference play against a ranked, unbeaten opponent that allows 55.6 points per game, had some virus issues, didn’t play for 15 days, but got players cleared recently and returned for a good tune-up win vs. Alcorn State on Sunday

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day

Class drop for the Crimson Tide, off a loss. Good spot to get back on track. ETSU is still attempting to discover an identity with a new head coach and many new players on a team who won 30 games last season with different kids in these uniforms. They are coming off three games against non-Division 1 opponents you’ve never heard of and have been scoring mostly in the 60s or less against them, and better foes. Alabama will be the best team they’ve played in this, their eighth game. They way they’ve been turning the ball over suggests that Alabama will thrive in transition.

Rating: 2 Units

The Nets will surely amount to less than the sum of their overhyped parts that love to hog the ball and get stats and have needed to play with other, more talented, dominant superstars to win whatever they claim to have won individually, when it was really team efforts. But at least they have parts. The Warriors attempt to surround Stephen Curry with replacement parts in the absence of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Why do new bigs Kelly Oubre and rookie James Wiseman – the latter off a college career of two games – not get us excited?

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

The Lobos have some catching up to do after playing only three games so far, two of them way down in class against Our Lady of the Lake (NAIA) and Le Tourneau (Division III), we kid you not. They lost 11 of their last 15 Mountain West games last season. Boise has looked quite good against real opposition – Houston and BYU, to name a few. East Tennessee State transfer Mladen Armus gives them a 6’10”, 232 rebounding stabilizer they’ve lacked.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

The visitor is 6-0 SU and 6-0 ATS, but playing its first true road game. “True road” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing this year as in the past, given the lack of crowd enthusiasm for home teams. There are still Big Ten referees for the A-10 squad to overcome but otherwise, they have the scoring, the rebounding, the experienced depth, and the coaching to pull this off. Illinois helped expose Minnesota earlier in the week.

Rating: 2 units

The host Musketeers are 7-0 but were forced to pause for a while. They’ll probably introduce recently eligible Hampton transfer Big Ben Stanley to Big East ball here, but head coach Travis Steele will be forced to juggle minutes off the interruption. Fresh off double-avenging Creighton, Marquette seeks to take a fifth straight from the Musketeers.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day

Off 24- and 28-point losses to Wright State and Buffalo, teams that contended for Mid-Major conference championships last season, Miami-OH doesn’t appear to be in a good spot on the road against the Missouri Valley’s back-to-back post-season tournament winner. Bradley had a 10-day break end on Thursday night with a cushy, 23-point win here vs. Jackson State in which everybody got to play, a nice tune-up for this, in which a better effort is needed before they go to Missouri on Tuesday for a class test.

Rating: 2 Units

We’ll repeat the forecast from yesterday’s game that was postponed due to ongoing insanity, although there’s a chance this, too, won’t be played: The 0-4 Eagles of EW have been playing their butts off, very competitive in hastily scheduled true road games vs. three Pac 12 foes and Saint Mary’s. They lost to Arizona by 3 points. Northern Arizona lost to Arizona by 43, also to Cal-Riverside by 24, Colorado State by 39… NAU hasn’t had a winning conference season in the Big Sky since 2014 and has lost six straight to EW.

Rating: 2 Units

YSU seeks to end an eight-game losing streak to the host. Their current leading scorer, Naz Bohannon (22 ppg), fouled out of last year’s 2-point loss here trying to guard since-departed Dantez Walton. The visiting Penguins have only three games under their belts but their starting group has played a lot of ball together.

Rating: 2 Units

Although Alabama is a tad taller this season, they still lack a player who can prevent 6’11”, 235 senior center Charles Bassey from doing harm. With Alabama barely cracking 40% field goal shooting overall and less than 30% from three-point range, the Tide is in tough because you know former SEC head coach Stansbury is pointing for a pelt in SEC territory with a favorable style match-up. Alabama’s 6’8”, 210 Herbert Jones had a 17-and-12 game vs. Furman but Furman’s forwards go 6’7”, 6’8” and Alabama won the game by only 3 points.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

Seton Hall transfer Anthony Nelson, a 6’4” junior guard and New York, NY-er, stepped into the MAAC with 19 and 23 points for Manhattan in his first two games last week, which were also the team’s first two games. Marist has somebody top 20 points for them about once every three weeks. Actually, it hasn’t happened yet in four games this season.

Rating: 2 Units

Zero (0) steals, 5 offensive rebounds, 24 fouls by Butler in their loss at Villanova. This is only their third game. They still need work. The Hoosiers have beaten Butler’s Big East cousin Providence by 21 points, played well vs. what appears to be more imposing defense on Florida State. Bo Hodges, ETSU transfer, may debut for the Bulldogs but it’s probably a reach to call him an instant difference-maker.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

“Iowa State searches for answers after a sloppy start to Big 12 play,” said Wednesday morning’s headline. Normally, you look in the last place you left something. Instead, the skidding Cyclones are forced to travel all the way to Morgantown, WV to face a 6-1, #8-ranked opponent after losing the rivalry game 105-77 to Iowa, following up with a 75-65 home loss to fellow flounderer Kansas State – who shot only 17.4% from three-point range but never trailed after the 10:00 mark of the first half. Keep searchin’ fellas. Jackson State and Chicago State await, in your place, after this. Ya’ might find some some answers then and there. Here and now, rebounding and shooting issues are magnified in this match-up.

Rating: 2 Units

Monmouth debuted on Tuesday night, sending Hofstra to the free-throw line 32 times (vs. only 13 FTs for themselves). That’s a sign that their defense isn’t there yet and why should it be? Six games into its season -- including a sweep of Niagara here last weekend and two power-conference match-ups plus Lasalle -- St. Peter’s has all the momentum and foundation beneath them here.

Rating: 2 Units

Omaha will be playing at altitude two nights in a row – moving up from 5,000 feet in Boulder, CO to 7,100 feet in Laramie, WY. It was only a 137-mile drive to escape the Buffs and get to Cowboy Country but this still seems like a magical mystery tour for a visitor that is struggling to score (in the 40s, again, last night, thank you!). Wyoming averaged a mere 67.2 points per game last season, had a 3-7 non-conference record. They hired Jeff Linder (Northern Colorado) as head coach and now they’re 5-1, averaging 86.2 points per game with a 16.3 to 10.5 Assist/Turnover ratio

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day

Georgetown transfer Mac McClung is leading Texas Tech in scoring at 14.1 ppg and his longer-than-average range helps the Red Raiders’ offense space the floor for dribble penetration by #2 and #2 scorers Terrence Shannon and Kyler Edwards. VCU transfer Marcos Santos-Silva, at 6’7”, needs to prove he can finish as strongly at the rim in the Big 12 as he did in the A-10. But Kansas lacks rim protection this season. So, in this match-up, Santos-Silva may very well get it done. Gonzaga and Creighton both exposed some interior defense weaknesses that Kansas will either live with, or improve upon. But the personnel isn’t really there to improve upon it

CBB Play of the Day

Butler is in a bad spot. They’ve played only one game, on November 25. They were life and death to get past Western Michigan at home, scoring only 66 points. WMU hasn’t beaten a Division I team in three tries since, averaging 61 ppg. Butler was/is replacing 90% of its three-point production from last season and their 5-for-20 performance on threes in the lone game makes it seem like they won’t be getting 50% of it back. Jay Wright and the Wildcats, highly ranked, will fiddle a sad tune for the Bulldogs while maintaining that ranking.

Rating: 2 Units

The manner in which Colorado dispatched of Northern Colorado the other night suggests that Omaha is similar fodder. We went against this visitor last week against Kansas when they were taking 25, called it by 35, and they lost by 45. Life is short. Patsies are few. Go against them when you can

Rating: 2 Units

100+ points plus at Boston College the other night for Syracuse, eh? That’s a little ridiculous. Their shooters figure to come down to Earth. Syracuse is not a strong rebounding team. Their tallest starter, Marek Dolezaj, plays out on the perimeter. They don’t crash the offensive glass. Northeastern is not outsized in this match-up unless Boeheim puts his bench full of inexperienced, offensively challenged 6’10’’ and 6’11’’ stringbeans out there, in which case he’d be sacrificing offense. Northeastern gave up 30+ points in their season debut to a 6’10” UMass center who can score inside but came back two nights later and neutralized him in a revenge win. There’s nobody like that for them to guard tonight. They’re happy to guard the perimeter, rebound, and let the chips fall where they may.

Rating: 2 Units

The Vols have been warming up against real opponents who had more games under their belt. Two games, 2-0 SU and ATS as the less-than-sharp favorite vs. Colorado and Cincinnati. Not bad. The offense they couldn’t find in those games should get a little bit better against a Sun Belt also ran. The defense should continue to do its job against an outclassed foe that scored only 69 points in regulation vs. Bowling Green, 61 vs. Charlotte.

Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day

The Shockers of Wichita played nice defense in the 3-point home loss to Oklahoma State, covering by 1 as a home dog. But they still have yet to shoot better than 37.5% overall for a game. That’s not a good sign as they head out on the road to face a good conference foe that plays good defense with the added benefit of knowing them pretty well. Senior guards Brandon Rachal and Elijah Joiner should be chomping at the bit to get after the Shockers, who ended Tulsa’s 2019-20 by beating them by 22 points in Wichita.

Rating: 2 Units

Clemson ambushed the Terps in one of those typically unprepared Mark Turgeon road games. He now has their attention, and the obligation to coach the heck out of them, for the Big Ten conference and home opener against a Rutgers bunch that had it all over Syracuse in the match-ups, and available personnel

Rating: 2 Units

We all enjoyed Georgia Southern being mercy-ruled at Davidson Friday night. Revitalized Mercer has already beaten Georgia Tech and Georgia State by 10 and 17 points, scoring 80+ against an ACC school and a perennial Sun Belt contender. Like Davidson, they are shooting better than 40% from three-point range. May as well go right back to the well.

Rating: 2 Units

Alabama’s Nate Oats is our new favorite coach in the world (see his recent putdown of Duke’s Coach K). It seems like a style contrast: Clemson slow, Alabama quick. Oats knows what needs to happen: “We’ve got to buckle down on the defensive end, force misses, get the ball and break off the misses. If we can do that, then I think we can get going up and down.” Not such a big if, considering that they’ve already made his vision happen against Providence

Rating: 2 Units

Adding Va. Tech transfer Landers Nolley to the four sophomores who played a lot as freshmen make Memphis a formidable invader against an Auburn team still in flux for Bruce Pearl. “You want to talk about getting exposed, this’ll be the best defensive team that we’ve played,” he says. Considering that Auburn is giving up 81 ppg after four, scoring points isn’t all Pearl needs to be concerned about

Rating: 4 Unit  CBB Game of the Week

ETSU is down 20 points from last season’s per game scoring average of 76. Their Assist/Turnover Ratio is 8.7 to 19.3. This is not good. But this is what happens when the head coach of a 30-4 team times his move for greener pastures off a season like that, takes assistants with him, and his move is followed by transfers, graduations, and the new coach must mold freshmen and transfers in an immediate rebuild. UAB’s Andy Kennedy – not one of our favorite coaches but he managed to snag an experienced scoring guard from Georgia Southern (Quan Jackson), another experienced scoring guard from UL-Monroe (Michael Ertel) and a 7’, 260 center from Clemson. So far, nobody’s beaten them and nobody’s come close. It’ll all come crashing down, of course, but not just yet.