These two teams just met two weeks ago with Iowa St winning 73-67 on their home court. However, the Cyclones won that game because they shot 50% (11-22) from three-point land as Kansas St actually out-shot them for the game 50.9% (28-55) to 48.1% (26-54). Iowa St also caught Kansas St at the perfect time as the Wildcats were off their close, hard fought 4-point loss against rival Kansas. Despite all that, the Cyclones were still only able to win that game by 6 points, and Kansas St actually held a lead with just over 7 minutes left to play in the game. Iowa St is now the team in the bad scheduling spot as they come in off a pair of home wins over Baylor and Oklahoma after dropping their last two road games at Texas Tech and Oklahoma St.

Kansas St returns home off back-to-back road wins, and with Kansas losing two games this past week, the Wildcats are in line for the Big 12 regular season title.

Chicago was terrible last night in Denver; the Bulls lost by 32 points (128-96). It was their worst game under head coach Tom Thibodeau as it was the Bulls largest margin of defeat and the most points allowed to an opponent. Chicago doesn

Toronto

Chicago comes in off an ugly 111-101 loss at Indiana on Monday night. But the Bulls were in a terrible situational and scheduling spot for that game as they were extremely shorthanded and playing their third game in four nights. Chicago is in much better shape for tonight

Colorado played poorly to open up conference play as the Buffaloes went just 1-4 over their first five games. But since then they

Milwaukee is in a tough situational and scheduling spot for tonight

Iowa is quietly playing some good basketball right now. The Hawkeyes are just 4-6 over their last ten games, but five of those six losses have come by single digits, including four losses by 4 points or less. Iowa already beat Wisconsin 70-66 earlier this season, and in fact, the Hawkeyes have won the last three meetings against the Badgers.

Indiana is playing some of their best basketball of the season right now. The Pacers have won four consecutive games as their offense has been unstoppable. Indiana has averaged 106 points per game during their current winning streak, and their offense also played well in the two games prior despite losing by 4 points in overtime and by a single point. The Pacers have scored 98 points or more in all six games, 101 points or more in five of the six games, and 110 points or more in three of the six games. To illustrate just how good Indian

Minnesota opened the season with a 15-1 record and they looked like a serious team that could make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. But the Golden Gophers lost their next four games before bouncing back and winning their last two games. Their 4-game losing streak can be excused as they played at Indiana, Michigan, at Northwestern, and at Wisconsin. All four of those losses came by 8 points or less so it

Wichita St opened the season by winning 19 of their first 21 games. But the Shockers have lost back-to-back games coming into tonight

Seton Hall opened the season at 12-2 and they headed into Big East play on a 6-game winning streak. But the Pirates have lost their way as they come into tonight

Charlotte has a terrible 11-35 record on the season, including a 5-17 record on the road. But the Bobcats play hard for head coach Mike Dunlap, and we expect them to give a good effort tonight. Charlotte will be playing just their second game over the last five days so they are well-rested for tonight

Virginia comes in off a big home win over NC State on Tuesday night. The Cavaliers trailed that game by 11 points in the second half before their late rally propelled them to a 58-55 win. That type of win will have this team overconfident, and considering they haven

Indiana St is off a huge upset win at Wichita St on Tuesday night. The Sycamores were 12-point underdogs in that game and they won 68-55. Indiana St shot 53.3% (24-45) from the field while Wichita St was ice cold shooting just 27.1% (16-59) from the field. Indiana St has played in back-to-back emotional games as they beat Northern Iowa 59-58 after they got a controversial foul call with just 0.3 seconds to play in the game. The Sycamores are now in a terrible scheduling and situational spot as they go from a double digit road underdog to a small road favorite, and they are doing it off back-to-back outright wins. Indiana St was also fortunate that their last two opponents combined to shoot just 34% (35-103) from the field. Tonight

Temple has played a brutal schedule this season, especially on the road. The Owls last seven road games have come against Butler, George Washington, Xavier, Kansas, Syracuse, Duke, and Villanova. Temple went a respectable 3-4 in those games and two of their four losses came by just 5 and 7 points. Not many teams would have been able to run that gauntlet and come out like Temple did so the Owls should be commended for how well they played. Tonight

Dayton comes in off a 66-61 loss at Xavier on Wednesday night. The Flyers only lost that game by 5 points, and you

New Orleans

Dallas comes into tonight

Conference play has not been kind to either one of these two teams. Oregon St comes into this game at just 1-6 in conference play while California checks in at 3-4. However, there

New Orleans is playing sneaky good basketball recently; the Hornets have gone 8-5 over their last 13 games with three of those five losses coming by 5 points or less. The spark that has made New Orleans play better basketball has been the insertion of Eric Gordon as the starting point guard. Gordon has started the last 11 games for New Orleans and the team has a +20 scoring differential in those games. In the four games prior, the Hornets were -11 in scoring differential which shows how much of an immediate impact the increased minutes for Gordon made on the court. Gordon is surrounded by some very good young talent and the Hornets have gelled as a team under the leadership of Gordon at the point. New Orleans good play should continue tonight in Utah against a struggling Jazz team.

Utah has won five of their last seven games, but looking deeper we can see some signs that the play of the Jazz has slipped a bit. Over their last four games, Utah has two wins by a combined 8 points and two losses by a combined 63 points. The Jazz got blown out by 45 points in their last game against the Rockets as their defense allowed an ugly 125 points. Over their last three games, Utah

Houston

Iowa St suffered an ugly loss at Texas Tech last Wednesday night. That loss prompted a player

This is the second meeting of the season between Northern Iowa and Evansville; the Purple Aces beat the Panthers 62-59 as 5

Houston is back to playing some good basketball. The Rockets have won and covered their last two games after scoring a total of 219 points. Houston was in a funk prior to those games as they had lost 7 consecutive games and 8 of their previous 9 games while losing to the pointspread in all 9 of those games.

Memphis suffered two losses last night; the Grizzlies lost on the court 91-83 to the Hornets and they also lost point guard Mike Conley to a sprained ankle. Conley is officially listed as questionable for tonight and he may even play, but he will be limited. Memphis will be playing their third game in four nights, and they have a much bigger game on deck at Oklahoma City. This may be a game in which the Grizzlies give less than their best effort, and if Conley is not effective, Memphis

Pittsburgh comes in with a good looking 17-4 record, but the majority of those wins have come against weak and inferior opponents. The Panthers have played three conference opponents that are comparable to Louisville and they went just 1-2 SU and 0-3 ATS in those games. Pittsburgh failed to cover those games by a combined 35 points which shows Pittsburgh being overvalued against the better teams in conference play. On the season, Pittsburgh

Michigan St continues to survive and win their games. The Spartans are getting out-played for the most part and they haven

New York settled their score with Boston on Thursday night as the Knicks beat the Celtics 89-86. New York will look to avoid a letdown tonight in Philadelphia, but that will hard to do considering the Knicks have already blown out the Sixers twice this season. New York won by 16 points (100-84) at home and they won at Philadelphia by 22 points (110-88). The Knicks also have a bigger game at home tomorrow night against the Hawks. Atlanta and New York will be in a battle all season for playoff position; the Knicks are currently 26-14 while the Hawks are 25-18. New York isn

Ohio is the class of the MAC this season and they come into this game with a perfect 5-0 record in conference play. Ohio returned all five starters from last year

Xavier has quietly turned the corner in conference play. The Musketeers had lost 5 of their previous 6 games before opening Atlantic 10 play with four consecutive wins before losing at Charlotte in their last game. But we can give Xavier a pass for that loss because Charlotte has one of the better defensive teams in the conference. Xavier is taking a major step down in defensive class here as St. Joseph

Temple has been inconsistent this season. The Owls have some impressive games on their schedule as they beat Syracuse and took Kansas down to the wire. But they also lost to St. Bonaventure and Canisius which is not good. Temple

New Mexico was impressive in their last game against a very good Colorado St team. The Lobos only won that game by 5 points (66-61) on the scoreboard, but they actually led that game by 20 points in the second half before allowing a late run by Colorado St. The Lobos have now won and covered their first four conference games, and a lot of that has to do with their defense. New Mexico has held all four opponents to 63 points or less in regulation time while holding those teams to just 38.6% (86-223) shooting from the field. New Mexico

This is the second meeting of the season between Northern Iowa and Indiana St; the Sycamores beat the Panthers 65-61 as 7

San Antonio has been overvalued in the betting market for the last two weeks. The Spurs have gone 8-3 SU over their last eleven games, but they

These two teams have been heading in opposite directions since conference play began. Stanford has played the much better basketball on both ends of the court in conference games even though they only have a 2-3 record. The Cardinal own three close losses by a combined 15 points, but they all came in quick turnaround spots. Stanford has had four full days to get ready for this game in Colorado so they

Wyoming continues to fly well under the radar. The Cowboys are 15-2 on the season with both of their losses coming in conference play. Wyoming

UCLA comes into tonight

Indiana is playing much better basketball right now as the Pacers have won seven of their last nine ballgames. They come in off an impressive 82-81 win at Memphis in their last game in which they held the Grizzlies to just 42.2% (35-83) shooting from the field. The Pacers defense has been fantastic as they

Colorado State has played outstanding basketball under head coach Larry Eustachy this season. The Rams come into tonight

Kentucky is a talented team, but we have to remember they are loaded with inexperienced freshman. This year

Washington is playing terrific basketball right now; the Wizards have won four of their last six games and they

Oklahoma State started the season by going 10-1 over their first eleven games. The Cowboys followed that by going just 1-3 over their next four games. And because of that, they used their week off to get back to the basics; they called it

Oklahoma City has played six of their last eight games on the road, and tonight

This will be an electric scene on Saturday night in Hinkle Fieldhouse when Butler hosts Gonzaga in this much anticipated showdown. The two teams played last season and it was never close as Gonzaga beat Butler by 16 points (71-55). While we do not expect the margin to be that big in the rematch tonight, we believe Gonzaga will win comfortably once again. The Bulldogs have played outstanding basketball this season as they are averaging 79 points per game on an incredible 50.5% shooting from the field and 35.6% from three-point land. With such a high-scoring team, you

There may not seem to be too much that separates these two teams on the surface, but we believe Ohio St holds some clear edges over Michigan St. The Buckeyes come into tonight

This is a big game in the Pac 12 as both Oregon and UCLA come in without a loss in conference play. Oregon has quietly played some terrific basketball this season. The Ducks come into today

Washington is playing their best basketball of the season right now. The Wizards have won three of their last four games and they

Valparaiso and Detroit are the two best teams in the Horizon League by a wide margin, and tonight

Washington finally has their best player back on the court as John Wall returned for the Wizards 93-83 win over Atlanta on Saturday night. The Wizards are a much better team with Wall on the court, and his return has coincided with Washington playing some good basketball. The Wizards have won three consecutive games and they

Cleveland hasn

Xavier has quietly turned the corner in conference play. The Musketeers had lost 5 of their previous 6 games before opening Atlantic 10 play with consecutive wins over Temple and George Washington. Xavier is doing it with defense as they

Portland went on quite a run recently, but the Blazers have lost back-to-back games and we expect another loss in Denver tonight. The Blazers had won 12 of their previous 15 games prior to losing their last two games to the Warriors and Thunder. Portland

Baylor and Kansas have the two best offenses in the Big 12 by a wide margin. Both teams are highly efficient on the offensive end of the court, and we

Orlando finally snapped their 10-game losing streak with a big upset win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Magic won that game 104-101 as 12

Maryland is a much improved team this season. The Terrapins come into tonight

Saint Louis is flying well under the radar this season. The Billikens come into this game with a 12-3 record; they are on a 9-game winning streak. Saint Louis has shown amazing strength this season; it would have been easy for them to sink after coach Rick Majerus passed away. But the Billikens have become a stronger team, and their close bond cannot be underestimated. Saint Louis has played tremendous basketball on both ends of the court. They are highly efficient on offense as they shoot 45.6% from the field and 36.6% from three-point land. Their defense has been tough to score on as they are holding opponents to just 55.5 points per game. Temple

This is always a heated rivalry series so we can expect both teams to bring their best efforts this afternoon. Oklahoma St comes in with an 11-3 record with one of those losses coming at Kansas St last Saturday. The Cowboys were extremely competitive in that game as they only lost by 6 points; the game was tied with less than 3 minutes to play. That was a very encouraging game by Oklahoma St because it was their first conference road game of the season in a hostile environment. The Cowboys are young, but they are ultra talented, so the fact that they showed well in that Kansas St game gives them plenty of confidence for this game. Oklahoma St beat NC State on a neutral floor and they only lost to Gonzaga by a single point; those two games show how good the Cowboys are.

Oklahoma comes into this game with a 10-3 record with some ugly losses on their resume. They lost to Stephen F. Austin at home, and they also lost at Arkansas. They got blown out by Gonzaga; they lost that game by 25 points (72-47). So if we compare Oklahoma St and Okalahoma based on the Gonzaga results, we can see that the Cowboys are the better team. Oklahoma St has played the better basketball on both ends of the court as the Cowboys shoot 44.7% and allow just 37.4% shooting from the field. Oklahoma shoots 42% and allows 40.1% shooting from the field. This game will be close throughout, but since Oklahoma St is the better team, we expect them to grab the road win over their rival on Saturday afternoon.

9* Play OKLAHOMA STATE (+).

Portland has been on quite a run recently. The Blazers have won 12 of their last 15 games including last night

New York has played inconsistent basketball since mid-December. The Knicks are just 5-6 since December 17th despite playing 7 of those 11 games on their home floor. New York opened the season at 18-5, but injuries and personnel changes began to happen and the recent results haven

Miami is flying well under the radar this season. The Hurricanes come into tonight

Minnesota has played tremendous basketball this season. The Golden Gophers come into tonight

We played the Lakers and Rockets Over the total last night and that won easily when the teams combined to score 237 points. Los Angeles is without their three big guys as Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and Jordan Hill are all sidelined with injuries. This team wasn

Lakers @ Rockets 8:00 PM EST
Play On: Over the Total (218

Oregon has quietly played some terrific basketball this season. The Ducks come into tonight

Portland

Creighton has played outstanding basketball this season. The Bluejays come into tonight

Los Angeles is on a current 17-game winning streak coming into tonight

Denver has been playing good basketball recently; the Nuggets have won three of their last four games by 12 points or more. However, this is a terrible situational and scheduling spot for the Nuggets. They come in off back-to-back blowout wins over the Lakers and Mavericks with the latest coming last night in Dallas. This will be Denver

Butler has been highly impressive this season. The Bulldogs come into tonight

This game is being played in Hartford and not on the campus of Connecticut which limits the Huskies home court edge just a bit. Washington will be playing just their fourth game away from home this season so the Huskies are not road weary like a lot of teams are during this time of the season. Washington has played a tough schedule so far this season with the likes of Ohio State, Colorado State, and Saint Louis. The Huskies do two things extremely well: they rebound and get to the free throw line. Washington grabs 11.2 offensive rebounds per game and they average 24 free throw attempts per game. Those are two areas in which Connecticut struggles; that means Washington holds two major match-up advantages in this game.

Connecticut has played an extremely weak schedule so far this season. Aside from Michigan St in their season opener, the Huskies have faced just one good team (NC State) over their last ten games. Despite that, Connecticut has been out-rebounded in 10 of their 11 games this season; they average just 30.3 rebounds per game which ranks them 323rd in the country. Washington also has the size edge in the backcourt with their guards so they hold the height edge inside the paint and outside on the perimeter. There

Philadelphia hit a rough patch for the first three weeks of December. Over that time, the Sixers went just 2-9 SU. It also didn

Los Angeles beat us last night as they won their 15th consecutive game by blowing out the Boston Celtics by 29 points (106-77). The Celtics played their worst game of the season by a long mile, but we

Boston played terrible basketball from late-November to mid-December. The Celtics lost six of ten games during that stretch while going just 3-7 ATS in those games. But Boston has played much better over their last three games as they

Philadelphia hit a rough patch for the first three weeks of December. Over that time, the Sixers went just 2-9 SU. It also didn

New York has played good basketball all season. The Knicks come into this game at 20-7 on the year, but their recent play has been a bit choppy. New York is just 2-2 over their last four games as they have alternated wins and losses. Their last game was a 94-91 win over Minnesota, but the Knicks trailed that game by 11 points before rallying in the fourth quarter to pull out the 3-point win. New York has been money burners against the pointspread as well as they are just 4-8 ATS over their last 12 ballgames and just 1-4 ATS over their last five games. This will also be their first road game in almost two weeks, and they are playing their fourth game in seven days. So not only are the Knicks in a bad scheduling spot, but they are also not playing in good form.

Los Angeles comes into today

Evansville is playing sneaky good basketball this year. The Purple Aces come into this game at 7-4 with every loss coming by 12 points or less, including three losses by 9 points or less. Evansville has had plenty of success against Butler in recent years; the Purple Aces have won the last two meetings and they only lost by 4 points in the game prior. Their offensive system is what Butler has trouble with:

Chicago is quietly playing good basketball right now. While most of the attention is focused on who

Marquette comes into tonight

Canisius only won 5 games last season. But under new head coach Jim Baron, the Golden Griffins are already 7-2 this year. Baron brought his son along with him to run the point, and Billy Baron figures to have a big match-up edge in tonight

San Antonio is in a bit of a funk right now. The Spurs have lost three of their last four games after winning 10 of their previous 11 games. San Antonio

This series has been highly competitive, and we expect another close game tonight. Denver has won 5 of the last 9 meetings between these two teams and they have covered the pointspread in 7 of those 9 games. The reason is because both teams play at an extremely slow pace and it

Chicago is quietly playing good basketball right now. While most of the attention is focused on who

Creighton has played terrific basketball so far this season. The Bluejays come into tonight

Louisville is obviously an outstanding team. The Cardinals come into this game at 8-1 with their lone loss coming to Duke. However, this will be just their second true road game of the season and it

Golden St won again for us on Wednesday night when they beat Miami 97-95 as 8

Golden St continues to play excellent basketball, and fortunately they

These two teams will play for the second time this season in Brooklyn; the Nets won the first game 96-89 in overtime. This is an important game between inner city rivals, and the Knicks are hell bent on revenging that earlier loss.

Golden St has been playing excellent basketball recently. The Warriors have won six of their last seven games and ten of their last thirteen games overall. The Warriors offense has kicked into high gear as they are finally playing with a healthy Stephen Curry.

Dallas will be playing their fifth road game in their last six games, and since they come in off a win at Phoenix on Thursday night, we expect some regression tonight in Houston. The Mavericks are not a good team, and they are still playing without Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas suffered two more injuries in their game against the Suns as Shawn Marion left with a groin pull and Chris Kaman left with a sprained ankle. Both guys are listed as game-time decisions with Marion most likely to miss this game. With or without those guys, Dallas will be up against it tonight as they are facing a young and energized Houston team returning home off a loss.

The Rockets got blown out at San Antonio last night, but they are a very deep team that spreads their minutes around well. Houston also has a lot of youth so there

Butler is playing much better now than they were earlier in the season. It took the Bulldogs a few games to get their rotation in order, and a recent lineup change by HC Brad Stevens figures to make Butler a more difficult team to prepare for. Stevens altered his second unit, and the move paid dividends right away in Butler

Golden St came through for us last night when they won 109-102 at Brooklyn, and we

Virginia Tech has a whole new identity this season under new head coach James Johnson. The Hokies are playing at a significantly faster pace this season, and the results have been good for them. Virginia Tech has increased their possessions per game from 63 last season to 74 this season. The Hokies come into today

Orlando has been playing much better basketball recently. The Magic have won two of their last three games and they

These two teams are heading in opposite directions right now, and that has created value in this game tonight. Golden St has won four of their last five games and eight of their last eleven games overall. The Warriors offense has kicked into high gear as they are finally playing with a healthy Stephen Curry.

Tonight

Dallas played last night in Los Angeles and the Mavericks got waxed by the Clippers 112-90. That was the sixth time over their last seven games in which Dallas allowed 100 points or more. Their defense is getting shredded right now, and we expect more of the same tonight in Phoenix. The Mavericks offense hasn

New York is in a very difficult scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Knicks won on a buzzer beater last night in Charlotte as they squeaked by the Bobcats with a 100-98 win. Carmelo Anthony also got hurt in that game as he cut his finger which required six stitches to close the gash. Anthony will be a game-time decision tonight, but even if he plays, how effective will he be shooting the ball? New York is also playing just their third back-to-back road set of the season; they are 0-2 in those games losing 105-95 at Memphis and 114-111 at Dallas earlier this season. The Knicks also beat Miami by 20 points (104-84) in the season opener, so they will be facing a motivated Heat team looking to atone for that blowout loss.

Miami comes in off an embarrassing 105-101 loss at Washington on Tuesday night. The was just the 2nd win for the Wizards this season so Miami will be focused on getting that memory out of their minds as soon as possible. The Heat have been exceptional when playing at home off a road loss. In fact, Miami is 8-1 SU and 6-3 ATS based on tonight

Milwaukee comes into this game off an ugly 102-81 loss at New Orleans on Monday night. The 81 points scored by the Bucks was their lowest offensive output of the season. They shot just 38.2% (29-76) from the field and they hit just 65.2% (15-23) from the free throw line. Milwaukee shoots 74.5% as a team from the line so the Bucks truly played an all around bad game. But the Bucks have proven to bounce back strong off a loss, and in fact, they are 32-10 ATS dating back to last season in this situation based on tonight

Ohio returns all five starters from last year

Phoenix has been dreadful on their current road trip. The Suns have lost four of their last five games because they aren