Sacramento is a mess of a team right now. The Kings are battling injuries, locker room dissention, and fatigue. All three of those issues were evident last night in their 12-point loss (110-98) at Charlotte, a team that only had 8 available players. Sacramento once again played without Tyreke Evans last night as he is dealing with Plantar Fasciitis. He is their go-to scorer, and without him on the court, the Kings really struggle. They shot just 43.4% (36-83) from the field, and against a Memphis defense that has held 36 opponents to less than 100 points this season, the Kings will struggle once again tonight.

The Kings

Northern Iowa

The winner of this game will win the regular season Missouri Valley Conference title and also get the #1 seed for the upcoming conference tournament. Wichita St could have already wrapped up both spots, but the Shockers inexplicably lost at home to Southern Illinois and they also lost at home to Missouri St back in early January. This game will also have huge implications for both teams come selection Sunday since they are both on the bubble for the NCAA tournament.

Wichita St has been a much better team on the road than at home this season. The Shockers own a 9-1 record in true road games (8-0 in conference play) while going just 12-4 on their home court. They

This is the final regular season game for both teams, and only one team is looking for the season to end. Southern Illinois comes into this game at just 12-17, and after going through a season full of bad play on the court and legal troubles off the court, the Salukis have mailed it in. They are just 2-8 over their last 10 games with a non-conference win and an unbelievable upset win at Wichita St. The team failed to show-up for their final home game on Wednesday night as they lost by 18 points to Missouri St.

Now the Salukis will play their season finale on the road at Indiana St. This looks like another no-show spot for Southern Illinois, and since they are out-classed by the Sycamores, this game could turn ugly real quick. Indiana St won in Carbondale 77-72 just ten days ago. The Sycamores led by 9 points at the half, and they simply controlled that game from start to finish. Indiana St also shot 32 free throws in that game which was 9 more than Southern Illinois shot. That

Denver has played well since they traded Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks. The Nuggets are 2-0 with wins over the Grizzlies and Celtics. But there are a couple of caveats to those wins. Denver played their first post-All-Star game with 6 days of rest and they also prepared for that game knowing that Anthony would be gone. That was a game for them to prove that they

New Orleans comes in off a win over the Los Angeles Clippers; it was just the Hornets

Tonight

Both teams limped into the All-Star break; Atlanta lost three of their final four games and Phoenix lost two of their final three games. The Hawks got back into action last night in Los Angeles against the Lakers, but they failed to show-up in a 104-80 loss. The Suns had an extra day of rest to get ready for tonight

The Iron Bowl is a much bigger rivalry in college football than it is on the basketball court. Auburn and Alabama play much closer games on the gridiron than on the hardwood; 7 of the last 10 meetings in this series have seen winning margins of 10 points or more. And that was exactly the case when these two teams met back in mid-January; Alabama won at Auburn 68-58. We don

Minnesota slumbered through another dreadful first half as the Timberwolves sit at 13-34 coming into tonight

These two teams couldn

Both teams went through a rough patch recently; Syracuse went 2-6 prior to winning their last two games while Villanova went 3-5 prior to winning their last two games. Neither team has been covering pointspreads either with both teams just 3-7 ATS over their last 10 ballgames. The poor recent runs both straight-up and against the spread makes it extremely difficult to lay points in a game like this, and it

The oddsmakers incorrectly priced this game as they opened it at a Pick. But sharp money has come in on the East and we certainly agree with that move. The Eastern Conference has the better overall teams in the NBA this season, and they certainly have a better roster than the Western Conference in this game.

The East has a formidable starting five with familiarity as the Miami Heat is represented by LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. The East also has a powerful second unit that knows each other real well since there are four Celtics on the roaster including Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo. Their second unit also features another player from the Heat, Chris Bosh, and two guys from the Hawks in Joe Johnson and Al Horford. Not only that, but the East will also be coached by Boston

Georgia Tech is a lot worse than their bad 11-14 record already indicates. The Yellow Jackets are an inefficient team on both ends of the court, and they are basically a two-man team with Iman Shumpert and Brian Oliver. Those two guys combine for the majority of Tech

When these two teams met three weeks ago, it was a non-competitive blowout win for Ohio St. The Buckeyes won that game by 23 points (87-64) on their home floor. But that result was not a true indicator of Purdue; it was just one of those games in which nothing went right for them while everything went Ohio St

Central Florida made a big splash when they opened the season at 14-0 and found themselves ranked in the Top 25. But since then, the roof has caved in for the Knights as they are just 2-8 over their last 10 games. They have won their last two games to break their 8-game losing streak, but don

Kentucky is the class of the SEC, and not by a little, by a long mile. The Wildcats are simply the most dominate team on both ends of the court and they are loaded with talent. When facing the mediocre teams of the conference, Kentucky just has too much offensive firepower and too much defense for these teams to stay close. And that

This game is the first of the annual BracketBuster weekend in college basketball. These BracketBuster games were designed for the mid-major teams; a way for them to play each other and be measured against a similar team that has a close RPI rating. These games are often critical for earning at-large bids in the NCAA tournament, and tonight

Dallas came through for us last night in their 16-point home win over the beat-up and tired Sacramento Kings. The Mavericks

Washington has righted their ship after losing 3 consecutive road games. The Huskies have played spectacular basketball in their last two games; they beat California 109-77 and Stanford 87-76. Off those two big wins, we expect Washington to carry that momentum over to tonight

Sacramento is a team that cannot wait for the All-Star break to begin. The Kings are battling injuries, locker room dissention, and fatigue. All three of those issues were evident last night in their 30-point loss (126-96) at Oklahoma City. Sacramento played without Tyreke Evans last night as he is dealing with Plantar Fasciitis, and he

Indiana played a terrific home game last night against Miami as they took the Heat to the wire in a 110-103 loss. That was the second time the Pacers just missed beating the Heat; they lost 117-112 in Miami last week. But Indiana

Atlanta comes into this game off back-to-back embarrassing home losses to the Sixers and Bobcats. Philadelphia best the Hawks by 34 points (117-83) while Charlotte hit a buzzer-beater to steal an 88-86 win. Atlanta blew a big 22-point lead in that game after they got out-scored 49-34 in the second half. Going on the road is the best thing for the Hawks right now, and since they are 16-11 in road games this season, we expect a focused effort tonight in Detroit.

The Hawks and Pistons have split the season series so far with both teams winning on their home court. Atlanta

This is one of those rivalry games in which you can just toss out the records of both teams. Arizona is a very good team with a very good record at 20-4, and we know they are an ultra-talented bunch. Arizona St has a terrible 9-14 record, but that record isn

Wichita St will be looking for some payback tonight at Northern Iowa. The Shockers were upset 77-74 at home as 8

Dallas is in a very difficult scheduling spot tonight. The Mavericks are playing on the road for the sixth time over their last seven games. They are also playing their third game in four nights and their fourth game in six nights. Their road trip stretched from coast to coast as they played a 3-game set in New York, Boston, and Charlotte then a back-to-back set at Sacramento and Denver. And they also made a pit stop at home in between to play a game against the Cavaliers. It was a weird trip and it has taken its toll on Dallas.

The Mavericks won five of those six games, but their play hasn

UNLV head coach Lon Kruger is one of the best in the country. And he

These two teams just met last month in California and the Bears were able to escape with an 88-81 overtime win. That game was a tale of two halves as California dominated the first half while Washington St dominated the second half. Both teams shot the ball extremely well with the Cougars hitting 46% (29-63) from the field and the Bears hitting 51.7% (31-60) from the field. But there were two big discrepancies in the game as Washington St connected on 11 three

Los Angeles is in a terrible scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Lakers played in Boston last night in a spotlight game, and now they have to travel and play without rest in another primetime spotlight game in New York. The Lakers are also in a flat spot off their big win over the Celtics last night as that was the one game in which they wanted to win badly after getting embarrassed on their home court by Boston ten days before. Los Angeles got the big win they wanted so we expect them to be a tad short for tonight

San Antonio

This game is Michigan St

North Carolina is a team still flying well under the radar right now despite winning 10 of their last 11 games and covering the spread in 5 straight games. Everybody remembers the Tar Heels losing by 20 points at Georgia Tech on a Sunday night primetime game three weeks ago. That one bad performance has cast a negative opinion on North Carolina, but there

Indiana St is not in good form at all coming into tonight

Charlotte and Indiana have one thing in common; both teams fired their head coach recently and their play improved instantly on the basketball court. The Bobcats are further along as Paul Silas has overseen 23 games already with Charlotte going 13-10 in those games. Indiana

Utah

Green Bay was highly impressive during the regular season, and also in their 3 road playoff games. The Packers only went 10-6 during the regular season, but all 6 of their losses came by 4 points or less. They had two overtime losses by a field goal, so Green Bay

Winning back-to-back conference road games is always tough, especially when you are laying points in both games. Arizona is in the second game of that exact set as they favored at California. The Wildcats won and covered (78-69, -2

This will be the second meeting of the season between Illinois St and Wichita St; the Shockers won 65-51 last month. But a lot has changed since that game, especially for Illinois St. The Redbirds were mired in a 3-game losing streak heading into that game, but they

On the surface, Arizona St doesn

Indiana St is not in good for at all coming into today

This is an awkward trip for St. John

On the surface, Arizona St doesn

We played against the Spurs on Tuesday night in their 99-86 loss at Portland. San Antonio was in a terrible scheduling spot for that game since it was their first road game of their annual

Duke comes into tonight

This will be the second meeting of the season between Illinois St and Northern Iowa; the Panthers won 46-44 three weeks ago. But a lot has changed since that game, especially for Illinois St. The Redbirds were mired in a 5-game losing streak heading into that game, but they

These two teams just met a little over two weeks ago and South Florida beat Providence 79-72. But that game was an extremely favorable scheduling spot for South Florida as the Bulls were returning home off a road loss while the Friars were playing their third straight road game while mired in a 5-game losing streak. It was also the third game in 8 days for Providence so they were clearly up against it.

Despite all of that, Providence held a 12-point lead (41-29) at the half. The fatigue set in during the second half as South Florida out-scored them by 19 points (50-31) on their way to a 7-point win. South Florida won the game at the free throw line as they hit 82.6% (19-23) while Providence hit just 52.6% (10-19). But with the site change and a different scheduling situation, we expect a totally different game tonight in Providence.

The Friars come in off a road loss at Seton Hall, but that is excusable since they scored upset wins over Louisville and Villanova in their previous two home games. Back at home tonight, Providence should have little trouble with South Florida who is winless on the road (0-9) this season with their three road conference losses coming by 8 points or more. Providence is also looking for some payback as they

Boston comes into this game off their biggest win of the season. The Celtics beat the Lakers on Sunday afternoon; a game in which the Celtics were waiting for since losing Game 7 of the NBA Finals last season. Boston played their best game of the season in that 109-96 thumping of Los Angeles. The Celtics shot an incredible 60.3% (44-73) from the field and 52.9% (9-17) from three-point land. Six players scored in double digits, and head coach Doc Rivers said point guard Rajon Rondo

San Antonio has the best record in the NBA at 40-7. The Spurs have won 11 of their last 12 games, and they are also an impressive 15-5 on the road this season. So how can we possibly go against the red-hot Spurs? When we dissect their recent run a bit further, it shows us that San Antonio hasn

These two teams just met three weeks ago and Penn St was able to hold on for 57-55 win. The Nittany Lions did a terrific job of controlling the pace and not allowing Illinois to get out in transition. But despite grinding that game into a half court scrum, and forcing Illinois to play out of their element, Penn St was still only able to win that game by 2 points on their home court. Tonight

North Carolina is a team flying well under the radar right now. Everybody remembers the Tar Heels losing by 20 points at Georgia Tech on a Sunday night primetime game two weeks ago. That one bad performance has cast a negative opinion on North Carolina, but there

New Mexico is in an extremely difficult scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Lobos are off a huge upset win over BYU on Saturday, and now they have to take to the road and lay points into one of the hottest pointpsread teams in the Mountain West Conference. Air Force has covered 6 of their 7 conference games this season with the only loss coming by a single point.

The Lobos played in a fast-paced game against BYU; they won that game 86-77. They spent a ton of energy going up and down the court in that game while shooting a high percentage from the floor. New Mexico shot 50.8% (31-61) from the field and 40% (8-20) from three-point land. They also made 16 of their 19 free throws. That

Texas has played terrific basketball this season, but the Longhorns are in an extremely difficult scheduling spot for this game tonight. Texas enters off three huge games, at Oklahoma St, at Kansas, and home against Missouri. Many thought they

Orlando has not been a consistent team over the last week. The Magic have alternated wins and losses in their last four games as either their offense or their defense has been bad in one of the games. They can

The Pro Bowl returns to Hawaii after the game was played in Florida last season. It will also be the second year in which the game is being played a week before the Super Bowl. That scheduling dynamic means that the selected players from the Steelers and Packers will not play in this game tonight; a total of 7 defensive players will miss this game. That will certainly give the offenses the edge tonight, and since the AFC has a much stronger offensive contingent, we expect them to win this game.

The AFC will be coached by New England

These two teams are heading in opposite directions. Drake comes into this game with a 1-5 record over their last six games and a 2-7 record over their last nine games. Illinois St has won and covered their last two games after suffering through an 8-game losing streak. Drake did play excellent in their last game which was a close 73-70 loss at home to one of the best teams in the Missouri Valley (Missouri St). But that close loss as a 9

Atlanta is in a tough scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Hawks just played in a fast and furious game at home last night against the Knicks and they hung on for a 111-102 win. Atlanta was up by 17 points at the half, but they got out-scored by 8 points in the second half and survived to get the win. The Hawks caught the Knicks at the perfect time as they were just off their big spotlight win over the Heat on Thursday night, and since the Knicks had to make a comeback in that game, they were playing on tired legs.

The Hawks are now the team in the bad scheduling spot as they will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back set. Atlanta had a good shooting game last night as they hit 51.2% (42-82) from the field and 36.8% (7-19) from three-point land. They also connected on 87% (20-23) of their free throws. But those numbers came against a Knicks team that plays little defense, and that certainly is not the case with Dallas.

The Mavericks are playing much better basketball now that they have the majority of their players back from injury. They

Kentucky returns home off back-to-back road games at Alabama and South Carolina. The Wildcats split those two games so they didn

Indiana St was in a terrific spot for their game against Evansville on Wednesday night. The Sycamores were looking for revenge after blowing a 17-point lead at Evansville earlier this season. Indiana St once again was leading Evansville by 17 points, but the Sycamores blew that game as well just like the first meeting. They ended up losing 66-63 which handed them their first home loss of the season. It was Indiana St

Minnesota has gone through a boatload of issues this season, from injuries to suspensions to arrests. But somehow the Gophers have been able to produce on the court despite the multiple distractions surrounding them. Minnesota lost starting point guard Al Nolen last Saturday in their win at Michigan. Without Nolen, the Gophers were left without a true point guard because his backup was already out. Head coach Tubby Smith had to move shooting guard Blake Hoffarber to point guard for their game with Northwestern. And not only did Hoffarber have to switch positions, but Smith also had to move a forward to the shooting guard spot and play three centers on the floor at the same time. But none of that mattered as the Gophers beat Northwestern 81-70 on Wednesday night.

However, that game was at home and against a mediocre Northwestern team that has an extremely weak defense. Minnesota was able to get by that game without doing too much work; the Gophers shot 53.3% (24-45) from the field and they held a whopping 46-11 free throw edge. And even with everything going their way on their home court, Minnesota was still only able to win that game by 11 points. That result shows us that Minnesota is in some trouble going forward and that trouble begins in today

Boston began their toughest road trip of the season last night in Portland. The Celtics are only playing a 4-game trip through the West, but what makes it so difficult is the travel and how the games fall on the schedule. Last night was a late spotlight game on TNT in which the Celtics won 88-78 over the Blazers. That was an extremely physical game and also a bit chippy between the two teams. And off that win, the Celtics will now play on a back-to-back set in Phoenix at a huge disadvantage.

The Celtics tried to challenge tonight

Michigan was in a terrific scheduling spot on Saturday as they hosted Minnesota off a pair of back-to-back road games. The Wolverines also had a major pace advantage in their favor, but despite all of their edges, they still couldn

Illinois St was 0-8 in conference play before beating Southern Illinois on Sunday night. But their 0-8 record looked much worse than it actually was. The Redbirds had to play all 8 of those conference games over a 21-day stretch. That was simply too tall of a task for a young team. But they had 5 days to get ready for their last game, and that showed as they finally broke their losing streak. Off that confidence building win, we expect Illinois St to carry that momentum over to tonight

St. John

This is the second meeting of the season between these two teams. Evansville won the first game 64-59 on their home court back on New Year

Los Angeles has been two different teams this season. The Clippers have played some good basketball on their home court where they are 14-13 with some big wins over the elite teams in the NBA. But on the road, the Clippers have been terrible as they are just 3-13 away from home with 10 of their 13 losses coming by more than tonight

NC State is in a terrible scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Wolfpack just played on Sunday afternoon, and that wasn

San Antonio comes into tonight

These two teams just met two weeks ago with Southern Illinois pulling out a close 4-point (63-59) home win over Illinois St. That game was tied at the half and it was close throughout. It showed that despite being on a current 8-game losing streak, Illinois St is just as good as Southern Illinois and possibly a better team because they were able to take the Salukis down to the wire on their home floor.

Illinois St has been close in a lot of their games, and in fact, the Redbirds have held at least a 5-point lead in six of their recent eight losses. Going back further, they

These two teams just played a month ago, and the Jets won in Pittsburgh 22-17. However, that was a misleading final score as the Steelers actually had more first downs (24-16) and out-yarded the Jets by 102 yards (378-276) in that game. The Jets also trailed 17-10 in the third quarter despite jumping out to a 7-0 lead after Brad Smith returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Pittsburgh was also playing that game without their most important defensive player as Troy Polamalu missed that game because of injury. With him back on the field, the Jets

This will be the third meeting between these two teams this season. The teams split the first two games with each team winning on their home field; the Packers won 10-3 in Week 17 and the Bears won 20-17 back in Week 3. The Week 17 game in Green Bay meant nothing for the Bears yet they still took the Packers down to the wire in a game in which they needed to win just to make the playoffs. So in both games this year, Chicago actually out-played Green Bay and there

Los Angeles comes in off a bad loss at Dallas on Wednesday night. The Lakers lost that game 109-100 after getting out-scored 30-17 in the third quarter. Off that loss, we expect the Lakers to bounce back strong tonight in Denver, especially since they blew their last game against the Nuggets. Back in early November, the Lakers took an 8-point lead into the fourth quarter in Denver, but the Nuggets out-scored them by 14 points (33-19) over the final 12 minutes of the game to hand them a loss. And since they come off a similar game in which they lost a fourth quarter lead, the Lakers will be extremely focused for this game.

The Lakers can also put all they have into this game since they do not play another game until next Tuesday. They also do not want to head into three days of practice off back-to-back losses so tonight

Arizona is a supremely deep and talented team that has one of the best players in college basketball. Derrick Williams will be a certified NBA lottery pick when he comes out, and anytime we can get this many points with a player of his caliber, it

Dallas snapped their 6-game losing streak last night after beating the Lakers 109-100. But off that big spotlight win, the Mavericks find themselves in a terrible scheduling spot for tonight. Last night

This is certainly the marquee game in college basketball tonight as #10 Texas A&M takes on #11 Texas. Since A&M comes into this game at 16-1 and Texas is

New York was one of the hottest teams in the NBA from mid November through early December when they ran off eight consecutive wins and also won 13 of 14 over that particular stretch. But since that impressive run, the Knicks have played mediocre basketball at best as they

Washington has won their last two games; they beat Toronto 98-95 and Utah 108-101. But don

Utah comes into tonight

Kentucky is the class of the SEC, and not by a little, by a long mile. The Wildcats are simply the most dominate team on both ends of the court and they are loaded with talent. When facing the mediocre teams of the conference, Kentucky just has too much offensive firepower and too much defense for these teams to stay close. And that

Oklahoma City is one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. The Thunder have won and covered four straight games, and we don

Washington

This will be the rubber match of the season series between the Jets and Patriots. The teams split the two meetings this season with each winning by blowouts on their home field; the Jets won at home 28-14 in Week 2 while the Patriots won 45-3 at home back in Week 13. It may be hard to separate the Jets and Patriots on paper, but there are a few underlying factors that point to the Patriots in this game, and we feel they are a clear choice in this game for multiple reasons.

Back in Week 2, New England was a 3-point favorite in New York. The Jets were off their opening night debacle, but they bounced back strong to beat the Patriots 28-14. New England held a 14-10 lead at the half, but on their first drive of the third quarter, Tom Brady threw an interception that turned the game around. In fact, Brady tossed two interceptions in that game. But both passes were deep balls intended for Randy Moss who is no longer on the team. Since Moss has been gone, the Patriots are a totally different offensive team. They are more of a possession-based team that will throw a ton of short and intermediate passes and methodically drive down the field. The Jets will once again have trouble with New England

Chicago got extremely fortunate that Seattle was able to upset New Orleans last week. The Bears would be in for a much tougher challenge this week with the Saints, but instead they get to host a very weak Seattle team this afternoon. The Bears are simply a much better team than the Seahawks, and that should be on full display this afternoon.

These two teams met way back in Week 6; Seattle actually won that game 23-20 as a 6-point road underdog. However, a lot has changed since that game. Chicago is a much different team now in terms of their offense. Back then, the Bears were a mess on the offensive line yet they still tried to throw the ball most of the time. Quarterback Jay Cutler had little time to throw, and Seattle

Green Bay was highly impressive in their road win at Philadelphia last week. The Packers won that game because of an emergence of a running game, something they lacked all season long. Behind the strong running of James Starks, the Packers ran for 138 yards on 4.3 yards per rush. If Green Bay can run consistently like that going forward, their offense will be tough to stop because teams now have to respect the run and quarterback Aaron Rodgers can hit some big plays in the passing game. The discovery of a running game last week just makes the Packers much more formidable, and we expect them to carry things over into this game with Atlanta tonight.

This is a rematch from back in late November when the Falcons beat the Packers 20-17 in the Georgia Dome. However, that was a misleading final score as Green Bay dominated that game with 418 yards of offense to just 295 yards of total offense for the Falcons. The Packers had 341 passing yards in that game which was their second best passing game of the season. And since Atlanta

Los Angeles comes into tonight

Washington comes into tonight