ASA NBA play on LA Clippers -2.5 at San Antonio Spurs, 8pm ET - The Spurs just spent some time overseas in France for a two-game set with the Pacers. After that distraction and travel we will bet against them here versus the Clippers. L.A. is coming off a 109-111 loss on Monday night to the Suns and we expect them to bounce back here with a resounding road win. The Clippers are 11-8 ATS when coming off a loss with a positive differential of +1.2ppg. As a road favorite this season the Clippers are 3-3 ATS but they have an average plus/minus in those games of +9.7ppg. San Antonio is 5-8 ATS as a home dog with a negative differential of minus -6.4ppg. The Spurs have faced the Grizzlies twice, Denver and this Clippers team in their last four true home games. They were beaten by 28 and 14 by Memphis, lost by 1-point to Denver and embarrassed this Clippers club by 36 on this court. Kawhi Leonard did not play in the most recent meeting and should be available this time around. Looking at the Clippers 10 most recent games we find they have the 3rd best Net Rating differential in the NBA. In that same 10 games the Spurs rank 25th. The Spurs offense will have a tough time against this Clippers defense that is 3rd in opponents FG%, 3rd in 3PT% and give up the 3rd fewest points per gam3e at 106.9. Before getting throttled in the most recent meeting the Clippers had won 8 in a row against the Spurs, four of which were in San Antonio, all by more than this spread.

#620 ASA PLAY ON Georgia -7.5 over South Carolina, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - Georgia has lost 4 straight games with 3 of those losses coming vs teams rated in the top 6 nationally per KenPom.  3 of those 4 games were on the road and their lone home game was a 2 point loss vs Auburn, the #1 team in the country.  That was UGA’s only home loss of the season.  Their most recent loss on Saturday @ Florida was an embarrassing effort and by far their worst loss of the season (89-59 final) giving the Bulldogs some extra incentive for this one.  After that rough stretch of opponents, the Bulldogs are happy to be back home and facing the lowest rated team in the conference, South Carolina who sits with an 0-7 record in the SEC.  The Gamecocks have been fairly competitive at home but on the road they’ve lost 2 of their 3 games by 20+ points.  They are in a really rough situational spot here coming off 2 down to the wire SEC home losses including an OT setback vs Mississippi State on Saturday.  After expending lots of energy (both physical and emotional) in those 2 home games only to come up short in both, we wouldn’t be surprised if SC doesn’t have much left in the tank for this one.  The Gamecocks offense has been really poor in SEC play averaging just 61 PPG and ranking dead last in offensive efficiency.  Facing a UGA defense that ranks 20th nationally in defensive efficiency won’t be much help for this offense.  SC also turns the ball over more than any other team in the conference (24% turnover rate).  Georgia’s 2 home wins in the SEC have come vs Kentucky and Oklahoma, both much better teams than South Carolina, and the Dogs beat both those teams by double digits.  Georgia is a good team in desperation mode and we look for another double digit home win on Tuesday.

ASA play on Oklahoma City Thunder -13.5 at Portland Trailblazers, 6pm et - The Blazers four game winning streak is a bit of fool’s gold as it came against four teams with a combined 77-102 SU record and each team has some current ‘issues’. In that stretch of games, the Blazers beat the Heat and Bulls who are in the middle of several trade rumors, Orlando who is adjusting to players coming back and Charlotte without LaMelo Ball. Porland returns home where they are 9-12 SU with a negative point differential of -9.1ppg. Oklahoma City is coming off a loss to the Mavericks, so we expect them to bounce back here with a little more energy and focus than normal. The Thunder are 41-34 ATS going back to 2022 when coming off a SU loss. OKC is 16-5 SU, 12-7-2 ATS this season on the road with the best average Margin of Victory at +10.1ppg. Recently the Blazers lost at home by 22 to the Rockets (-11) and by 29 to the Clippers (-7). OKC has won 14 straight meetings with the Blazers including a win on this court in early November by 23-points. We typically don’t like laying double-digits on the road but will make an exception here.

#102 ASA PLAY ON Philadelphia Eagles -6 over Washington Commanders, Sunday at 3 PM ET - We were on the Eagles last week (released them on Friday at -6) and had a bit of rough luck as they won by 6 but missed 2 extra points. We’ll grab them again this week vs division rival Washington. These 2 met twice this season with Philly winning by 8 at home and losing by 3 on the road. Their road loss came with an asterisk as the Eagles led 14-0 in that game in the 1st quarter and lost their QB Hurts to a concussion. They played the rest of the game with back up Kenny Pickett and still led by 13 in the 4th quarter. The Commanders took the 36-33 win with a late TD with just 6 seconds remaining. Philly outgained Washington 5.7 YPP to 5.1 YPP in the 2 games combined and rushed for 228 and 211 yards in those meetings so we look for the Birds to control the trenches again in this one. Washington is a bit fortune to be here. They were outgained by 1.4 YPP in their win over Tampa Bay and outgained again by 1.1 YPP in their win @ Detroit last week. They have a ridiculous +6 turnover margin in those two games which is the main reason they are sitting in this spot. Situationally this is a very difficult spot for the Commanders. They are playing their 4th straight road game while Philadelphia is playing their 5th straight home game. This is just the 8th time since 2000 where a team is playing their 4th straight road game in the playoffs. The previous 7 teams that fell into that situation were 0-7 SU. Washington is also looking to become just the 2nd team in NFL history to win 3 straight games as an underdog in the playoffs. The Eagles have a few players banged up including QB Hurts but it looks like they’ll all be OK to play here. A rookie QB has never played in the Super Bowl and we don’t think it will happen this year with Jayden Daniels. We’ll call Philly to win by at least a TD on Sunday.

#838 ASA PLAY ON Indiana +3.5 over Maryland, Sunday at 12 PM ET - Needless to say IU is in a must win spot here at home. Following this game the Hoosiers go on a stretch that includes Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, and UCLA in their next 5 games. They have lost 3 of their last 4 and we’re catching some value with them because of that. They should also have some added incentive as their last home game was a 94-69 loss vs Illinois. An embarrassing effort and now they get a chance to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd. After that loss, the Hoosiers did travel to Ohio State and pick up a win as a dog and then lost @ Northwestern on Wednesday in a game they led at half but allowed the Cats to roll up 54 points in the 2nd half. Head coach Mike Woodson has stressed that defensive collapse this week and we look for a solid effort on that end of the court from the Hoosiers. IU got NBA prospect Reneau (13 PPG & 6 RPG) back in the line up @ Northwestern after missing 5 straight games. He was a bit rusty but now with a game under his belt we expect him to be more involved on Sunday. The Hoosiers are catching Maryland off a huge upset @ Illinois on Thursday (IU with an extra day having played on Wednesday) and now on the road again a few days later. In that blowout win @ Illinois one of the Illini’s top players, big man Ivisic (13 PPG & 8.5 RPG) was announced out just prior to game time with an illness. The Illini didn’t respond well and Maryland ran them off the court hitting 50% of their shots for the game. That sets this one up nicely situation wise along with pushing this number higher than it should be in our opinion. Prior to that win, the Terps were 0-4 in true road games this year including losing 2 of those games as a favorite (@ Washington and @ NW). Despite their loss most recent home loss vs Illinois, the Hoosiers are still 11-1 SU at home this season. This one is tight in our opinion so we’ll take the points with the home team.

ASA play on LA Clippers -2.5 vs. Milwaukee Bucks, 10:30pm et - The Clippers and Bucks got off to poor starts this season, but both have turned things around with Milwaukee winning 5 straight and 8 of ten, while the Clippers are 5-2 SU their last seven. LA has also won 16 of their last twenty home games, 6 of their last eight in their own building by an average of +15ppg. When it comes to overall season statistics these teams are identical in terms of Net Rating at +3.3. At home the Clippers Net Rating is +7.9, the 5th highest number in the NBA, the Bucks road Net Rating is -2.4 or 17th. The biggest advantage for the Clippers in this matchup is on the boards. LA is the 6th best rebounding team in the NBA the Bucks are 14th. Milwaukee is last in the NBA in offensive rebounding but 1st in defensive rebounding. The Clippers though average just 3 less defensive rebounds per game than Milwaukee so there isn’t much of an advantage there. The Bucks are in the center of trade rumors which has to be a distraction for several players including key contributors in Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis and others. Of the Bucks 8 road wins this season only two have come against teams with winning records. Lay the points here with the Clippers.

#796 ASA PLAY ON California -9 over Miami FL, Saturday at 8:30 PM ET - We were on Stanford over Miami on Wednesday night and picked up an easy win with the Cardinal winning 88-51.  As we stated on Wednesday, it looks like the Canes have already packed it in for the season.  They have now lost 14 of their last 15 games and since their head coach Jim Larranaga stepped down in late December, they haven’t won a game (0-7 SU).  Miami’s last 3 losses have come by margins of 35, 43, and 37 points and their only single digit loss since January 1st was vs Va Tech who rates 170th nationally which is only ahead of Miami and BC in the ACC.  They are not only losing, they aren’t even coming close to covering on many nights and their season spread record is now 3-16 ATS.  They face a Cal team that has some solid momentum after back to back wins including topping a solid Florida State team by 9 points on Wednesday.  Not only did they win that game (as a dog), they did so with their leading scorer, Stojakovic (19 PPG), out due to illness.  It looks like he’ll be back here and the Bears should be at full strength.  Cal’s offense has been very efficient this season (top 75 in offensive efficiency) and they are averaging 80 PPG at home.  That should continue tonight facing a terrible Miami defense that ranks 361st in opponents FG%, 364th (dead last) in opponent’s 3 point FG%, and 343rd in scoring defense allowing 80 PPG.  The Canes are only averaging 64 PPG on the road and they’ve been held to 54 or less in their last 2 road games.  Looks like blowout potential here with Cal.  We’ll lay it.

#790 ASA PLAY ON Xavier -1.5 over UConn, Saturday at 8 PM ET - Xavier has been playing really well as they try to get themselves back into NCAA tourney consideration (12-8 overall record). They have won 3 of their last 4 games, including upsetting Marquette on the road. Their 1 loss during that stretch was in OT on Wednesday @ St Johns, who is in first place in the Big East with an 8-1 record, and XU held a 16 point 2nd half lead in that game. The Musketeers led that game by 10 at half and St Johns led for a grand total of 30 seconds in the 2nd half before the game went to OT. Xavier ranks 91st nationally in Haslam’s Momentum metric since January 1st while UConn ranks 305th. The Huskies simply aren’t playing well right now. They are 6-2 in Big East play but they’ve faced one of the easiest schedules in the conference (9th SOS out of 11 – Xavier has played the #1 SOS in Big East play) yet only 1 of their wins has come by more than 8 points. Their last 2 games were both at home where they lost to Creighton and squeaked by Butler 80-78 in OT. UConn’s defense has not been good this year (ranked 132nd in efficiency) and their 3 point defense has been really poor, ranking 341st in the country. That’s not a good match up for this Xavier team that hits over 38% of their triples which is good for 23rd best in the nation. These 2 met already this season in December and XU took the Huskies to OT on the road before losing 94-89. The Musketeers took Connecticut to the wire on the road in that game despite missing leading scorer & rebounder Zack Freemantle (17 PPG & 7 RPG) and he is back in the line up and has been playing very well. We expect XU to have a solid edge from the 3 point line again as they make almost 42% of their triples. We also look for them to have a plus margin at the FT line as UConn fouls a lot (opponents scoring 25% of their points from the FT line in Big East play which is dead last for the Huskies defense) and XU makes 78% of their freebies. This revenger sets up nicely and we’ll lay this small number.

#762 ASA PLAY ON Louisiana Tech -3 over Middle Tennessee State, Saturday at 6:30 PM ET - La Tech is 3-4 in CUSA play and MTSU is in 1st place at 5-1 yet the Bulldogs are a 3 point favorite in this game. Read the market as they say which is telling us La Tech is the right side here and we agree. While LT hasn’t won a conference road game yet, they are a perfect 3-0 at home in CUSA play and they’ve already topped the 1st (Liberty) and 4th (Western Kentucky) rated teams in the league (per KenPom) by 5 and 10 points respectively here in Ruston. Sandwiched in between those 2 impressive wins were 2 points losses @ Jacksonville State and @ Kennesaw State, who both sit tied for 2nd place in the conference. As we mentioned MTSU is in 1st place in the league and they are 2-1 on the road in conference play. Their 2 road wins came vs FIU, by far the lowest rated team in the conference, and vs Sam Houston State, the 3rd lowest rated team in the conference. Their win over SHSU was on Thursday night and it was down to the wire with the Blue Raiders winning 77-75. In that game SHSU missed a layup as time expired which would have sent the game to OT. Middle Tennessee shot a 47% in that win (43% for Sam Houston) and they made 12 of 26 triples for 46% which was well above their season average of 32% (219th in 3 point FG%). Even with that, this one came to the wire vs a lower tier CUSA team. That won’t happen again in this game as La Tech ranks 25th nationally defending the arc allowing just 29%. The Bulldogs are much better than their 3-4 conference record (La Tech is rated 3rd best team in the league per KenPom) and they are in a must win spot at home if they want to have a chance to move up toward the top of the CUSA standings. Tech also has some extra incentive here as they finished 22-10 last year but were surprisingly knocked out of the Conference USA tourney by this MTSU team who finished 14-19 last season. Let’s lay it with the home team.

#648 ASA PLAY ON George Washington +1 over St Louis, Saturday at 2 PM ET - GW in must win mode at home coming off 3 straight losses. 2 of those were road losses, including an OT setback vs George Mason who is 6-1 in the A10, and then a home loss to a red hot Duquesne team. The Revolutionaries were 9-0 at home prior to their Duquesne setback and we look for them to get back on track here. St Louis steps in having won 3 in a row but this team has not been impressive on the road this season. The Billikens were 0-3 SU on the road entering conference play and they have won 2 A10 road games but those game @ Fordham and @ Richmond, the 2 worst teams ni the conference who have a combined league record of 2-10. The one good team the played on the road in A10 play was @ VCU and St Louis lost that game by 16 points. They Billikens rank 247th in Haslam Metrics home vs road category while GW ranks 69th at home in that metric. St Louis relies pretty heavily on the 3 point shot (40th nationally in percentage of points from deep) but they are running into a very good 3 point defense here as the Revolutionaries rank 30th nationally allowing opponents to make only 29% from beyond the arc. GW should also get a number of extra possessions creating turnovers ranking in the top 70 in the country creating giveaways on 19% of opponents possessions while STL turns it over a lot (247th in offensive turnover percentage). George Washington is a bit weak on the boards but that shouldn’t hinder them in this game as the Billikens are as well ranking 327th in offensive rebounding percentage. St Louis has two huge home games on deck next week vs VCU and Dayton (the 2 highest rated teams in the conference) so they might be peaking ahead to those games. They are also playing their 3rd road game in their last 4 games and we think they get beat here. We’ll take George Washington at home.

#890 ASA PLAY ON Iowa -2.5 over Penn State, Friday at 9 PM ET - We’re catching Iowa at the bottom of the market here as they are coming off 3 straight losses including a setback vs Minnesota on Tuesday night. Because of that we’re getting the Hawkeyes at a cheap price at home tonight in a must win game. They lost @ USC and @ UCLA, which wasn’t surprising, leading into their poor performance vs the Gophers. In their 72-67 loss vs Minnesota, the Hawks made only 3 of 21 triples (14%) and averaged just 1.00 PPP. Those numbers were WAY down from their season averages of 38.7% from 3 which is 15th best nationally and 1.19 PPP which is 19th best nationally. We expect a bounce back from a team that is 10-2 at home (only other loss was vs #3 Iowa State) as they have been very solid at home shooting 53% from the field, 40% from deep, while averaging 91 PPG. They are facing a PSU team coming off a home win over Rutgers earlier this week, but the Nittany Lions are 0-3 SU on the road in Big 10 play and just 2-11 SU on the road in conference play since the start of last season. In their road games, Penn State’s numbers have dropped off drastically scoring 14 fewer points while shooting a lower percentage overall and from 3 point range. The Nits will also be without a key player, starter Puff Johnson (10 PPG and 5 RPG) who won’t play in this one due to an injury. Iowa was favored by 9 here last year and now we’re getting them at just -3. Take the Hawkeyes to win and cover at home.

ASA NBA play on Chicago Bulls +2.5 at Golden State Warriors, 9 PM ET - The Warriors are in a tough spot here having played a big game against the Kings in Sacramento last night. The Bulls last played on Monday and beat a solid Clippers team in their own building. Golden State is 2-4 SU, 1-5 ATS this season when playing without rest with a negative point differential of minus -8.3ppg. Conversely, the Bulls are 6-2 ATS this season when playing with a rest advantage. Going back to the start of last season the Bulls are 17-10 ATS with a rest advantage and an average plus/minus of +2.4ppg. Golden State has some major injury concerns with Draymond Green doubtful and Kuminga out. Steph Curry isn’t the same player he once was and the second night of a back-to-back might be too much to ask of the aging Hall of Famer. The Bulls are 1-5 SU their last six games but played well most recently in their 13-point win against the Clippers. The Warriors haven’t been much better of late with a 3-5 SU record in their last eight games. We expect the Bulls to play well again here and won’t be surprised when they win outright.

#781 ASA PLAY ON North Carolina A&T +12.5 over Towson, Thursday at 7 PM ET - North Carolina A&T is 0-7 SU on CAA play which is why this number is set higher than it should be according to our power ratings. Despite their losses, they’ve been competitive in conference play with all of their losses coming by 11 points or less. Towson, on the other hand, is 10-9 on the season but they do not have a single win the entire season by more than 11 points (vs D1 opponents) and their lone 11 point win came in OT. Their average margin in CAA play this season is +3.8 points. The Tigers have been favored by double digits just twice this season and failed to cover both games winning each by just 4 points. Both of those teams, Morgan State & Stony Brook, are rated lower than this A&T team per KenPom. Towson is a poor offensive team averaging just 66 PPG while ranking 350th in FG% and 327th in 3 point FG%. Tough to cover big numbers when you’re a poor shooting team that struggles to score points. NC A&T is by no means a great team but they do a few things well that should keep them close here including not turning the ball over (5th nationally in offensive turnover rate). When comparing the Aggies to Towson, they shoot a better overall percentage, a higher 3 point FG% and FT%. They average 74 PPG on the season and have scored at least 63 in all but 2 games. If A&T gets to that number here, that should be enough to cover this lofty number. Towson has won 4 straight games (overvalued) and they have a rematch with Northeastern on deck. Don’t be surprised if they overlook this winless conference team that we think will give them a battle. Take the points.

ASA NBA play on Indiana Pacers -3.5 vs. San Antonio Spurs, 2 PM ET - *Note being played in Paris, France today*. This is a sort of homecoming for Victor Wembanyama but I don’t think that’s going to play a big part in this outcome. In fact, it may be a detriment if the young phenom is “over-hyped” for the game. Here are the facts on this game. The Pacers are healthy and playing lights out with 8 wins in their last nine games. Over that span of games the Pacers have the 3rd best Net Rating behind the Nuggets and Thunder. Indiana has an average +/- in those games of +11.3ppg, also 3rd best in the NBA. It’s been the Pacers defense that has sparked this streak as their Defensive Net rating of 107.7 is significantly lower than their season number of 113.6. San Antonio is a respectable 19-22 SU on the season but they are starting to show some cracks in the armor. The Spurs have just 1 win in their last seven games with 5 of the six losses coming by double-digits. In their last ten games the Spurs have a -3.4 Net Rating which is 23rd worst in the league. San Antonio just won’t be able to keep up with this Pacers offense that is 4th in FG% and 7th in 3PT%. In comparison the Spurs are 21st and 24th in those two shooting categories.

#748 ASA PLAY ON Stanford -10 over Miami FL, Wednesday at 11 PM ET - It looks like Miami may have thrown in the towel.  The Canes have lost 13 of their last 14 games and just lost 117-74 at HOME vs SMU.  Their head coach Jim Larranaga stepped down in late December and since he left the team they’ve lost 6 in a row with 5 of those losses coming by double digits.  Their only non 10 point plus loss during that stretch was vs Va Tech who rates 170th nationally which is only ahead of Miami and BC in the ACC.  Not only are they not winning, they aren’t covering with a spread record of 3-15 ATS on the season which is the 2nd worst mark in college basketball.  They continue to play without their leading scorer Nijel Pack who has missed the last 8 games due to an injury.  This is a tough spot for a struggling team making the long travel west for the first time this year and playing a game at 11 PM ET.  Stanford has some really solid momentum coming off a win @ North Carolina on Saturday.  The Cardinal have won 3 of their last 4 games and they have a 4-3 record in ACC play despite playing only 2 home conference games thus far, both double digit wins.  They are 9-1 overall at home with 7 of those wins coming by 10+ points.  Stanford is facing a terrible Miami defense that ranks 361st in opponents FG%, 364th (dead last) in opponent’s 3 point FG%, and 338th in scoring defense allowing 79 PPG.  The Cardinal average 80 PPG at home and should top that number facing by far the worst defense they’ve seen in ACC play.  Miami goes down big again.

#717 ASA PLAY ON Murray State Pick'em over Southern Illinois, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - We like this spot for Murray State (rated the 4th best team in the MVC) coming off back to back losses.  They lost @ UIC in 2 OT’s and then ran into a red hot Bradley team, who currently has a 16-3 record, in a home loss on Saturday.  In that loss on Saturday vs Bradley, the Braves shot 53% overall, 39% from deep, and made 89% of their FT’s   The Racers have been very good on the road this season already topping both Drake and Northern Iowa (ranked #1 and #3 in the Missouri Valley).  Metrically (Haslam Metrics) has Murray State rated as the 20th best road team in the nation.  They average more PPG, shoot a higher FG%, and a higher 3 point FG% on the road this year when compared to their home stats.  They are taking on a Southern Illinois team that has won 3 straight but 2 of those wins came vs Missouri State who sits at 0-9 in conference play and one of those wins was in OT.  SIU already has 3 home losses this season including 2 in MVC play.  The Salukis have played the easier conference slate (only faced 1 of the top 4 teams thus far) yet Murray State (faced each of the top 3 teams) has better league efficiency numbers on both ends of the court.  The Racers also get to the FT line a lot (23% of their points from the stripe #1 in the MVC) and SIU does not (14% of their points from the FT line – last in the league).  When the Salukis do rarely get to the line, they only make 62% in league play (Murray State makes 73%).  We like the better team in a bounce back spot to win this game on the road.

#654 ASA PLAY ON Texas -2 over Missouri, Tuesday at 9 PM ET - The Longhorns are in desperate need of a conference win as they sit at 1-4 in SEC play. They’ve had a really rough schedule to start the season already having faced Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas A&M, 4 of the top 5 rated teams in the league. In their home games vs Auburn (#2 nationally per KenPom) and Tennessee (#6 nationally per KenPom) the Horns were extremely competitive losing by 5 & 4 points respectively. Missouri, on the other hand, sits at 4-1 in league play but they’ve already faced the 3 lowest rated teams in the SEC (Vandy, LSU and Arkansas). They do have an impressive conference win over Florida by 1 point but they were also rolled by 16 points vs Auburn. While we feel Texas is undervalued right now, we also feel that Mizzou is overvalued coming into this one on a 4 game winning streak with 3 of those coming at home. The Tigers have only played 3 true road games this season (1-2 record) and they’ve played all but 3 games this year (out of 18 games) in the state of Missouri. Going back to the start of last season, the Tigers are just 1-11 SU on the road in SEC games and their one win came by a single point. Their defense thrives on creating turnovers for extra possessions but they are facing a Texas offense that only turns it over 14% of the time (14th nationally) so that edge should be nullified in this game. The Tigers have also been shooting lights out in SEC play (41% from 3) which isn’t sustainable while Texas (ranked 28th in 3point FG% on the season) has made only 29% in conference play so almost a full 10% points below their season average. We expect both to regress toward their averages which would benefit Texas at home in this one. Very small spread here for the host and we’ll grab the Longhorns.

ASA NBA play on Portland Trailblazers +11 at Miami Heat, 7:30 pm et - These same two teams recently met in Portland with the Heat winning 119-98 as a 5-point favorite. Portland was coming off an extended road trip and playing their first game back at home. They shot well below season standards at 38% overall and 29% from beyond the arc. Miami shot above expectations from the 3-point line by hitting 19 of 44 attempts or 43%. The Blazers had an +8-rebound advantage. Miami is coming off a win over the Spurs on Sunday and has a big road game on deck against the Bucks, plus they continue to deal with the Jimmy Butler trade distraction. Portland got a much-needed home win over the Bulls on Sunday after losing 5 games in a row. The Heat are 11-8 SU at home this season, but 9-11 ATS with an average +/- of plus +2.6ppg. The Blazers have a winning spread record on the road of 11-9-1 ATS with a negative differential of minus -8.5ppg. As a double-digit road dog, the Blazers are 6-3 ATS and won outright recently in Milwaukee as a +11.5 points underdog and the Bucks are rated significantly higher than Miami in our power rankings. Even though the Heat are clearly the better overall shooting team, we like the Blazers offensive rebound advantage in this matchup and expect that edge to keep them close in this one. Grab the points.

#624 ASA PLAY ON Duquesne +4 over Dayton, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - We were on Duquesne (+1.5) on Saturday over St Bonnies and picked up an easy 18 point outright win with the Dukes. This team continues to be undervalued because their overall record is just 9-9. However, 8 of their 9 losses came by December 11th or earlier and this team is now on a 7-1 run with their only loss during that stretch coming @ Davidson by 6. The Dukes lost their first 6 games of the season as they were adjusting to a new head coach and had some guys miss games early. Since December 11th, Duquesne ranks as the top team in the Atlantic 10 Conference and 25th overall nationally per Bart Torvik Analytics well ahead of the 2nd best team during that stretch which is VCU (53rd). During that stretch they rank 31st nationally in offensive efficiency and 39th in defensive efficiency. Their opponent tonight Dayton ranks as the 161st best team since December 11th with a 4-4 record during that stretch. Even more recently, since January 1st the Flyers are 1-3 and rank 251st nationally. This team is simply not playing well. Their lone win this month came at home on Saturday vs Loyola Chicago and that game went to OT before Dayton won by 2 points on a half court alley oop play at the buzzer. The Flyers made 12 more FT’s in that game (Loyola only made 9 FT’s and Dayton 21) and it still took OT at home to get a win. Dayton has now lost 7 straight games vs the spread but they continue to be overvalued as a road favorite here vs a team that is simply playing much better than they are right now. Our power rating has Duquesne as a favorite here so we’ll grab the value on the home team.

#287 ASA PLAY ON Ohio State -8 over Notre Dame, Monday at 7:30 PM ET - We’ll go to the well one more time and play against the Irish here. In their quarterfinal game vs UGA the Irish were outplayed across the board but benefitted from 2 key Georgia turnovers (one led to a short ND TD drive and one took points away from the Bulldogs) and a 98 yard kickoff return. Last week vs PSU, the Irish got down 10-0 but were able to rally and score 10 points in the final 5:00 minutes to pull out a 3 point win. What caught our eye in that game was the PSU ran for over 200 yards and limited ND to just 116 yards and the Nittany Lions held a +2.1 yards per carry differential. They definitely won in the trenches which would normally get you a win. That’ will be the case here as well although it might be even more drastic. OSU’s defense ranks #1 nationally in total defense, YPP allowed, and passing yards allowed while ranking #2 in yards per carry allowed. In their first 3 playoff games, they held Tennessee to 152 yards rushing (the Vols average 226), they held Oregon to negative 23 yards rushing (OU averages 158), and then shut down Texas to 58 yards rushing (Horns average 159). If ND struggles to run here, we think they are in trouble. They are not a great passing team (92nd in passing YPG) and OSU, as we mentioned, has the #1 pass defense in the country. The Buckeyes have had the tougher road to get here facing Tennessee, Oregon, and Texas while Notre Dame has taken on Indiana, UGA, and Penn State. Ohio State has outscored their 3 opponents by +59 points (closest win was by 14 vs Texas) and outgained those opponents by +470 total yards. ND has outscored their 3 opponents by +26 points and outgained those opponents by just +129 total yards. Ohio State has played the tougher schedule yet they are still better in all of the key stats including YPP margin, YPG margin, YPC margin, and yards per pass attempt margin. The Buckeyes have been simply dominant in their playoff run while Notre Dame, despite winning 3 straight, has not. The favorite has covered 5 straight National Championship games, and we make it 6 on Monday with OSU winning by double digits.

#394 ASA PLAY ON Buffalo Bills +1.5 over Baltimore Ravens, Sunday at 6:30 PM PM ET - This game opened with the Bills as a favorite and flipped the Baltimore -1.5 with lots of public backing for the Ravens. We’ll now jump on the home dog as the Bills are getting points at home in the playoffs for the first time since 1967. There were 2 road favorites in last weeks Wildcard round, Chargers and Vikings, and both lost outright. Road favorites in the NFL playoffs are now on a 3-12 ATS run. Part of the line move is most likely due to the fact that Baltimore rolled Buffalo at home in the regular season by a final score of 35-10. However, that game was way back in September, Buffalo was really banged up at the time, it was a short week for the Bills after playing on Monday night, and Baltimore was 1-2 on the season so it was a huge home game for them. We don’t take much away from that result. Bills are 9-0 at home this season (54-18 SU at home since McDermott took over as head coach) while Baltimore was 6-3 on the road. Buffalo averaged 34 PPG at home this season and scored at least 30 in 8 of their 9 at home. The Birds allowed more PPG on the road this season than they did at home and scored fewer points on the road compared to their home games. The Bills defense ranks 6th in the NFL in EPA vs the run so they match up well with this Baltimore offense. Lamar Jackson has a losing playoff record and he’s only played 2 playoff games away from home in his career (1-1 record). Buffalo was embarrassed earlier this season and now they have a little extra motivation as they’ve been bet to a home dog despite having the better record and being undefeated at home. You can be sure that’s been discussed. Let’s also remember that the 2 teams with the best record in the NFL this year were KC & Detroit (15-2 and both had byes last week) and Buffalo beat both. We’ll take the Bills to win this one outright.

#852 ASA PLAY ON Baylor -12 over TCU, Sunday at 5 PM ET - The Bears are 11-5 on the season but they are much better than their record in our opinion. They’ve played the 3rd most difficult slate in CBB thus far and their losses have come all away from home vs Gonzaga, UConn, Tennessee, Iowa State, and Arizona. 4 of those opponents sit in KenPom’s top 16 and the only team that does not, UConn, ranks 27th. The Bears are back home where they are undefeated and in big time need of a win coming off a loss @ Arizona. They’ve taken care of business at home in a big way vs teams that are higher rated than this TCU team. Baylor beat Cincinnati here by 20, Utah by 25 (the Utes just beat TCU on the road on Wednesday night) and all of their 8 home wins have come by at least 20 points. Their average home score this season is 92-56! They haven’t allowed a single team to reach 70 points at home this season. After 5 Big 12 games the Horned Frogs rank 13th in offensive eFG% and 15th in defensive eFG% and they are only shooting 59% from the FT line (Just 62% for the entire season). They are averaging just 63 PPG on the road (only 70 PPG for the full season) and facing a Baylor team that lights it up on their home court shooting 52% overall and 41% from deep. We don’t see TCU being able to keep up offensively in this game so we’ll lay the lumber.

#392 ASA PLAY ON Philadelphia Eagles -5.5 over LA Rams, Sunday at 3 PM ET - Philly didn’t play great last week offensively (5.0 YPP) but they still topped the Packers 22-10 due to their strong defense. The Eagles stop unit has been lights out this season ranking #1 in the NFL in total defense, YPP allowed and passing YPG allowed. Since their bye week (in week 5) the Eagles have been easily the best defense in the NFL. During that stretch Philly has allowed only 4.3 YPP and 1.4 points per drive which is the best in the NFL. They’ve also held teams without a first down on 45% of their drives during that stretch which is by far the best in the league. They’ve held 9 of their last 10 opponents to 20 points or less and we look for the Rams to struggle here offensively. The Eagles might not need to do much offensively to cover this number. QB Hurts had missed 3 weeks leading into last week so he was a bit rusty but with a game under his belt we expect better results on offense. Philly should have plenty of success running the ball which is what the love to do (56% running plays - #1 in the NFL). The Rams defense ranks near the bottom of the league in YPG rushing and YPC and in their meeting in late November, LA allowed over 300 yards rushing on 7.0 YPC vs the Eagles. That was a 37-20 Philadelphia win on the road and now we get them at home. Teams that beat a team in the regular season and then face them in the playoffs are 42-24 SU in those games. The Rams are in a rough spot here with the LA fires affecting their practice time and they were forced to move their game to Arizona last week. Now they much travel across the country and play in cold weather (32 degrees and possible snow) which isn’t ideal for a warm weather, dome type team. The Rams are also on a short week playing on Monday night and now making the long travel. We like the Eagles to win this by at least a TD so we’ll lay it on Sunday.

#832 ASA PLAY ON Maryland -9.5 over Nebraska, Sunday at 12 PM ET - The Huskers are in a slump right now losing 3 straight games and their defense during that stretch has been atrocious. They have allowed 97, 104, and 85 points their last 3 games vs Iowa, Purdue, and Rutgers. They’ve been a very poor road team over the years (including this season) but the red flag for this team was losing at home vs Rutgers earlier this week. That broke a 20 game home winning streak vs a Rutgers team that had lost 4 of their previous 6 games and were winless in true road games prior to topping the Huskers. On the road Nebraska has played 3 games in league play and lost by 37, 36, and 10 points and they are just 5-18 SU in Big 10 road games over the last 2+ seasons. This season they average 12 PPG fewer on the road and they shoot 5% lower from 3 point land (just 30% in road games). Maryland is undefeated at home in conference play and their lone home loss was by 4 points vs Marquette back in mid November. The Terps have much better efficiency numbers in conference play as they rank in the top 8 both offensively and defensively while Nebraska ranks 15th and 16th in Big 10 play in those metrics. The Huskers are 1-5 SU @ Maryland and their last 2 losses have come by 22 and 19 points. Win and cover here for the Terps.

ASA NBA play on Houston Rockets -11 at Portland Trailblazers – 10 pm et - We typically don’t like laying this many points in the NBA, especially with road favorites, but we will make an exception here. Houston is one of the better teams in the NBA at 27-13 SU with the 5th best overall Net Rating of +6.2. Portland is one of the worst teams in the league at 13-27 and the 29th or second to last Net Rating of minus -8.8. Houston had won 5 in a row, including a 20-point win at Denver and a 4-point win in Memphis prior to a loss most recently at Sacramento. In that stretch of games, they had a 23-point win in Washington against a Wizards team that rates similar to this Blazers team. Portland has really fallen hard in recent games with 4 straight losses, the last three have come by an average of 26ppg. Houston has a 6-1 SU record in their last seven road games with a Net Rating of +10.7. On the season the Rockets are 12-6-1 ATS on the road, 8-4 ATS as a road favorite. Portland beat this Rockets team the last time they met so we know Houston will not overlook them here. Lay the points with the Rockets.

#818 ASA PLAY ON San Francisco -3 over Oregon State, Saturday at 10 PM ET - Great spot to fade Oregon State here after they pulled a huge home upset in OT over Gonzaga just 48 hours ago. The Beavers shot nearly 60% from the field in that game (Zags shot 42%) yet the game still went to OT. Now they have a quick turnaround on the road where they are 1-3 SU in true road games this season and 3-34 SU their last 37! They face a San Francisco team that has won 27 of their last 28 home games (8-0 this year) and we’re getting a cheap number here with the Dons. This is Oregon State’s first trip ever to play @ San Francisco which makes it a tough spot as well. The Beavers overall offensive numbers have been very good as they average 1.15 PPP but in their 4 true road games + 3 neutral site games, they’ve been held to 1.03 PPP or lower in 5 of those games. We think they’ll struggle offensive on the road again vs a San Fran defense that allows opponents to shoot just 40% overall and 27% from deep at home while holding opponents to 64 PPG. The Dons average 81 PPG at home this season and we think OSU struggles to keep up here. Lay the small number with San Francisco at home.

#808 ASA PLAY ON Texas A&M -11 over LSU, Saturday at 8:30 PM ET - Great spot for A&M at home here as they are coming off back to back losses vs Alabama and Kentucky.  The Aggies took Bama to the wire at home before losing 94-88 and they lost @ KY on Wednesday night.  A&M played both of those games without leading scorer and future NBA guard Wade Taylor (16 PPG and 5 APG).  Taylor was not listed on the injury report on Friday evening so we’d have to assume he’s going to be back in the lineup on Saturday which is a huge boost to this team.  With Taylor in the lineup the Aggies are 12-2 including wins over Texas, Purdue, Ohio State, and Texas Tech, all top 30 teams.  They are 8-1 at home with their only loss coming vs Alabama (with Taylor out) and all of their 8 wins have come by double digits.  A&M has a 13-4 overall record (2 losses without Taylor) and they’ve faced the 10th most difficult schedule in the country this season.  LSU, on the other hand, has faced the 164th most difficult schedule and they have a worse record at 12-5.  The Tigers have played 4 true road games, lost 3 of those games (all by double digits) and their only road win was @ Kansas State (7-9 record) who is the 2nd lowest rated team in the Big 12.  LSU has faced 6 teams currently in KenPom’s top 60 and they’ve lost 5 of those games, all by at least 8 points.  Their lone win in that category was at home vs Arkansas on Tuesday night (78-74 final score) and the Razors are in a freefall right now as they’ve lost 4 straight and sit in last place in the SEC.  Now they travel to A&M who is the 2nd highest rated team the Tigers have faced this season (#19 per KenPom).  The Aggies have far better efficiency numbers on both ends of the court (including #12 nationally in defensive efficiency) and they are the #1 offensive rebounding team in the nation.  That’ll be a huge problem for LSU that ranks outside the top 300 in defensive rebounding.  The Tigers also turn the ball over 19% of the time (273rd nationally) so between that and A&M’s offensive rebounding prowess, the Aggies should get plenty of extra possessions tonight.  A&M is 2-2 in SEC play and they have road games @ Ole Miss and @ Texas their next 2 tilts making this a must win.  We look for the Aggies to win this one going away.

#388 ASA PLAY ON Kansas City Chiefs -8 over Houston Texans, Saturday at 4:30 PM ET - The Chiefs are as healthy as they’ve been since the start of the season for this one. They sat key starters in the final week of the regular season and then had last week off. KC has their entire starting defense available for the first time since week 7 and their entire starting offense is also healthy with the exception of WR Rice. While the did struggle to cover the spread this season despite their 15-2 SU record, the Chiefs played much better down the stretch covering 3 straight winning those games by 14, 8 and 29 points (minus the season finale @ Denver where none of their regulars played). We expect the best version of Kansas City at home on Saturday. Houston is coming off a win as a home dog last week beating the Chargers 32-12 with the Texans benefitting from 4 LAC interceptions including a pick 6. Since 2011, teams that win in the Wildcard round as an underdog are just 2-20 SU in the Divsional round so not a great spot for Houston. Let’s face it, the Texans were pretty darn average all season. They finished 10-7 but played in the weakest division in football (all other teams below .500) and their point differential on the year was +0. They beat 1 team all regular season that finished the year with a winning record and they were 1-5 SU vs playoff teams. It’s going to be cold in KC on Saturday afternoon (windchill around 10 degrees) and dome teams simply haven’t played well in that situation with a 2-7 SU record when temps are below 30 degrees. KC beat this Houston team by 8 a few weeks ago, and now that they are rested and healthy, we’ll call for a double digit win on Saturday.

#662 ASA PLAY ON Duquesne +2 over St Bonaventure, Saturday at 2 PM ET - Duquesne is very undervalued right now due to their overall record which is 8-9.  However, 8 of their 9 losses came by December 11th or earlier and this team is now on a 6-1 run with their only loss during that stretch coming @ Davidson by 6.  The Dukes lost their first 6 games of the season as they were adjusting to a new head coach and had some guys miss games early.  Since December 11th, Duquesne ranks as the top team in the Atlantic 10 Conference and 31st overall nationally per Bart Torvik Analytics.  During that stretch they rank 39th nationally in offensive efficiency and 50th in defensive efficiency.  Their opponent tonight St Bonnie ranks as the 4th best team in the A10 during that stretch yet they are laying points on the road in this game because their record is much better overall.  The Bonnies have played a very easy schedule to date (256th SOS) and they only have 3 losses on the season, however 2 of those losses have come in the last 11 days.  They are 1-2 their last 3 games and their win came at home vs Richmond (ranked 215th) and the Spiders played that game without their leading scorer.  The Dukes have the rest advantage as well as they had a week off prior to their win on Wednesday @ George Washington who came into that home game with a record of 13-3.  St Bonnies, on the other hand, is playing their 4th game in 11 days. Two teams heading in opposite directions and we love the value with Duquesne as a home dog here.  Take the points.

ASA NBA play on Toronto Raptors +11.5 at Milwaukee Bucks, 8 PM ET - We have been on a few bigger underdogs in recent weeks, and they’ve worked out well for us and today we like another one in Toronto. Toronto is certainly suffering through a tough season with just 10 wins, and a big reason why has been injuries. This team is not deep and can’t sustain positive results when just one starter goes down. They are in solid shape right now and it’s shown in the last two games, both wins against the Warriors and Celtics. In fact, prior to the two W’s they had played well on the road at Detroit, Cleveland and New York with only one of those losses coming by more than this spread (NY -14). The Bucks are 5-1 SU their last six games but still not a team I trust laying double digits with. Milwaukee is 13-7 SU, 8-11-1 ATS at home with an average plus/minus of +6.0ppg. While it’s not great, the Raptors average loss margin is -10.9ppg but that number is skewed by two massive losses this season at Boston by 54 and at Memphis by 29. If you exclude the two blowouts, only six of the Raptors 18 road losses have come by more than this spread. Milwaukee has a pair of solid home wins in their two most recent games and have a bigger game on deck against Philly so it’s only natural that overlook this Toronto team that they have beaten twice this season already. At this number, we like the points with the Raptors.

#886 ASA PLAY ON Ohio State -7 over Indiana, Friday at 8 PM ET - The Buckeyes showed some serious fight on Tuesday night getting down by 17 points at half @ Wisconsin and coming back in the 2nd half to only lose by 2. That’s back to back 2 point losses for OSU (Wisconsin & Oregon) and we like them to bounce back with a big effort at home tonight. They are facing an Indiana team that has played only 2 true road games this season, both in conference play, and they lost those games by 25 @ Iowa and by 17 @ Nebraska. IU is just 3-8 SU on the road in Big 10 play since the start of last season and offensively they scored just 62 and 68 points in their 2 road games this season. The Hoosiers are coming off an embarrassing 94-69 loss at HOME on Tuesday vs Illinois in a game they were dominated from start to finish. They are struggling on offense (60 and 69 points their last 2 games) with leading scorer Reneau about to miss his 5th straight game. We think they’ll struggle on that end of the court again tonight vs a OSU defense that ranks in the top 30 on both efficiency and eFG% allowed. At home the Buckeyes are limiting opponents to just 66 PPG and they just held a potent Wisconsin offense (13th nationally in efficiency) to 70 points on the road which is 14 points below their season average. OSU is better on both ends of the court (offensive and defensive efficiency) and if they can get their offense going at home, where they average 86 PPG, Indiana will be in trouble in our opinion. Lay it with Ohio State.

ASA NBA play on Sacramento Kings -3.5 vs. Houston Rockets – 10 pm - This bet sets up nicely with the Rockets coming off a very big win in Denver last night. That means the Rockets are playing the second night of a back to back (off altitude) and their 3rd game in four days. Sacramento is back home after a very successful road trip with wins at Golden State, Boston and Chicago. They clearly ran out of steam against the Bucks in Milwaukee most recently and are now coming off a loss back at home. Sacramento is 7th in Offensive Net rating this season and 14th defensively. They have a Net rating of +2.6 on the season. But in their last 8 games since firing Mike Brown they have the 4th best Net rating in the NBA at +8.0, 6th both offensively and defensively. The Rockets are 26-12 SU on the season and one of the bigger surprises in the West this season. They rank 6th in overall Net rating and have won 5 in a row. They are coming off 3 big games in a row though and will have a tough time in this scheduling situation. The Kings beat this Rockets team in early December 120-111, before they were playing at this level.

#836 ASA PLAY ON Northwestern +1.5 over Maryland, Thursday at 9 PM ET - Northwestern lost their first home game of the season on Sunday vs a red hot Michigan State team and we expect them to bounce back with a win in this game. MSU shot 50% overall and from 3 point land in that 10 point win while the Cats shot just 36% and only 20% from deep. In that game, NW was a 2-point dog and now we’re getting them in the same range vs a Maryland team that simply isn’t as good as MSU right now and they’ve been poor on the road this season. That loss dropped the Wildcats to 8-1 at home this season and let’s not forget this team beat Illinois here earlier this season. The Terps have played only 3 true road games this season and lost all 3 @ Purdue, @ Washington, and @ Oregon. They’ve played one of the easier strength of schedules in the Big 10 (214th SOS) and vs top 100 teams Maryland has a 3-4 SU record. Northwestern has won 2 of the last 3 at home vs Maryland and the 1 they lost here was in OT. Since the start of last season, NW has been a home dog 5 times and covered 4 of those games. Last year they were favored by 4.5 at home vs Maryland and now a dog so we like the value here. Take the Cats to win outright at home tonight

#834 ASA PLAY ON Nebraska -8.5 over Rutgers, Thursday at 9 PM ET - Nebraska’s home vs road dichotomy is as drastic as any team in the nation.  They are 8-0 at home this year and 2-3 on the road (2-1 in neutral site games).  At home the Huskers average 83 PPG (71 PPG on the road), they shoot almost 48% at home (45% on the road), and 35% from 3 at home (30% on the road).  The Huskers have now won 20 consecutive home games dating back to last season while Rutgers is 0-3 SU on the road this year and they only win 3 of their last 17 road games.  The Knights are a young team with 4 freshmen in the starting line up so it’s not surprising they’ve struggled away from home.  Four of their last five losses have come by double digits and they are catching Nebraska in a tough spot with the Huskers coming off 2 straight road losses @ Iowa in OT and @ Purdue.  The Huskers are much better defensively (top 25 in defensive efficiency) and they are also better offensively averaging 1.12 PPP compared to 1.10 for Rutgers.  The Scarlet Knights have failed to cover their last 7 games on the road and we like Nebraska to win this one by double digits.  Lay it with the Huskers.

ASA NBA play on Charlotte Hornets -5 at Utah Jazz,  9 PM ET - When I casually glanced through the lines this number stood out immediately and I couldn’t understand why the Hornets were laying this number on the road. A closer look revealed the injury depleted Jazz are down another starter tonight and their best player Markkanen. That means Utah is down 4 of 5 starters tonight against this Hornets team. Charlotte is healthy for the most part and has the most important pieces available tonight in Ball, Miller and Bridges. The Hornets played well last time out in a close loss in Phoenix. They led going into the 4th quarter before scoring just 15 points in the final stanza. Prior to that game they had beaten the Suns at home, played close at Cleveland and Detroit. Utah is coming off a win over the depleted Nets most recently 112-11 as a -3.5 point home favorite. Prior to that win they had lost 3 in a row. If you examine the season statistics for both teams you will find these teams have similar overall ratings/statistics, but those numbers are based on healthy rosters. Utah has the edge offensively; the Hornets have the advantage defensively. Charlotte has just 2 road wins this season, but the Jazz have just 3 home wins. Given the health of both teams this seems like an easy call with the Hornets minus the points.

ASA play on Memphis Grizzlies -2.5 at San Antonio Spurs, 8 PM ET - Memphis is 25-15 SU on the season and healthy again with the return of Ja Morant and rookie Zach Edey. The Grizzlies are coming off a loss in their most recent game on Monday in Houston 118-120 and we like them to bounce back here. Memphis is 11-3 SU when coming off a loss with an average margin of victory in those games of +11.1ppg. San Antonio had lost 3 in a row prior to their last game which was a win against the Lakers in Los Angeles. The Spurs are 12-8 SU at home with a marginal +/- of +2.6ppg. When coming off a win the Spurs are 8-10 SU with a negative differential of minus -0.3ppg. San Antonio is a great story this season with a 19-19 SU record but when it comes time to step up against the better teams in the NBA they’ve struggled with a 4-9 SU record against top 10 teams. The Spurs defense can match the Grizzlies offense in several categories but the big advantage the Grizz have is with their defensive edge against the Spurs offense. San Antonio is 20th in team FG% at 45.5% and the Grizzlies rank 3rd defensively in FG% allowed. The Spurs are also 25th in 3PT% and will have a tough time making shots against a Memphis D that is 5th in 3PT% allowed. Memphis also has the 2nd best offensive rebound percentage compared to the Spurs who rank 15th. We like Memphis here to get a solid road win.

#718 ASA PLAY ON Furman -2.5 over East Tennessee State, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - This is a great bounce back spot for Furman at home after they lost by 19 points here on Monday night vs Wofford as a 7-point favorite. It was an embarrassing effort and their first home loss of the season (14-3 record overall). Wofford shot over 40% from deep in that game (13 of 32) while Furman made only 23% of their triples. The Paladins were also destroyed on the boards as Wofford had 20 offensive rebounds in the game gathering a ridiculous 54% of their misses. Veteran head coach Bob Richey (169-73 record at Furman) was visibly disappointed in his press conference and mentioned they came out on their heels and got physically bullied. You can expect them to come out aggressive right out of the gate in this one. Furman’s 3 point defense, which was torched on Monday, has been really solid this season allowing opponents to shoot just 30% from deep (56th nationally) so we look for a much better showing tonight. ETSU is just 2-6 SU on the road this year with their wins coming by 2 points @ Mercer and @ Charlotte, both ranked outside the top 230 per KenPom. Going back further the Buccaneers have won only 7 of their last 29 road games. ETSU has a 10-7 SU record this year despite playing the 327th most difficult schedule so far. Furman has played the much tougher slate to date and the Paladins have better offensive FG% and defensive FG% numbers despite that. We’re also getting some value here because of Furman’s poor performance on Monday as they were favored by 7 in that game vs Wofford who rates 15 spots higher (per KenPom) than ETSU. The Paladins have won 6 straight at home vs the Buccaneers and 9 of the last 10. They’ve also won 32 of their last games overall and they’ve only lost consecutive home games ONCE since the start of the 2015 season. We’ll call for a bounce back effort here with Furman getting the cover.

#652 ASA PLAY ON Florida -10 over Missouri, Tuesday at 9 PM ET - Missouri has a very good 13-3 record but that’s a bit misleading as they’ve played one of the easiest schedules in the country (300th SOS) which is by far the lowest in the SEC. The Tigers have faced only 3 top 50 teams this season (per KenPom) and lost all 3. The average rating of the 13 teams they’ve beaten this season is 224th. They’ve also played only 2 true road games this season and lost both along with their only neutral site game. All 13 of their wins have come at home. Tonight they face one of the best teams in the country (Gators #6 per KenPom) and they’ve been rolling over teams at home. Florida’s only loss of the season came by 6 points @ Kentucky and they’ve won all of their 7 homes games by at least 18 points. That includes destroying #1 at the time Tennessee by 30 points (we were on Florida in that one) one week ago tonight. The Gators have been great on both ends of the floor ranking in the top 15 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency (only 5 teams can say that). They average 86 PPG (7th nationally) and they are facing a Mizzou defense that barely ranks inside the top 100 in FG% allowed and well outside the top 200 in 3 point FG% allowed. Florida should dominate the glass for extra opportunities as they pull down over 41% of their misses (3rd best offensive rebounding team in the country, while Missouri struggles on the defensive glass (258th in defensive rebounding). The Tigers have gotten a kind whistle from the refs so far (with 13 home games) which has led to 24% of their points coming from the FT line (14th the most in the country). They won’t get that whistle on the road tonight and we don’t think they can keep up in this one. Another home blowout for Florida.

#398 ASA PLAY ON LA Rams +2.5 over Minnesota Vikings, Monday at 8 PM ET - This game is being played in Phoenix due to the LA wildfires. The line was pick-em before they announced the move from LA to Phoenix. The line has moved to +2.5 which we think is some decent value as we’re getting nearly a FG more than we would have and LA doesn’t have a great home field advantage to being with. In fact, LA has a better road record this year than they do at home. They also average more YPP away from home and allow fewer YPP. The Rams have a huge situational edge here in our opinion. They had a mini bye last week facing Seattle at home and the Rams were able to sit most of their players. Minnesota, on the other hand, had an “all in” game @ Detroit which was a battle for the #1 seed and the Vikings were dominated 31-9. Now they travel again after that physical and emotional battle with the Lions. Detroit has had a rough effect on teams the following week as teams that face the Lions are 4-12 ATS the next week (this season) and 18-31 ATS over the last 3 years in that spot. LA struggled early in the year due to injuries but since getting full strength on offense with WR Kupp and Nacua back they are 8-2 (minus last week’s loss vs Seattle since they sat). They averaged +0.5 YPP more this season with Kupp & Nacua both in the line up. Their defense also drastically improved as the season progressed. After their first 7 games, the Rams allowed 2.44 points per drive and gave up a TD on 27% of opponents drives (both 28th in the NFL). Since then, they have allowed 2.04 points per drive and a TD on 22% of opponents drives (16th and 13th ranking). The point is, this team is much better than their season long record / stats. The Rams were 2-3 SU vs other playoff teams this year but they outgained 4 of those 5 opponents including beating this Minnesota team by 10 points. The Vikes were 3-3 vs other playoff teams but were outgained in 5 of those 6 games so Minnesota was fortunate to win 3 of those games. They were also 9-1 SU in one score games and despite their 14-3 record, they only outgained opponents by 10 YPG on the season. This Vikings team is fortunate to sit where they are to say the least. We like the QB advantage for the Rams as well with veteran Stafford, who has won a Super Bowl, vs Sam Darnold who looked like a deer in headlights last week vs a Detroit defense that was decimated with injuries. That dropped Darnold’s career road record to 12-22 ATS. Let’s grab the dog here.

ASA play on Detroit Pistons +8.5 at NY Knicks, 7:40 PM ET - This is going to be a tough spot for the Knicks who just played a huge game against the Bucks yesterday AND were coming off a big game against the Thunder 2 nights prior. So not only are the Knicks coming off two big named opponents they are also playing without rest and the 3rd game in four nights. New York is 1-3 ATS when playing without rest this season, 5-12 ATS dating back to the start of last season. Detroit is playing extremely well right now with an 8-2 SU record their last ten games and they have the 8th best Net differential rating of +4.6 in the league over that course of games. In comparison, the Knicks have a Net differential rating of +4.8 over that same 10-game stretch. New York is 13-6 SU at home this season with one of the better average scoring margin at +9.6ppg, but the Pistons are 10-10 SU away with a +/- of 0.0 which is 13th. The Knicks typically enjoy a big rebounding advantage over their opponents but that won’t be the case here with Detroit ranking 5th in Total Rebound %, tied with the Knicks. This is a great scheduling situation to back the Pistons plus the points in this one.

ASA NBA play on Indiana Pacers +9.5 at Cleveland Cavaliers – 6 pm ET - We know it’s tough to bet against the Cavaliers right now who are on a 12-game winning streak, but the oddsmakers have been forced to adjust and the value now lies with the underdog Pacers. If we look at each teams last 7 games alone we find the Cavs are 7-0 SU with an average +/- of +11.3ppg. Indiana in that same time frame is 6-1 SU with a +/- of +10.6ppg. They have the exact same Net Rating in that 7-game stretch of +10.6. Indiana had a slow start to the season and played well below expectations after last season’s success but they’ve clearly turned the corner as they’ve gotten healthy. The Cavs have been putting up huge numbers but that is also a strength of this Pacers team that is more than capable of playing fast and scoring. Indiana is 4th in team FG%, 7th in made FG’s and 8th in 3PT%. Our point is this team is more than capable of trading points with Cleveland. Grab the points with the Pacers.

ASA NBA play on Portland Trailblazers +4 vs. Miami Heat, 10 PM ET - I may regret backing the Blazers here as I typically don’t like betting teams in their first home game off an extended road trip but there are enough other positives to back Portland here. Let’s face it, not all NBA players are 100% motivated on a nightly basis, which can make games difficult to predict. I’m betting the Blazers will be ready for this Heat team after losing to them by 60-points in late March a year ago. That is not a typo…60-point beat down by the Heat in Miami. The Heat are without suspended Jimmy Butler and 2-3 SU their last five games. They are coming off a pair of road wins against the Warriors and Jazz, but the Heat have struggled as a road favorite this season going 1-6 ATS. On that note, the Blazers have made backers money as a home underdog with a 9-5 ATS record. Miami isn’t a great shooting team so we see them exploiting a bad Blazer FG% defense to win this game by margin. Lastly, there was an immediate influx of money on the Heat, yet the line didn’t move as it normally would have in the Miami’s favor. We will make a light bet on the Blazers and the points tonight.

#830 ASA PLAY ON UC San Diego -5.5 over Cal Irvine, Saturday at 10 PM ET - Love this spot for a very good UC San Diego team. They are 14-2 on the season and 9 of their 16 games have been played away from home. Both of their losses came in November and they have since won 12 straight games. Cal Irvine is also 14-2 and both of their losses came on the road. Both of these teams are tied atop the Big West with 4-0 conference records. The situation, however heavily favors UC San Diego as UCI will be playing their 5th game in 13 days with 4 of those coming on the road. And going back further, the Anteaters have now played 7 of their last 8 games away from home dating back to December 14th. UCSD, on the other hand, is playing just their 3rd game tonight since December 28th and they’ve been at home for the last week. They just rolled Cal Poly by 27 points at home on Thursday night and they were able to spread out their minutes in the blowout. UCI just played on Thursday night @ Cal State Northridge and picked up a win and now they are playing on the road again just 48 hours later. In their win vs CSUN the Anteaters shot well above their season average from 3 point land (33%) making 44% from deep (CSUN shot 14% from beyond the arc) and made 26 FT’s (CSUN made 17) and that was the difference in the game. We don’t see that happening tonight as UCI faces the highest rated opponent (per KenPom) they’ve seen this season. Last season when these 2 faced off in San Diego, the Tritons were rated 70 spots lower than they are this season (130th last year / 60th this year) and they still topped UCI in that game. UCSD is better across the board offensive (better efficiency, FG%, and 3 point FG%) and they’ve been even more impressive at home averaging 89 PPG. San Diego should also have a big advantage in turnover margin in this game which will lead to extra possessions. The Tritons rank 4th nationally in defensive turnover rate (25%) while UCI turns the ball over a lot (281st in offensive turnover rate). On the other end, UCSD only turns the ball over 14% of the time on offense which is the 25th best mark in the nation. We like UC San Diego to get the win and cover here vs what should be a road weary UC Irvine team.

#776 ASA PLAY ON Santa Clara -3 over San Francisco, Saturday at 7 PM ET - Quick revenger here for Santa Clara who just lost @ San Francisco in OT on December 30th. San Fran’s largest lead in that game was 5 points while Santa Clara led by double digits in the first half and they led by 4 with just 45 seconds remaining. That was the Broncos only loss in their last 9 games and they’ve been waiting for this rematch. The Dons have been very solid this season, however on the road they are just 1-2 on the year with their only win coming at Pacific (ranked 282nd per KenPom). In those 3 true road games, SF has shot just 42% while allowing their opponents to hit 47% of their shots. They’ve also allowed 79 PPG in those games which is 12 points above what they allow on the season. Santa Clara is outscoring their opponents by +12 PPG at home and they are averaging 86 PPG here so we expect some solid offensive success for the host. The Broncos beat a very good Oregon State team here at home on Thursday night and they spread their minutes out very nicely with 9 players 10+ minutes. They also have the rest advantage having played just 3 games since playing @ San Francisco including a week off prior to beating Oregon State on Thursday. The Dons have played 4 games since beat Santa Clara and this will be their 5th game in 13 days. The Broncos won this game at home by 7 points last year as a 2.5 point dog and we look for another home win on Saturday. Lay it with Santa Clara.

ASA NBA play on Utah Jazz +11.5 at Phoenix Suns – 5pm ET - The Suns are certainly a marquee team in the NBA with star power in Durant, Booker and even Beal to a lesser extent. They continue to be priced like a top 10 team when in reality they haven’t played to that level with a 17-19 SU record. The Suns have been favored by -8 or more points four times this season and they’ve failed to cover every one of those games. It’s been nearly a full month since they’ve been installed as a double-digit chalk. The Suns are 5-11 ATS their last sixteen games overall. Utah has been hit hard by injuries with three starters out, but they’ve actually played better statistically in their last five games. On the season the Jazz have a negative overall Efficiency Differential of -8.8, but in their last five games they are plus +0.2. In fact, the Jazz rate higher in Offensive Efficiency and Defensive Efficiency ratings in their last five games compared to the Suns last five games. Not one of the Suns last seven wins come by more than 11-points and that includes a game in Utah on December 13th which they won by 8-points. Utah is just 2-7 SU their last nine games but only 1 of those seven losses came by more than this spread tonight. It’s not pretty, but back the dog in this one.

#678 ASA PLAY ON Illinois Chicago +2 over Bradley, Saturday at 3 PM ET - Bradley is coming off a 7 point home loss vs Drake on Wednesday and the Braves have been trending down the last few weeks. Prior to that loss, Bradley had lost 3 straight ATS (now 4 straight) struggling with Missouri State at home and needed OT to beat Valpo and Indiana State prior to that. The Braves started the season red hot from beyond the arc but that was bound to regress. They are still ranked #2 nationally in 3 point FG% (41%) but over their last 4 games they’ve hit 25%, 35%, 32%, and 28% from deep, all well below their season average. UIC has been trending up winning 6 of their last 7 games with their only loss during that run coming @ Belmont. The same teams that Bradley recently struggled with (Drake & Missouri State), UIC beat Drake by 4 and Mizzou State by 17 over the last few weeks. Despite playing very well as of late, the Flames continue to get no respect from the oddmakers who have tabbed them as underdogs in 6 straight games and they’ve covered all 6 winning 5 of those games outright. The Flames are a very good shooting team ranking in the top 60 nationally in both FG% and 3 point FG% and they are 5-1 at home this season. We’ve been looking for a spot to fade this flailing Bradley team and this is it. We look for Illinois Chicago to win this game at home.

#285 ASA PLAY ON Ohio State -5.5 over Texas, Friday at 7:30 PM ET - This line is higher than it would have been in favor of OSU compared to what it would have been a few weeks ago but it’s warranted in our opinion. The Buckeyes just topped Tennessee & Oregon by a combined score of 83-38 which is arguably 2 of the most impressive wins by any college team this season. They simply dominated 2 very good opponents. Not only on the scoreboard but in the stats as well. They outgained those 2 opponents by a combined 973 to 532 total yards. The Buckeyes controlled the line of scrimmage in each game as well averaging nearly 5.2 YPC on the ground while allowing just 1.9 YPC. To put that defensive effort into perspective, both the Vols and Ducks came into the game averaging 4.9 YPC so OSU held them a full 3.0 YPC below their average. Impressive to say the least. Texas topped Clemson by 2 TD’s and then went to OT vs ASU before winning 39-31. However, unlike the Buckeyes who dominated, the Horns were outgained in the 2 games combined and lost the line of scrimmage averaging just 3.1 YPC while allowing 4.0 YPC. The vaunted Texas defense gave up 922 total yards in those 2 games. We can argue that OSU dominated 2 better teams than Texas played as both Tennessee and Oregon would be favored vs either of the Longhorn opponents (ASU & Clemson). The Ohio State defense has been lock down allowing less than 300 total yards vs each of their first 2 opponents. We think Texas will struggle on offense in this game while the OSU offense is facing a Longhorn defense that has given up nearly 1,000 yards in their 2 games. OSU by at least a TD here.

ASA play on Sacramento Kings +10.5 at Boston Celtics, 7:30 PM ET - The Kings were clearly underachieving to start the season, and it looks to us like the players had tuned head coach Mike Brown out. With Brown fired, the Kings have won 5 straight games, and all of those wins came against potential playoff teams. It’s a smaller sample size, but when we examine the last five games of each team, we find the Celtics have the best overall Net Rating in the NBA at +17.1, but the Kings are 3rd at +11.1. If this is now the same version of the Kings that we saw a year ago we like their chances here as double-digit underdog. Last year, the Kings had the 9th best average scoring differential on the road of +1.0ppg. Last season the Kings were 14-10 ATS as a road dog and 16-14 ATS against the East. Boston isn’t in the best situation here having just played 4 road games against four of the best teams in the league and their last game was at altitude in Denver on Tuesday night. This line is based on the Kings season lo statistics but it’s obvious they needed a new voice in the locker room and have turned things around. Grab the points with the Kings.

#820 ASA PLAY ON Montana State Money Line -110 over Northern Colorado, Thursday at 9 PM ET - Montana State has a 5-10 record to date but they’ve played a very tough schedule with 10 road games, including losses @ Wisconsin, @ Northwestern, @ TCU, and @ USC. They are finally back at home after a month plus on the road (last home game was Dec 7th) and they’ve lost 5 straight games (all on the road). Hungry for a win and back at home with a light spread, we really like this spot for an undervalued Montana State team. Northern Colorado has a 10-5 record, however they’ve played a much easier slate and they’ve played only 1 road game in the last month which was a win @ Denver that ranks 327th per KenPom. The Bears are 2-4 SU on the road this season where their defense has been shaky allowing 81 PPG on over 48% shooting by their opponents. Not only have they been poor on the road defensively, for the season the Bears rank 330th in eFG% allowed, 228th in 3 point FG% allowed and 323rd in 2 point FG% allowed. Montana State has a huge edge defensively in this game ranking 101st in eFG% allowed and 9th nationally defending the arc despite playing a tough schedule. The Bobcats have been very unlucky as well in regards to FT “defense” where their opponents have made 80.5% from the stripe which is the highest percentage in the nation. Montana State will also have revenge on their minds here after losing a tight 3 point game @ Northern Colorado last season blowing a 10 point lead with less than 8 minutes to go. Prior to last year’s loss, Montana State had won 8 of the previous 9 in this series and they are 28-8 SU at home all time vs Northern Colorado. Small spread here and we grab the home team.

#284 ASA PLAY ON Penn State +2.5 over Notre Dame, Thursday at 7:30 PM ET - We were on Georgia over Notre Dame last week and felt we were on the right side of that game and still do. Georgia outgained the Irish 300 to 244 and 4.9 YPP to 4.0 YPP. The Irish had zero passing game in that win (90 yards passing) and benefitted from a 98 yard kickoff return and 2 UGA turnovers. Not only did the Bulldogs have 2 turnovers (0 for Notre Dame) but they were very influential giveaways. One was inside the ND 15 yard line as UGA was driving for a TD or FG and the other was inside their own 15 very late in the first half which led to ND’s only offensive TD of the game on a 13 yard drive. Spanning the 1st and early 2nd half, the Irish scored 17 of their 23 points in a 54 second span with a FG, quick turnover by UGA into a short TD, and a kickoff return. This team did very little offensively and now they face a PSU defense that is every bit as good as Georgia’s defense. The Irish rely very heavily on the run but they are facing a PSU defense that is in the top 10 in both rushing YPG and YPC allowed. The Nittany Lions have allowed 166 yards in 2 playoff games (vs SMU and Boise) on just 2.1 YPC. Last week vs what most consider to be the best RB in college FB, they held Boise’s Ashton Jeanty to 3.5 YPC. We think Notre Dame struggles again offensively, especially with their #1 offensive threat, RB Love, banged up (only 6 carries for 19 yards last week). The Irish defense played well last week vs the run, back up UGA QB Stockton was successful with 234 yards passing. The Irish sold out against the run last week and may again this week and we trust PSU QB Allar to have a big game as well. While the defenses in this game are both high level, PSU’s offense is much more balanced with 203 YPG rushing and 234 YPG passing giving them a better chance to be successful on offense We have these teams rated almost dead even so not sure when ND is almost a 3 point favorite on this neutral field in Miami. The Irish have covered 10 in a row so that plays a role in this number. We’ll take the points with PSU.

ASA NBA play on Indiana Pacers -5.5 vs Chicago Bulls, 7 PM ET - This line is a little light given what these teams have been favored by or an underdog to similar opponents. Not only that, but the last time these two teams squared off was in Chicago with the Pacers laying -3.5-points, which should have them favored by at least -8.5-points at home. Chicago was just +5.5-points at home against the Knicks and +3 at home vs. the Spurs. Indiana has won 3 straight games and 4 of their last five as they continue to get healthy. In their most recent home game, they were favored by -2.5-points against the Suns and won by 16-points. The Bulls are coming off a miraculous comeback win against the Spurs after trailing by 17-points in the 4th quarter. Going back to the start of last season the Pacers are 41-23 SU at home with an average +/- of plus +6.1ppg. Indiana has a +4.1 Net Rating over their last ten games, the Bulls are minus -2.6 in NR in their last 10. More than anything we like the value in the short number and will back Indiana in this one.

#682 ASA PLAY ON George Mason -11 over Richmond, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - This is a terrible match up for the Richmond Spiders.  They are a very poor shooting team ranking outside the top 330 in FG%, FG made per game, and 3 point FG%.  They will struggle big time offensively in this game facing a high level George Masion defense that ranks 3rd nationally allowing opponents to make only 35% of their shots and 12th nationally giving up just 61 PPG.  The Patriots have held over half their opponents (8) to less than 60 points this season and only 1 team has topped 70 points in regulation vs this defense and that was Marquette.  They held a great Duke offense to 68 points which is impressive as the Blue Devils have been held to less than 70 points just twice all season.  George Mason will also come into this home game with a chip on their shoulder after losing their most recent game @ Rhode Island as a favorite after winning 8 of their previous 9 games (only loss @ Duke during that stretch).  On the other side, Richmond will be playing their 2nd straight road game after upsetting UMass on the road as a dog over the weekend.  Nice set up with the host off a loss as a favorite vs the road team off a win as a dog.  That was the Spiders first road win this season (1-4 SU in true road games) and as poor as they’ve been shooting the ball this year, on the road they’ve been abysmal making 38% of their shots and 25% of their triples.  We highly doubt Richmond gets out of the 50’s in this game (they are averaging 53 PPG their last 3 trips to GMU – all losses) while George Mason is averaging 80 PPG at home this season.  Lay it.

#704 ASA PLAY ON Arkansas -3.5 over Ole Miss, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - Arkansas is back home off an embarrassing performance at #1 Tennessee on Saturday. They lost that game 76-52 and they were dominated on the boards which led to head coach John Calipari calling out his team’s effort. After that loss, Calipari has individual meetings with each of his players so we expect a huge effort at home to avoid dropping to 0-2 in the SEC. The Razors are undefeated at home this season while Ole Miss has played only 2 true road games all season. The Rebels won @ Louisville in early December when the Cards were decimated by injuries and they lost @ Memphis by 17 10 days ago. Arky has one of the best shooting teams in the country ranking 17th in eFG% and inside the arc they make 60% of their shots which is 7th in the country. They are facing an Ole Miss defense that ranks outside the top 100 defending the 2 point shot. While Arkansas was dominated on the boards vs Tennessee, they should hold their own here vs a Rebel team that isn’t great on the boards (outside the top 170 in offensive and defensive rebounding). The Razorbacks have won 5 straight at home vs Mississippi and we’re getting an unranked home team favored over ranked road team which has been a profitable situation over the years. Lay it with Arkansas.

ASA NHL TOP PLAY ON 10* Vegas Golden Knights Puck Line (-1.5 goals -105) over San Jose Sharks, Tuesday at 10:05 PM ET - Vegas is in a great spot here which is why they are a -260 favorite on the money line.  Where the value is here is with the puck line which is in the even money range on this one.  Regardless of the starting goalies here, we love the Golden Knights in this spot.  However, we will mention that the expected starters are Ilya Samsonov for Vegas and Alexandar Georgiev for the Sharks. Samsonov was in the starters' crease at the morning skate earlier today and so we expect him to get the call here. He has been absolutely fantastic with a 5-0 record in his last 5 starts and a total of only 7 goals allowed in those 5 starts!  The Sharks Georgiev, on the other hand, has continued to struggle. He has an 0-4 record in his last 4 starts and has allowed at least 4 goals in all 4 starts! San Jose is off B2B wins but this followed 8 straight losses and defeats in 11 of last 12 games.  The Sharks have averaged scoring just 2 goals in last 15 games (including the B2B wins) and just don't have the offensive production necessary to keep up with the high-flying Golden Knights.  Right now Vegas has been on a mission with wins in 12 of last 14 games including 8 of last 9!  Also, each of the last 7 wins for Vegas have come by a multi-goal margin.  Each of the last 4 Sharks home losses have come by a multi-goal margin.  The Golden Knights have scored an average of 4 goals in their last 6 road victories.  Vegas also has won the two meetings this season by a combined 13 to 6 and they won the 4 meetings last season by a combined 18 to 5.  Look for this dominating pattern to continue here.  Road team in a blowout per our computer math model.  Laying the 1.5 goals with road favorite Vegas is the value play here.

#632 ASA PLAY ON Iowa -3.5 over Nebraska, Tuesday at 8 PM ET - Iowa is off their worst loss since February of 2020 losing @ Wisconsin on Friday 116-85. That dropped the Hawkeyes to 1-2 in Big 10 play and this becomes a must win with 2 of their last 3 on the road. Iowa’s offense played quite well in that loss shooting 48% and averaging 1.12 PPP. Not surprising as they rank in the top 10 nationally in FG%, 2 point FG% and PPG on offense. They are also 23rd in the country in offensive efficiency. The defense obviously let them down on Friday night. Wisconsin shot ridiculously well making 65% of their shots overall, 68% from 3 point land (21 of 31) and 88% from the FT line. While Iowa didn’t play well defensively, it was just one of those nights for the Badgers when everything went in. Expect a concerted effort on the defensive end of the court tonight for the Hawks and if their offense continues to play well, this should be a win. Nebraska is coming off a very important home win over UCLA on Saturday which was their 20th straight home win, however the Huskers are simply a different team away from home. They’ve played one Big 10 road game this season and lost by 27 points @ Michigan State and the Huskers have won only 5 of their last 21 conference road games. Iowa has just 1 home loss this season and that was vs #3 Iowa State in a game the Hawkeyes never trailed until 3:00 minutes remaining in the game. At home this season Iowa has shot 54% and 41% from deep. They are facing a Nebraska defense that has allowed opponents to score almost 40% of their points from beyond the arc, 12th most in the country. Not a great match up for this Iowa offense at home. The Hawks have an extra day off as well playing on Friday while Nebraska played on Saturday. Carver Hawkeye Arena has been a house of horrors for the Huskers losing 9 of their last 10 there. Huge home game for Iowa and they’ll come with some extra effort / emotion here after their embarrassing loss on Friday while the Huskers could be a bit flat after a big home win on Saturday.

#614 ASA PLAY ON Florida -2.5 over Tennessee, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - What a perfect spot to grab Florida. The Gators are coming off their first loss of the season @ Kentucky on Saturday. Now they are favored at home over the only undefeated in the country #1 Tennessee. That number speaks volumes. In their 106-100 loss @ Kentucky, the Gators normally stout defense played very poorly. They allowed the Wildcats to average a ridiculous 1.47 PPP while shooting almost 60% from the field and 48% from beyond the arc. It was by far the worst defensive performance of the season from a Florida team that ranks inside the top 20 in both 2 point FG% and 3 point FG% allowed. On a positive note, the Gator offense continued to roll ranking 3rd nationally in efficiency after putting up triple digits and 1.39 PPP on the road vs a very good UK defense. The Vols are off a big home win over Arkansas but they’ve played only 1 true road game since November 9th. That was a 2 point win @ Illinois (a very talented but very young team) and the Illini shot only 29% from the field and 17% from deep in that game and still almost won. Dating back to the start of the 2009 season, Tennessee has lost 9 of their 11 games @ Florida including the last 2 where they were favored in both games and lost by double digits. Since the start of last season, the Gators have won 21 of their last 22 home games with their only loss coming by 2 points vs Kentucky last year. This season, SEC home teams are 132-3 SU while on the road they are just 15-14 SU. We like Florida to get the win and cover on Tuesday.

ASA NBA play on Portland Trailblazers +6.5 at Detroit Pistons, 7 PM ET - Detroit is coming off a huge home win over the Timberwolves on Saturday night and could let down here against the 12-win Trailblazers. The Pistons are .500 at home this season with an 8-8 SU record and a negative average scoring differential of minus -3.3ppg. Prior to the 14-point win against the Wolves, the Pistons have just two home wins by more than 9-points. In fact, the Pistons have a 1-5 ATS record as a home favorite with a negative differential of minus -0.2ppg. Portland is a 4-14 SU on the road this season, yet their average scoring differential is less than this spread at -10.53ppg. Portland is coming off a big win themselves over the Bucks in Milwaukee. The Blazers are 3-2 SU in their last five games with the wins coming against the Bucks, Mavs and Jazz. Portland has won 8 of the last nine meetings with Detroit and the lone loss came by 6-points in OT. We like the young Blazers to hang around in this one.

#363 ASA PLAY ON Minnesota Vikings +3 over Detroit Lions, Sunday at 8:20 PM ET - In simple terms, the Vikings and Lions rate similarly in terms of offense, but the defense of Minnesota is much better than the Lions D. Detroit averages 6.2YPP on the season, Minnesota averages 5.7YPP. The Lions are averaging 410 total YPG, the Vikings put up 353YPG. Detroit ranks 7th in rushing yards per game and 2nd in passing yards per game. Minnesota is 15th in rushing YPG, 3d in passing. You get the idea. The defenses do not compare as the injuries to Detroit have decimated this stop-unit. The Vikes give up the 8th fewest Yards Per Play at 5.2 and allow just 18.8ppg, 4th lowest average in the league. The Lions defense is giving up 5.8YPP (4th most) and have been especially bad in recent weeks allowing 7.6YPP in their last three games and 7.9YPP last week to San Francisco. What’s alarming is the fact that the Niners had scored 17 or less points in 5 of their previous six games, then put up 34 against this Lions defense. In that stretch of game for San Francisco the only other time they put up more than 17-points was against the Bears. Minnesota is playing with revenge as they lost at home 29-31 to a full-strength Lions team back in October. The Lions kicked a last second FG to win that game as a 1-point dog. Grab the points with Minnesota here.

ASA NBA play on Utah Jazz +6.5 at Orlando Magic, 7:30 PM ET - I typically don’t like backing bad teams but will make an exception here with the Jazz plus the points. Orlando is really banged up right now with 4 of their best players Suggs, Banchero, and both Wagner out with injuries. I’m not concerned about the Jazz playing last night against the Heat as 8 players saw 20+ minutes and no starters played more than 31 minutes. In their last 8 games the Jazz have played better with a 3-5 SU record with two of those losses coming by 2 and 3-points. Orlando has a fantastic home record of 13-4 SU, but again they are essentially missing 4-starters here and their average Margin of Victory at home of +6.9 is barely higher than this pointspread. Orlando has some bad offensive statistics including 24th in overall FG%, 30th in 3PT% and 15th in offensive rebounds. Even with Utah’s bad defensive numbers that makes it tough for a depleted Magic team to cover this number.

#345 ASA PLAY ON Kansas City Chiefs +11 over Denver Broncos, Sunday at 4:25 PM ET - Of course we know KC will sit some guys here but this line has moved WAY too much in our opinion based on that.  This number is double digits off from what it would be had KC not clinched and was playing their starters.  They will still play some starters as they can’t site everyone.  Head coach Andy Reid has been in this situation a number of times in the final week of the season and the Chiefs have still played very well while sitting guys in this spots.  In fact, Reid sat his starting QB in 2013, 2017, 2020, and 2023 in the final week of the season and KC won 2 of those games outright and another went to OT.  And while QB Mahomes won’t play here, we’re not looking at some inexperienced back up playing his first snaps.  KC will start veteran Carson Wentz at QB (22,000 career passing yards and 153 TD’s) and he’s playing for a potential contract whether it be in KC or somewhere else so we expect a solid game from him.  Wentz obviously has much more experience than Denver QB rookie Bo Nix and a lot less pressure on him in this game.  A lot falls on Nix shoulders (and his teammates) here as Denver needs a win to make the playoffs.  Denver had must win games the last 2 weeks to potentially make the playoffs and couldn’t get it done losing to the Chargers & Bengals.  Now another must win here certainly doesn’t mean they will win this game, especially by margin.  Too many points here we grab KC plus double digits.

#844 ASA PLAY ON Oregon -3 over Maryland, Sunday at 4 PM ET - We just laid 4.5 points with Oregon on Thursday night at home vs Illinois and it was a terrible pick to say the least. The Ducks were embarrassed 109-77 and we expect a huge bounce back at home on Sunday. As of this writing the line is Oregon -3 so we’re getting some nice value because of that terrible performance as the Illini rank in the top 10 per KenPom and Maryland sits at 26th and the line is lower for this one. The Ducks came into their game on Thursday night with just 1 loss, a 2 point setback to a very good UCLA team. Their defense had been really good prior to Thursday when Illinois went off for 58% from the field and 55% from the arc on a ridiculous 1.40 PPP. You can bet veteran head coach Dana Altman will have his team locked in defensively after that effort. The Ducks have played a very difficult schedule to date (27th SOS) and have some outstanding wins over Alabama, Texas A&M, and San Diego State. Maryland is in a rough situation as they were @ Washington on Thursday night now 72 hours later @ an angry Oregon team. The Terps lost at Washington (the 2nd lowest rated team in the Big 10) by 6 on Thursday and they’ve lost both of their true road games this season. Unlike Oregon, the Terps have played a very easy schedule to date (330th SOS) and they are just 2-3 SU vs the 5 top 100 teams they’ve faced. Maryland has won only 3 of their last 17 road games in conference play and while we think they’ll be a solid team this year, this is not the spot. Lay it with Oregon.

#354 ASA PLAY ON Dallas Cowboys +6.5 over Washington Commanders, Sunday at 1 PM ET - This young Washington team clinched their first playoff berth since 2020 last week beating Atlanta in OT. While they are still jockeying for seeding position, we doubt that is a huge motivating factor for a team that wasn’t supposed to make the post season. Sure they are saying the right things about coming to Dallas to win, but they may just be happy to be in the postseason. The Cowboys have had a poor season by their standards but they have not quit. They’ve won 4 of their last 6 games including topping this Washington team on the road a little over a month ago. They haven’t been great at home this year, however in their last game here the beat a red hot Tampa Bay team that is playing as well as anyone in the NFL right now. They are also coming off an embarrassing 41-7 loss @ Philly last week (Eagles were playing for the NFC East title) and Dallas committed 4 turnovers in that game which led directly to 24 points for Philly (including a pick 6). QB Rush had been playing well prior to last week and we expect Dallas as a whole to give a solid effort after that loss, especially vs a hated division rival Washington. No way they lay down in this game. The Commanders have won 4 straight but let’s take a closer look at that run. They beat a bad 3-13 Tennessee team who is 2-14 ATS this season, then barely beat a bad Saints team on the road by 1 point and were outgained on a YPP basis, beat Philly by 3 after the Eagles got up 14-0 prior to losing starting QB Hurts for the game, and last week they were outgained again on YPP basis and beat Atlanta in OT. Not so sure this Commanders team is playing great ball right now despite their 4-0 run. This is also a rare situation where Washington is actually favored @ Dallas and the past history has not gone well for them. Dallas has been home dog to Washington just 8 times since 1990 and the Cowboys have covered all of those games while going 7-1 SU. We think this will be a battle on Sunday and we’ll take nearly a full TD with the home team.

ASA NBA play on Portland Trailblazers +12 at Milwaukee Bucks, 8 PM ET - The Bucks are literally a yo-yo this season, up one night and looking like a contender, then down the next and getting beat by the 13-win Nets. Milwaukee is 11-6 SU at home this season, but they have an average Margin of Victory of just +3.9ppg. Portland is a horrendous 3-14 SU on the road this season, yet their average scoring differential is less than this spread at -11.3ppg. In the Bucks last home games none have come by more than 12 points. As a home favorite of -8 or more points at home the Bucks are 1-4 ATS their last five. Portland is coming off a loss in L.A. against the Lakers but played well in the 8-point loss. The Blazers are 2-2 SU in their last four games with the wins coming against the Mavs and Jazz. Portland is 5-4 ATS as a double-digit road underdog in their last nine games. Some might argue that the Bucks off a loss is the play but that hasn’t been the case this season as Milwaukee is just 6-8 ATS in that situation. In fact, going back to the start of last season, the Bucks have the second worst spread record coming off a loss of 21-28-1 ATS with a scoring margin of +2.0ppg. This is a case where we will support a bad Blazers team plus the points.

#356 ASA PLAY ON Pittsburgh Steelers +2.5 over Cincinnati Bengals, Saturday at 8 PM ET - The Bengals “have to” win this game to stay alive for the playoff race + have both Denver and Miami lose. Because of that perception, Cincinnati is favored in this game by the same number (or very close) they were favored at home just a few weeks ago. In that game, which was also a huge game for the Bengals as they were trying to catch up in the playoff race, the Steelers won 44-38. Pitt outgained Cincy 520 to 375 in that win and they had a +1.3 YPP margin. The thought in this game by many will be that once Baltimore beats Cleveland earlier in the day, then the Steelers have nothing to play for because the Ravens will have clinched the AFC North title. Wrong. Pittsburgh will have a lot to play for no matter what the Ravens do earlier in the day. As of now, the Steelers are sitting in the 5th spot in the AFC playoffs which would mean they face Houston in the opening round. Lose here and an LA Chargers win on Sunday moves Pitt down and they have to travel to Baltimore for the wildcard. They surely would rather face the Texans. On top of that, Pitt has lost 3 straight games (vs 3 of the best teams in the NFL - @ Philly, @ /Baltimore, and vs KC) and no way head coach Tomlin wants them to hit the playoffs on a 4 game losing streak. He’ll play to win. Situationally it’s a great spot for the Steelers having 3 extra days off having played on Xmas Day. The weather is not going to be great with 10+ MPH winds and a windchill close to single digits. That should favor the team with the better running game which is Pittsburgh. They rank 10th in the NFL in YPG on the ground and they are facing a Cincy D that ranks 21st in rush defense. The Bengals, on the other hand, rank 29th in YPG rushing and might be without starting RB Brown for this one, facing a Pitt defense that ranks 7th at stopping the run. Pitt has been a home dog vs the Bengals TWO times since 1990 (1-1 ATS) and dating back to the start of the 2018 season the Steelers are 11-4-2 ATS as a home dog and we like them to get the outright win here.

#772 ASA PLAY ON Washington State -2 over San Francisco, Saturday at 7 PM ET - Tough turnaround for San Francisco who played on the road @ Pacific just 48 hours ago and now they are @ Washington State. The Dons pulled off the 89-81 win @ Pacific but a non-cover as SF was favored by 13 over the Tigers who now have a record of 5-12. The Dons shot lights out hitting 51% of their shots, 45% of their triples and mad 19 of 21 FT’s but were still unable to pull away (final margin of 9 was their largest of the game) from a bad Pacific team. Now they travel to Washington State who is a perfect 6-0 at home this season with all of their wins coming by double digits and they’ve won 21 of their last 23 at home. The Cougars are one of the best shooting teams in the country (49.5%) ranking 28th but at home they up that to over 52% from the field while averaging 88 PPG. These 2 have nearly identical records (WSU 12-3 and SF 13-3) but Wazzou has played the tougher schedule at 109th SOS compared to the Dons at 229th. San Fran has played only 2 true road games this season winning @ Pacific as we discussed and losing @ Bradley. The situation heavily favors the home team who rarely loses on their home court. With the small spread, we’ll grab Washington State

#650 ASA PLAY ON North Dakota State -10.5 over Nebraska Omaha, Saturday at 2 PM ET - This sets up nicely situationally with NDSU coming off a rare home loss as a favorite while Nebraska Omaha is on a short 2 day turnaround coming off a road win @ UND as an underdog. We were on NDSU a few nights ago at home vs St Thomas and they lost their first game since November 26th with the Tommies winning 89-85. St Thomas hit 54% of their shots (43% for NDSU) and 47% from beyond the arc yet the game still went to the wire. We expect the Bison to come out with some fire at home after that tough loss. Prior to that this North Dakota State team had been destroying opponents at home. Their previous 3 home games were wins by margins of 29, 36, and 34 points with the latter 2 coming vs Western Michigan and Cal State Bakersfield who both rank higher than this Nebraska Omaha team. They’ve been shooting as well as any team in the nation ranking 4th in the country in eFG% and 3rd in 3 point FG% hitting just over 41% and they make nearly 79% of their FTs. That’s bad news for a Nebraska Omaha defense 312th in defensive efficiency, 310th in eFG% allowed, and 281st in 3 point FG% allowed. The Bison average 85 PPG at home while UNO gives up 78 PPG on the road so we expect NDSU to have a huge night offensively. Can the Mavericks keep up in this game? We don’t think so. They’re not a great shooting team ranking outside the top 220 in offensive efficiency and eFG%. They’ll need to get hot from 3 to stay in this game but that’ll be tough as they make only 33% from deep (162nd nationally) and NDSU defends the arc very well ranking 50th. UNO has averaged just 66 PPG in their 6 road losses this season and we look for an easy with for North Dakota State in this one.

#281 ASA PLAY ON Buffalo -3 over Liberty, Saturday at 11 AM ET – BAHAMAS BOWL - The level of motivation for this game looks to be drastically different. Buffalo was expected to be a 5 win type team (pre-season win total) and they exceeded expectations with a very solid 8-4 record. They did not make a bowl game last season and they’ve only played in 6 bowl games in school history so they are thrilled to be playing on Saturday in the Bahamas Bowl. Liberty had much higher expectations this season. They were supposed to win double digit games and many thought they would be a team that could compete for the Group of 5 spot in the CFP. That didn’t happen and they were really never close to meeting expectations this season. The Flames finished 8-3 despite playing the easiest strength of schedule in college football. They were favored in every game yet lost 3 games outright and won 2 games in OT when they were tabbed as double digit chalk. They finished the season with an ATS record of just 3-8. Liberty will be without starting QB Salter who started every game the last 2 seasons and is headed to Oregon State in the portal. They will also be without 3 starting offensive linemen who are headed elsewhere. Buffalo won only 3 games last season and are sitting in a bowl game this season. Teams in that situation (0 to 3 wins last year and now in a bowl game) are 39-13-2 ATS (75%) as long as their opponent isn’t in the same situation which Liberty is not (they won 13 games last season thus a very disappointing year in 2024 for the Flames). Let’s take Buffalo here.

ASA NBA play on Houston Rockets +3 vs Boston Celtics, 8 PM ET - As I’m watching the Celtics on Thursday night it is very evident, they are spending a ton of energy in their game at Minnesota. While Boston was grinding away last night, the Rockets were at home resting for this game. This game will have more meaning for Rockets head coach Udoka who was fired by the Celtics a few years back. Houston is 12-5 SU, 11-6 ATS at home this season with the 6th best average scoring differential of +9.5ppg. The Rockets have been home underdogs just twice this season and they won/covered both. The Celtics are 11-3 SU on the road this season with the best average +/- in the NBA but they have a couple key injuries to Porzingis and Brown which hurts their overall depth. The Rockets key advantage will be on the offensive glass where they rank 1st in the NBA, compared to Boston who is 11th. The Rockets rate slightly better on the D-glass too. Houston is coming off a big home win over the Mavericks and will relish this underdog role at home. Grab the points with the Rockets.

#279 ASA PLAY ON Minnesota -9 over Virginia Tech, Friday at 7:30 PM ET – MAYO BOWL @ Charlotte, NC - Minnesota is always motivated come bowl season under head coach PJ Fleck. He seems to always have them ready this time of year winning 5 straight bowl games. They’ve won those games by an average of more than 10 PPG. The Gophs have very few opt outs / transfer portal players that won’t play here. They seem to be all in here as they usually are during bowl season. It looks like the direct opposite situation on the other sideline. Va Tech is missing a ton of key players and it’s high possible 13 to 14 starters won’t play in this game. Their offensive line looks decimated heading into this game, top RB Tuten (1,100 yards rushing) will be out, and it looks like they will be down to their 3rd string QB in this game. Starting QB Drones is injured, back up Schlee is banged up, so it could be Pop Watson (47 career pass attempts) under center. On defense the top 6 players in snaps played this season for Tech will be out of this game. So while Minnesota is focused fully on this game, we’re not so sure VT will be. Losing all of those key players from a team that wasn’t all that good to begin with (6-6 record & 3-6 vs bowl teams) might be just too tough to overcome. We just don’t see this shorthanded VT team being able to move the ball vs a Minnesota defense that ranked in the top 10 nationally in total defense and top 21 in YPP allowed, rush defense, and pass defense. The ACC has shown to be an overrated conference this bowl season with a 2-9 SU record while the Big 10 is 8-5 thus far. When Big 10 faces the ACC in bowl games they are on a 12-2 SU and 11-3 ATS run. Minnesota by double digits.

#800 ASA PLAY ON Oregon -3 over Illinois, Thursday at 10 PM ET - Illinois makes the long travel to play @ Oregon Thursday night. The Illini have played only 1 true road game this season and they lost @ Northwestern. The other “semi” road game they played was in Birmingham, AL vs the Crimson Tide and Illinois lost that game by double digits. While the Illini are talented, they are very young with a number of freshman and sophomores in their rotation (304th in experience) and we think they’ll struggle at times on the road vs high level teams. That’s what they get here @ Oregon. The Ducks are very good and experienced with 5 seniors in the starting lineup and 8 of their top 9 players in terms of minutes per game are seniors. They are 12-1 on the season, despite playing a really tough schedule (39th SOS), and their lone setback was by 2 points vs a UCLA team that is 11-2. The Ducks have been really good at home winning 21 of their last 25 games in Knight Arena and their average margin of victory at home this season is +19 PPG. The Illini rely heavily on the 3 point shot (58th in percentage of points scored from beyond the arc) and getting to the FT line (53rd in percentage of points scored from the charity stripe). Two problems here, that plays right into Oregon’s defensive strengths (24th defending the arc & 60th in points allowed from the FT line. On top of that, Illinois has shot poorly away from home which can be expected from a young team. They have made only 37% of their shots and 26% of their triples in their 1 true road game @ NW. We like the Ducks to win and cover at home.

#690 ASA PLAY ON Butler +2.5 over Villanova, Wednesday at 5:30 PM ET - Huge home game here for Butler who has lost 5 straight games and really needs a win here with their next 2 games coming on the road. To put their 5 game losing streak into perspective, 4 of those losses came vs UConn, Marquette, Houston, and Wisconsin who currently have a combined record of 40-11. Their most recent game was a 4 point loss to UConn in a game that went down to the wire. The Bulldogs have faced an extremely difficult schedule to date (33rd SOS) and today’s opponent, Villanova, is rated lower than 7 teams Butler has already played. The Wildcats have played 2 true road games and lost both @ St Joes and @ Creighton. They’ve also played 2 neutral site games and lost those as well so Nova is 0-4 away from home this year. The Bulldogs should have 2 solid offensive advantages in this game. One from beyond the arc and the other at the FT line. Both teams shoot the 3 well (ranked 9th and 20th in 3 point FG%) but Villanova is poor at defending the arc ranking 317th (Butler ranks 70th at defending the 3 point line). The Dogs get to the line A LOT with 26% of their points coming from the stripe (7th best in the nation) while the Wildcats rarely get to the line with just 16% of their points coming from the FT line (312th). Butler has won 4 of their last 5 at home vs Villanova and we look for them to come out on top again Wednesday. Take the points.

#656 ASA PLAY ON Nevada -2.5 over Utah State, Tuesday at 10 PM ET - We went against Nevada on the road on Saturday and picked up a win with Wyoming as a 6 point dog. The Cowboys won the game by 3 points and that puts Nevada in a must win type spot after dropping to 0-2 in the Mountain West. After this game they play their next 2 on the road so this becomes a huge home game for the host. Nevada has actually lost 2 straight so this is a huge game for the Pack. They are catching Utah State in a terrible spot playing their 3rd straight road game and coming off back to back upset wins as underdogs on the road over St Mary’s and San Diego State. In their win on Saturday @ SDSU, the Aggies never led by more than 1 point and trailed for 95% of the game. They made a 3 pointer with 7 seconds left to win 67-66. The Aztecs shot just 38% and only 25% from deep and still led mainly the entire game. Reno is a very tough place to play with Nevada winning 35 of their last 40 home games and they’ve also won 5 of their last 6 at home vs MWC rival Utah State. In their most recent home game, Nevada was -8 vs a solid Colorado State team that isn’t a fully 5+ points worse than CSU on a neutral court which is what this line suggests. This spot screams to take the home team and at this low number, we’ll do just that.

#268 ASA PLAY ON Boise State +11 over Penn State, Tuesday at 7:30 PM ET – FIESTA BOWL @ Phoenix - Our power ratings have PSU favored just over a TD here so getting double digits is some solid value. Penn State rolled in their home game vs SMU but that game turned on it’s head early with the Nittany Lions scored on 2 pick 6’s early in the game to take a 14-0 lead. At that point in the game, PSU had 74 total yards and already led 14-0 due to the defensive TD’s. That changed the whole complexion of the game for SMU as they were fighting from 2 scores down the rest of the way. On top of that, we had a warm weather team in SMU who’s average temp in their games played this season (both home and away) was 72 degrees playing in brutal weather (windchill was in the teens). Now we get PSU away from home where they were great this season. They struggled away from Happy Valley barely getting by at Minnesota (won by 1), at Wisconsin (trailed at half), and needed OT to beat what turned out to be a pretty average USC team. If we subtract their game @ Purdue (one of the worst teams in the country), Penn State played 5 games away from Happy Valley this year and won by an average of 6 PPG. Much has been made of Boise’s lower strength of schedule but let’s not forget this team nearly beat Oregon (CFP #1 seed) on the road this season. They lost 37-34 but outgained the Ducks (remember this game was in Autzen Stadium) and OU scored on a kickoff return AND an 85-yard fumble return and still barely won. PSU also faced Oregon in the Big 10 Championship game and lost that game by 8 points. Boise has been lights out as an underdog with a 33-18 ATS record (65%) since 1999 and they’ll have the best offensive player on the field on Tuesday night with RB Jeanty. If they can have some success on the ground, which we think they will, the Broncos should stay in this the entire way. Too many points.

#259 ASA PLAY ON Alabama -14.5 over Michigan, Tuesday at 12 PM ET – RELIAQUEST BOWL in Tampa, FL - We think Bama will be much more motivated for this game after being left out of the CFP. The Tide have something to prove and they should have a big coaching edge with DeBoer, who coached in the National Championship Game last year with Washington, having extra time vs Michigan 1st year head coach Moore. Maybe a little extra incentive for DeBoer here as well after losing to Michigan in last year’s National Title game. Bama lost a few WR’s for this game but for the most part they are pretty much in tact with most of their starters ready to go. Michigan has lost 8 or 9 of their best players for this game either to the portal or the NFL Draft. In fact, 4 potential first round draft picks for the Wolverines will not play here including DL Graham and Grant and top DB Johnson. Not only that, offensively they will be missing both of their RB’s Mullings and Edwards who combined for 1,500 yards rushing this season and their leading receiver TE Loveland who had over 500 yards receiving (no other Michigan player had more than 300 yards receiving this season). Michigan’s “want to” has to come into question here as well after winning the National Championship last year and now play in the Reliaquest Bowl. They already won their most important game @ OSU to end the season so a flat performance here might be in order. Michigan wasn’t a very good team this season (YPP margin of +0.0 is pretty average) and now we can argue that 8 or 9 of their top 10 players on the team aren’t even playing in this game. The Crimson Tide weren’t as dominant as they have been in previous years, but they are still a very good team with a +1.6 YPP margin this year vs a top 15 schedule. They also have a huge edge at QB with Milroe over Michigan’s Davis Warren (former walk on). Let’s roll with Bama to win by more than 2 TD’s.

ASA NBA play on Philadelphia 76ers -5 at Portland Trailblazers, 10 pm ET - It’s hard to imagine if the NBA playoffs where to start today, the 76ers would be out. This team was one of the odds-on favorites to come out of the East this season but early season injuries have tempered their success. The biggest factor has been the absence of Joel Embiid who has played in just 10 games this season. The Sixers needed to adjust to him back in the lineup and lost 4 games in a row. Since then, the 76ers have gone 5-1 SU with 4 straight wins. In this current 4 game winning streak with Embiid in the lineup they have a very impressive road win at Boston. Portland on the other hand was projected to struggle again this season after winning just 21 games a season ago. The Blazers are 11-20 SU on the season with the 3rd worst scoring differential at minus -8.9ppg. Even with a winning home record they have a negative average point differential of -6.1ppg. Philadelphia has taken care of lesser opponents this season on the road with a 5-2 SU record as a road favorite, winning by an average of +4.4ppg. Again, the majority of those games come without either Embiid, Maxey or George on the floor all at the same time. Portland has been a respectable home dog this season but still has a negative differential of minus -3.9ppg. We feel Philly is turning the corner and in a situation where they can’t take wins for granted. Going back to the start of last season the 76ers are 16-10 ATS laying points on the road and they win those games by an average of +6.8ppg. Lay it here with Philadelphia.

#883 ASA PLAY ON UC Irvine -4 over Cal Baptist, Monday at 10 PM ET - Love this spot for UC Irvine. They are coming off their worst performance of the season, a 70-54 loss @ Duquesne, and they’ve had 10 days to stew about that setback and get ready for this one. UCI is 10-2 on the season and their only other loss was @ Oregon State. The Anteaters have won 2 straight Big West Titles and are favored to win their 3rd this season. They are a fantastic defensive team ranking 22nd in the country in defensive efficiency and they are holding opponents FG percentage of 39.4% on the season. In their loss @ Duquesne, the Anteaters allowed the Dukes to hit 49% of their shots and 56% of their triples while allowing 1.17 points per possession, their worst mark of the season. It was just the 3rd time in 12 games this season UCI allowed an opponent to average more than 1.00 PPP. After that subpar performance and more than a week off to make adjustments, we expect UCI to be really focused on the defensive end of the court. They should have plenty of success vs a Cal Baptist team that ranks 255th making just 43.5% of their shots while hitting only 30% of their 3’s (297th). The Cal Baptist Lancers have played an easy slate this far (283rd SOS) yet they have a 7-6 record. They haven’t beaten a single team ranked inside the top 200 and tonight they face a UCI team that ranks 69th nationally per KenPom. The Lancers just played on Saturday so a quick turnaround vs an angry, rested team. In their game on Saturday Cal Baptist struggled to a 79-73 home win vs a Jackson State team that is winless on the season (0-13 record). UC Irvine is absolutely the better team in this match up and they are in the better situation as well. We’re getting a cheap line because they are on the road. We’ll take it.

#257 ASA PLAY ON Iowa +3 over Missouri, Monday at 2:30 PM ET – MUSIC CITY BOWL @ Nashville, TN - Iowa finished 8-4 on the season despite having injury concerns at QB on and off all season. Starting QB McNamara started the first 7 games of the season and then was injured. He could have come back but we were hearing that head coach Ferentz decided to go with Sullivan (former Northwestern starting QB) for the rest of the season. He played in 3 games and then he was injured. Iowa went with 3rd stringer Strasser down the stretch but Sullivan is now back and healthy and will start here. In the 2 games he started and played the entire game, Iowa won both and outscored Wisconsin & NW by a combined score of 82-24. Sullivan is a veteran who brings a dual threat to the position. Most of Iowa’s starters are in for this game, however they will be missing RB Johnson which is a big loss. However, Mizzou will be without their top offensive weapon WR Burden so those 2 offset each other. The Hawkeyes do have some quality back up RB’s that have done well this season and we expect them to win in the trenches here. Missouri’s defensive strength is vs the pass, however they have struggled at times stopping the run ranking 60th in YPC allowed. Iowa is in the top 25 in both rush offense and defense. These 2 played almost identical strength of schedules and Iowa had the better YPP margin (+0.6 to +0.1) and YPC rushing margin (+1.4 to +0.2). We know Iowa is excited to be here and will bring their “A” game after getting rolled 35-0 in last year’s bowl game. Missouri we’re not so sure. They were a top 10 team prior to the season and may not be overly thrilled to be in the Music City Bowl. We’ll take the dog here.

#413 ASA PLAY ON Atlanta Falcons +3.5 over Washington Commanders, Sunday at 8:20 PM ET - We really like this spot for the Falcons. They catch Washington off a huge rivalry win over Philadelphia which pushed the Commanders chances of making the playoffs to 94%. The Commanders have another division rival on deck vs Dallas. In their win over Philly last week, the Eagles lost starting QB Hurts early in the game which obviously made a huge difference. The game still came down to a TD in the final seconds for Washington to win by 3. They are on a 3 game winning streak, however their wins came vs Tennessee, @ New Orleans by 1 points, and vs Philly with their QB out. This is a massive game for Atlanta. A loss here drops them below a 40% chance to make the playoffs while a win pushes them close to 90%. The Falcons control their own destiny, win here and next week vs Carolina and they are in. Rookie QB Penix will be making his 2nd start for Atlanta and he was solid in last week’s 34-7 win over the Giants. We think Penix gives the Birds the best chance to win (over an injured and inefficient Cousins) and getting a full game under his belt is big. These 2 have played pretty much the same strength of schedules and their YPP, YPC, and yards per pass attempt margins are almost identical. We’re not sure Washington should be more than a FG favorite here so we’ll take the extra value on the Falcons in the better situation.

#680 ASA PLAY ON UC Riverside +1 over St Thomas, Sunday at 5 PM ET - Long travel for St Thomas (Minneapolis) and they are a bit overvalued right now having won 6 straight games. 4 of those 6 wins came vs teams that are ranked 285th or lower and their 1 solid road win this year @ Northern Colorado, the Tommies shot a ridiculous 64% from the field. They are 3-3 on the road with their other 2 wins coming vs teams ranked 285th and 322nd. Now they face a top 200 team in the road in UC Riverside. The Highlanders have played a very tough schedule thus far (47th ranked SOS / St Thomas SOS is 250th) yet they still have a solid 8-5 record. UCR is 5-0 at home and should have a little extra motivation here coming off a 66-53 loss @ UNLV a week ago. St Thomas gets very little inside production (301st in percentage of points inside the arc) and they don’t get to the line very often. Thus, they rely very heavily on make 3 point shots which can make life tough on the road especially facing a solid 3 point defense (UCR allows 32% from deep). The Tommie also have a huge Summit League game on deck vs North Dakota State, the best team in the conference, so that game is of more importance. Coming from Minneapolis, they may view this as a bit of a vacation on west coast with warm weather before tipping off conference play on Thursday. Plus being away from home over the holidays may make it extra tough to focus. We’ll take the home team here.

#424 ASA PLAY ON Tampa Bay Buccaneers -8 over Carolina Panthers, Sunday at 1 PM ET - These 2 teams just met a few weeks ago and the Bucs were -6.5 on the road. Now laying only -8 at home which gives us some solid value. In the first meeting, TB won in OT but they outgained Carolina by nearly 100 yards and by +0.4 YPP. The 2 TB turnovers resulted directly in 6 points for Carolina. While the Panthers are obviously out of playoff contention, this is a gigantic game for Tampa. A loss drops them to less than 15% chance to make the post-season. The Panthers are off a huge home OT win over Arizona while Tampa is off a road loss @ Dallas which we think sets this up nicely for the Bucs. While Carolina has been playing better, they still haven’t found a way to pick up wins losing 4 of their last 5. They’ve also been playing at home for the most part with 4 of their last 5 being played in Charlotte. On the road this year, they are just 1-5 with their only win coming way back in September @ Las Vegas and 4 of their 5 losses away from home have come by at least 14 points. The Panthers were double digit dogs in each of their last 3 road games vs Washington, Philly, and Denver and they are getting too much respect here with TB laying only 8 points. The Cats have been outgained by an average of almost 100 YPG on the road and their YPP margin away from home is -1.1. Their average PPG margin on the road in -17 PPG. TB is the much better team (5th in YPP margin / Carolina 28th in YPP margin) and it’s a bigger game for the Bucs. We’ll call a double digit win for Tampa.

ASA NBA top play on Detroit Pistons +5.5 at Denver Nuggets, 9:10 PM ET - If you are not paying attention to the NBA you probably haven’t noticed the improvement of the Detroit Pistons. Detroit has as many wins today (14) as they did the entire season a year ago. They are slightly below average defensively in Efficiency ratings (16th) allowing 1.142-points per possession. On the season they rank 22nd in OEFF but in their last five games they are scoring 1.123-points per possession which is also around league average. Denver has slipped defensively this season and will be without their best defender in this game with Aaron Gordon out. The Nuggets played a big game last night against the Cavaliers making this the second night of a back-to-back. This will also be the Nugs 4th game in six days, 5th in seven. The Pistons have won 3 straight road games at Phoenix, Lakers and Kings and are also 4-1 their last five away from home. Denver has an average +/- at home of just +2.6ppg which is significantly lower than their season average at home a year ago of +8.1ppg. Another sign of the Pistons improvement is their road scoring differential of -0.1ppg, 12th best in the NBA. Grab the points with Detroit here.

#626 ASA PLAY ON Elon -5 over Marshall, Saturday at 7 PM ET - Elon has played the more difficult schedule to date (#185 SOS compared to #307 for Marshall), yet they still have the better record at 8-4 (Marshall is 7-6). Elon is also 4-0 at home this year while Marshall is 0-5 on the road. Dating back to last season Marshall has lost 12 straight road games and all but 2 of those have come by more than 5 points which is tonight’s spread (as of Friday evening). The Phoenix have already beaten 3 teams this season ranked higher than Marshall including a solid road win @ Notre Dame. They should have a huge advantage as the FT line in this game as Elon scores over 21% of their points from the stripe (69th nationally) and the Herd fouls a lot with their opponents scoring 25% of their points from the stripe (12th worst nationally). On the other end, we don’t expect Marshall to get many freebies as the disciplined Elon defense fouls very little. On top of that, Marshall is one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country (28% which is 334th) which makes it very tough to win on the road. Their defense will struggle to keep them in this game as well as they allow over 50% shooting on the road and 81 PPG. Lay it with Elon on Saturday.

#243 ASA PLAY ON Boston College +4 over Nebraska, Saturday at 12 PM ET – PINSTRIPE BOWL @ Yankee Stadium - BC made a QB change near the latter part of the season with previous starter Castellanos entering the portal, head coach Bill O’Brien went with Grayson James. Since he took over, the Eagles are 3-1 with their only loss coming 38-28 vs an SMU team that made the College Football Playoff and in that game the yardage was about dead even. The 3 wins BC had with James under center were all vs bowl teams (Syracuse, Pitt, and UNC) and they controlled the trenches in those games rushing for an average of 223 YPG while allowing just 32 YPG holding each of those opponents to less than 40 yards rushing. Even in their loss down the stretch vs a very good SMU team, the Eagles outrushed the Mustangs by 40 yards. They were 6-2 ATS this season vs the 8 bowl teams they faced and their point differential was about dead even. Nebraska, on the other hand, squeaked into their first bowl game since 2015 despite losing 5 of their final 6 games. The Huskers beat ONE conference team that made it to a bowl game and that was a tight 14-7 home win over Rutgers and the yardage was dead even in that game. The Huskers were outscored by an average of -6 PPG in the 7 bowl teams they faced and in what is anticipated to be a close game here, Nebraska was just 1-5 SU in games decided by a single score. This game is in NYC which gives BC an advantage as well traveling only 200 miles compared to 1,300 miles for Nebraska. We like BC to keep this close and have a shot to win outright. Take the points.

ASA NBA play on LA Clippers -4.5 vs. Golden State Warriors, 10 pm ET - Looking at the Clippers recent stretch of games we see they were recently a +3-point home dog to Houston, Minnesota and Denver. In the games against the Rockets and Wolves the Clippers were without key pieces as Powell and Harden each missed a game. The Clippers lost both. Prior to those two games, with Powell/Harden they beat the Nuggets at home 126-122. The reason we bring that up is this: The Warriors aren’t as good as those three teams, yet are favored on the road in Los Angeles? Golden State is coming off an emotional Christmas Day loss to the Lakers and slipped to 1-5 SU in their last six games. For the season the Clippers rank 11th in Offensive Efficiency, the Warriors rank 13th. Defensively, the Clippers hold the edge with the 6th best Defensive Efficiency rating compared to the Warriors 8th ranking. When we look exclusively at the last 10 games of each team we see the Clippers have the better overall Net Rating of +1.5 compared to the Warriors NR of -6.7. Golden State lives and dies by the 3-pointer (12th in 3PT%), but the Clippers defend the arc as well as anyone in the league allowing 34.3% (4th). The Clippers have won 5 straight in the rivalry including two games this season. We expect them to make it 3 in a row on Friday.

#237 ASA PLAY ON Syracuse -17 over Wash State, Friday at 8 PM ET – HOLIDAY BOWL in San Diego - This line has moved drastically since the open and for good reason. We still think it’s not enough and expect the Orange to win this one by 20+ points. Syracuse has very few opt outs and head coach Brown said most if not all of his starters will play. Meanwhile, Washington State barely has enough players remaining on the team to run a decent practice. The Cougars have at least 13 starters out here and upwards of 30 in the transfer portal. The head coach Dickert has left for the head job at Wake Forest, both the offensive and defensive coordinators are gone along with a number of other assistant coaches. The catalyst for their offense QB Mateer is off to Oklahoma and will not play here. On top of that, this Washington State team seem distracted and disinterested down the stretch when rumors of their QB and head coach getting better opportunities reared their head. They lost their last 3 games of the regular season vs New Mexico, Oregon State, and Wyoming, all teams with losing records that didn’t qualify for bowl games. On the other hand, Syracuse was surging winning 7 of their final 9 games sporting the #1 passing offense in the country (363 YPG passing). They are facing a WSU defense that was terrible overall (116th in total defense) and couldn’t stop the pass (118th in pass defense). Now that defense, that was bad to begin with, will be without their 2 starting CB’s and a starting safety. Cuse has massive motivation here after losing their bowl game last year 45-0 and head coach Brown has made sure his team remembers that. The Orange are all in to win this game and the Cougars simply want this season to end. Lay it.

#230 ASA PLAY ON Bowling Green -8 over Arkansas State, Thursday at 9 PM ET - BG seems to be taking this game very seriously as they have 3 key players in the portal, 2 that have committed to Power 4 schools, but all plan on playing to go out with one final win for the Falcons. Starting RB Stewart (committed to Va Tech), starting LT Wollschlaeger (committed to Kentucky), and starting LB Sipp (committed to Kansas), all made the trip and are slated to start on Thursday. That would give the Falcons their entire starting line up ready to go in this game as the look to get to 8 wins (one more than last season) and make up for their regular season finale loss to Miami OH which kept them out of the MAC Championship game. Despite the same records (both 7-5) BG was the much better team this season. They have a huge advantage in YPP margin sitting at +0.4 compared to Arkansas State who had a terrible -1.6 YPP margin. The edge defensively in this game for the Falcons is as big as any in the bowl games this season. BG ranks 32nd nationally in total defense (allowing 331 YPG) and 22nd in scoring defense (allowing 20 PPG). Arkansas State finished 129th in total defense (allowing 462 YPG), 112th in scoring defense (allowing 32 PPG), and 132nd in rush defense (allowing 227 YPG rushing). The Red Wolves played 11 games vs FBS opponents and they were outgained in 8 of those games. The only 3 teams they outgained this season were Tulsa, USM, and Troy who finished with a combined record of 8-28! Bowling Green finished 6-2 in the MAC with their losses coming vs NIU and Miami OH, both bowl teams. In the non-conference season they gave 2 high level Power 4 teams all they could handle losing by 7 @ Penn State and losing by 6 @ Texas A&M. If BG comes ready to play, as is seems they will, they are the FAR better team in this match up. Lay it.

#405 ASA PLAY ON Seattle Seahawks -4 over Chicago Bears, Thursday at 8:15 PM ET - The Bears are in a freefall losing 9 straight games. They look like they are simply playing out the stretch and if by some chance they have one more “all in” game we’re guessing it will be next week vs arch rival Green Bay and not this one. Chicago had a decent stretch in late November where they took their 3 division rivals Detroit, Minnesota, and Green Bay all to the wire but lost all 3. After that run, they fired head coach Eberflus and it’s been all downhill since losing their last 3 games by margins of 25, 18, and 17 points. The offense put up only 14 PPG and 276 YPG during that 3 game stretch. The Chicago defense, that looked solid early in the year, looks like they’ve run out of gas as well, allowing at least 30 points in 4 of their last 5 games. We’re not sure the Bears can keep up here. Seattle is coming off a tight 27-24 loss vs Minnesota last week in a game they outgained the Vikings 6.0 YPP to 4.8 YPP, outrushed them 3.9 YPC to 3.4 YPC and also had an edge in yards per pass attempt (6.7 to 5.7). Seattle is still alive in the playoff race but they have to win here and hope the Rams lose @ New England on Saturday. They’ve been much better on the road this year with a 5-1 SU record (3-6 SU at home) and their only road loss came @ Detroit. The Seahawks have a +5 PPG point differential on the road and +0.5 YPP margin. Chicago has the worst YPP margin in the NFL (-1.3), they have an interim coach that will be gone at the end of the year, and they look like they are just playing out the season. We’ll take Seattle.

ASA NBA top play on Chicago Bulls +6.5 at Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 PM ET - This will be the third meeting this season between these two teams with the Bulls winning both clashes thus far. Some bettors might want to back the Hawks with revenge but not us. This is a game where the Hawks have a hard time matching up against the Bulls. Chicago’s two wins against Atlanta have come by 12 and 14-points. Chicago has won 3 straight in the series and 5 of the last six. If we look at each teams last five games we find the Bulls have a Net Rating of -4.5 compared to the Hawks NR of -1.5. Chicago has won 3 straight on the road and have a Net scoring differential of -0.5ppg when away from home which ranks 14th in the NBA. Atlanta is 8-7 SU at home this season with the 19th worst average scoring margin of -2.6ppg. As a home favorite the Hawks are 2-7 ATS with a negative differential of minus -2.1ppg. Neither team is good defensively and the Bulls shoot it better at 46.8% overall (10th) and 37% (9th) from deep compared to the Hawks who shoot 46.3% (15th) and 35% (21st). Grab the points and the Bulls.

ASA NBA play on LA Lakers +4 at Golden State Warriors, 8 PM ET - The Lakers are always a tricky team to bet on because you never know if LeBron/AD is going to play or not. LeBron was away from the team recently for unknown reasons, other than the fallout from his Diddy party comments on social media. With the TV lights on LBJ will be in the lineup tonight against the Warriors. Both teams are off losses as the Lakers lost to the Pistons at home, the Warriors lost to the Pacers. Golden State and Los Angeles both have really good results off a loss so that is basically a wash. If we look at the full season stats we see the Warriors have a very slight edge in Offensive Efficiency, and a significant advantage in Defensive Efficiency. If we look at each team's last five games though we see the opposite with the OEFF numbers being about even, but the Lakers defense over the last five games has been outstanding and the Warriors has not. Golden State currently ranks 26th in DEFF over the last 5 games allowing 1.183PPP, the Lakers D has allowed 1.037PPP in that same stretch of games. We can’t trust a Warriors defense that gave up 143+ points in two consecutive games in the past two weeks. As an NBA fan, enjoy what might be the last meaningful game between two future Hall of Famers in LeBron and Steph Curry.

#402 ASA PLAY ON Pittsburgh Steelers +3 -120 over Kansas City Chiefs, Wednesday at 1 PM ET - We were on Houston last week vs KC and picked up a loss with KC winning 27-19 as a 3.5 point home favorite. The yardage was dead even in that game (5.8 YPP to 5.8 YPP) but Houston had 2 turnovers (0 for KC) which was the difference. The turning point in that game happened in the 3rd quarter when Houston scored to seemingly tie the game at 17-16 (they missed the XP) but the Texans lost top WR Dell on a gruesome injury on that TD. Houston QB Stroud admitted that he wasn’t very focused on the game moving forward after the injury which was evident as the Texans had only 48 total yards from that point on (11:00 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter). Now the Chiefs are in a tough spot traveling on a very short week to Pittsburgh to face a motivated Steelers team that is coming off 2 losses to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Both teams are on an extremely tough stretch of 3 games in 11 days which heavily favors the home team on our opinion. Pitt was on the road in those recent 2 losses with spreads of +5.5 @ Philly and +6.5 or +7 @ Baltimore. Those numbers would tell us that if Pitt had hosted those games they would have been right around a pick-em vs the Eagles and +1 or +1.5 vs the Ravens. Now they are getting a full FG vs KC who despite their record, we (and others in the industry) have rated lower than both of those teams. NFL DVOA has Baltimore rated #1 in the NFL, Philly #5 and KC #7 as another reference point. Just 2 weeks ago the Chiefs were favored by -4.5 @ Cleveland and now laying nearly that number @ Pittsburgh? Either way, too many points here. Especially with Pittsburgh getting healthy. Top WR Pickens missed the last 2 games and has a solid chance to play here along with some key defensive players that have been banged up. KC continues to have the best record in the NFL despite being outgained on the season (-0.1 YPP). Their point differential is just 9th in the NFL and they are averaging just 5.0 YPP and 328 YPG on the road this season. Pitt was 5-0 ATS as a dog this year prior to their last 2 contests (now 5-2) and dating back to the start of the 2018 season they are 11-3-2 ATS as a home dog. We like Pittsburgh on Xmas Day!

ASA NBA play on Phoenix Suns +6 at Denver Nuggets – 10 PM ET - Scheduling clearly favors the Suns here who last played on Thursday night at home against the Pistons. Phoenix lost that game and the game previous to Indiana, both at home. Kevin Durant certainly did everything in his power to carry this Suns team with 37pts, 10rebs and 6ass against the Pacers and 43pts, 5rebs and 6ass against the Pistons. Phoenix is a respectable 5-7 SU on the road this season. Denver is coming off a game Sunday at New Orleans and played two other road games at the Kings and Blazers prior to that game. Denver has been very good off a loss since the start of last season with a 13-4 SU record and an average MOV of +6.5ppg. Phoenix though is 20-6 SU since the start of last year with an average+/- of +7.7ppg. Phoenix has certainly underachieved this season, but the same can be said about the Nuggets. Denver has a Net rating of +2.4 while the Suns are -0.9. The Suns beat this Nuggets team two out of three meetings last season with both wins coming in Denver. KD will keep the Suns in that entire game and cover the spread in the process.

#867 ASA PLAY ON College of Charleston +2.5 over Loyola Chicago, Monday at 5:30 PM ET - Both of these teams lost yesterday in their opening games of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. Much different circumstances however as Loyola was a 6.5 point favorite and lost to Oakland who has a current record of 4-7 and their only lead in that game was 2-0. C of C lost as a dog to a very good Oregon State team making only 6 of 24 three point shots (24%) when on the season they’ve hit 36% from deep (81st nationally). Loyola will have a tougher time in this back to back situation as they are without 3 starters which has drastically thinned their bench. Those 3 players account for nearly 30 PPG, 10 RPG, and 7 APG and each average over 20 minutes per game. When healthy, the Ramblers won their first 8 games, but since the injuries to 3 key players, they have lost 2 of their last 3 with their only win in that stretch coming vs Canisius who is 0-13 and ranked 357th. Even in that win, Loyola didn’t really dominate a bad team winning by 12 at home. The Cougars have played the much tougher schedule (102nd SOS compared to 361st for Loyola) but still have a solid 8-3 record with top 100 wins over St Joes and FAU. The Ramblers have only played 1 team in the top 100 and lost that game by double digits vs San Francisco. If this one is tight, it could be won or lost from the FT line and C of C hits 76% of their freebies compared to 64% from Loyola. Tough spot for an undermanned Rambler team playing their second game in 24 hours. We’ll take the points.

#220 ASA PLAY ON UTSA -11 over Coastal Carolina, Monday at 11 AM ET - This line has been climbing and for good reason. UTSA opened around a TD favorite and now is laying -11 to -11.5 range. This game is actually being played on Coastal’s home field but we don’t expect any advantage here on a Monday morning, a few days prior to Xmas, with the students already on break. The atmosphere won’t favor CC in this game. In fact, we’d argue that playing at home might not be great as players like to travel on visit other cities and venues for bowl games. Playing at home might not be a motivator for the CC players. The ones that remain that is. Coastal has been hit as hard as any bowl team in regards to transfers, opt outs, etc… They will be without their top 2 QB’s including starter Vasko leaving them with 2 freshman who have yet to play in a game in their careers. The Chanticleers have a number of other starters / key players that are moving on and won’t be playing in this game as well. After struggling down the stretch as well losing 5 of their last 7 games, it seems like they have called it a season so to speak. UTSA was rising a the end of the season winning 4 of their last 6. They are coming into this one off a loss to end the season @ Army in a tight game (29-24) vs a very good team. They’ll have a huge edge at QB here with starting McCown who threw for over 3,000 yards and 24 TD’s on an offense that averaged 32 PPG on the season. Down the stretch the Roadrunner offense was even more potent topping 40 points in 4 of their last 5 games. UTSA head coach Traylor said while they do have some players in the portal, he expects most of his team to be available and play in this game. UTSA seems to be all in as opposed to CC. We’re not sure Coastal can keep up offensively here. Lay it.

#113 ASA PLAY ON Philadelphia Eagles -3.5 over Washington Commanders, Sunday at 1 PM ET - Some may argue this is a bigger game for Washington as they attempt to hold on and simply get in the playoffs.  They are currently the #7 seed while the Eagles have already clinched a playoff spot.  We would disagree with that assumption.  A win today and Philly clinches the NFC East and they now have a realistic shot at the #1 seed with Detroit racking up massive injuries down the stretch.  Washington is a bit overvalued in our opinion having played the easiest schedule in the NFL so far.  Of their 9 wins, not a single one has come vs a team with a current winning record.  Their best win thus far was vs Arizona, who is 7-7, and that was way back in September.  Their next best win came vs a Cincinnati team that is currently 6-8 and the Commaders were outgained by more than 1.0 YPP in that game.  They have lost 3 of their last 5 games with their 2 wins during that stretch coming vs Tennessee (2-10 record) and New Orleans (who is 5-9).  Their 20-19 win last week vs the Saints was not impressive as Washington was outgained 4.8 to 4.4 YPP and New Orleans was playing with their 2nd and 3rd string QB’s.  The Eagles have won 10 straight games and even more impressive they’ve outgained 8 of those 10 opponents by at least 100 yards.  Last week vs a very solid Pittsburgh team, the Eagles dominated more than the 27-13 score would indicate as they outgained Pittsburgh 401 to 163.  The Eagles have outgained their opponents by +1.0 YPP this season and in their first meeting with Washington, an 8 point win, the outgained the Commanders 6.2 YPP to 4.2 YPP.  Unlike Washington, the Eagles have some very impressive wins this year including beating the Ravens, Steelers, Packers, and Rams.  Philly should control the trenches here just as they did in the 1st game (5.7 YPC to 3.3 YPC) which should lead to a win.  We’ll take the much better team laying a small number.

#753 ASA PLAY ON Illinois -3 over Missouri, Sunday at 1 PM ET - Missouri is 10-1 on the season but they’ve faced one of the easiest schedules in the country ranking 361st in SOS out of 364 teams.  They’ve faced only 2 top 100 teams all season and the Tigers have also played 10 straight home games.  Their only game away from home was a loss @ Memphis to start the season.  7 of their 11 opponents this season currently rank 255th or lower.  Illinois is 7-3 on the year but they’ve faced the 71st most difficult schedule to date with their losses coming vs Bama & Tennessee (2 top 10 teams) and @ Northwestern in OT in a game the Illini led by double digits in the 2nd half.  Their most recent game was a 66-64 home loss vs #1 Tennessee losing a layup as time expired by the Vols.  The Illini have had a full week to get over that tough loss and get ready for this game.  These 2 rank nearly identical in offensive efficiency yet Illinois is far better on the defensive end (12th in defensive efficiency to 103rd for Mizzou) despite playing the much tougher schedule as we referenced earlier.  Illinois is also the much better rebounding team and they keep opponents off the foul line which is where Mizzou has lived thus far ranking 25th in percentage of points from the FT line.  This game is played on a neutral site in St Louis and last season Illinois throttled Missouri by 24 points.  The Illini are still a top 20 team (per KenPom) and while the Tigers have improved, they were 8-24 last year so how much have they improved?  It’s really hard to tell as they’ve been at home all season and only played a few good teams.  We’ll lay the small number with the team we know is solid, that’s Illinois.

ASA NBA play on Brooklyn Nets -2.5 vs. Utah Jazz, 7:40 PM ET - We are going to try and beat the Jazz again tonight when they travel to Brooklyn to face the Nets. Utah is clearly one of the worst teams in the NBA this season and we are betting they don’t win two games in a row. The Jazz have lost 14 of their last 17 games and 10 of those losses have been by six points or more. Utah has a negative scoring margin of -10.6ppg which is the 28th highest number in the NBA. Utah is the worst defensive team in the league in terms of Efficiency rating allowing 1.215-points per possession. The Jazz are 29th in opponents FG% defense at 48.7%, 26th in 3PT% allowed at 37.4% and have given up an average of 121.8ppg over their last 10 games. The Jazz turn the ball over at one of the highest rates in the NBA. There were clearly some issues in the Nets locker room with Denis Schroeder on the roster. As soon as he was traded the Nets went on the road and beat Toronto in their most recent game. Cam Johnson has elevated his game as he tries to improve his draft stock and get out of Brooklyn. Johnson is coming off a 33 point, 10 rebound and 6 assists against the Raptors. Brooklyn has some horrible home losses in recent weeks, but they have come against: Cleveland, Milwaukee, Orlando twice and Boston. Those are 4 top teams in the East. Utah has just 4 road wins on the season and are coming off an upset in Detroit. We like the Nets here.

#708 ASA PLAY ON Kentucky -8.5 over Ohio State, Saturday at 5:30 PM ET - OSU will be shorthanded here with starting PG Johnson out. The Buckeyes are 7-4 on the season and they’ve been poor when stepping up in competition. They’ve faced 4 teams this season ranked in the top 35 (per KenPom) and they’ve lost those games by 38, 24, 14, and 1 point (1 point loss was AT HOME vs Pitt). The Buckeyes have had a rough go offensive away from home (road or neutral) averaging just 64 PPG including getting held under 60 points twice. That’s a huge difference compared to their home splits where they average 90 PPG on the season. 5 of OSU’s 7 wins have come vs teams ranked outside the top 200 all but 1 of their 7 wins have come at home. Kentucky has 1 loss on the season @ Clemson and they have 4 top 100 wins including topping Duke and Gonzaga, 2 top 6 teams per KenPom. They Buckeye offense relies pretty heavily on the 3 point shot (almost 35% of their points come from deep) but they are facing a Wildcat defense that ranks 12th nationally defending the arc allowing only 27%. The Kentucky defense has allowed opponents to make only 39% of their shot this year so we expect OSU to have problems on offense. Offensively the Wildcats lead the nation in scoring at 91 PPG and they rank 8th nationally in offensive efficiency. OSU’s defense has allowed 83 PPG vs the 5 top 100 teams they’ve faced. We don’t think the Buckeyes can keep up offensively here. Lay it with Kentucky.

#216 ASA PLAY ON Texas -12.5 over Clemson, Saturday at 4 PM ET - Clemson is lucky to be here as they have not been great this season. They’ve beaten the low level teams but struggled with the teams on their schedule that were solid. The 4 best teams they played this season (Georgia, Louisville, SMU, and South Carolina), the Tigers lost 3 of those game including 2 at home. Their lone win in that bunch was topping SMU 34-31 in the ACC Championship game and even in that one, Clemson was outgained by 130 yards. Our power rating have the Longhorns as the best team in the nation despite their 5 seed in the CFP. Their 2 losses both came vs Georgia but the fact is they outplayed the Bulldogs statistically this season. In their first loss they Horns were outgained by 22 yards and in their tight loss in the SEC Championship game, Texas outgained UGA by more than 100 yards. They had 7 turnovers in those 2 games which cost them a chance at an undefeated season. When Clemson played Georgia this season, they lost by 31 points and were outgained by 265 yards. The Tigers defense is the worst they’ve had in over a decade ranking outside the top 40 in total defense, YPP allowed and PPG allowed. Meanwhile the Texas defense is ranked in the top 5 in each of those key categories despite playing the tougher schedule. Since the CFP started in 2014, there have been 8 teams favored by double digits and those teams are 8-0 SU & 6-2 ATS. Texas is the MUCH better team in this game and they are at home. This feels like a 2 TD+ win for the Horns. Lay it.

#676 ASA PLAY ON Washington State -3 over Northern Iowa, Saturday at 4 PM ET - This game is on a neutral site in Las Vegas. Washington State has the better record (9-3 compared to 7-4 for UNI) and they’ve played the much tougher slate thus far. Wazzou’s strength of schedule is ranked 84th while Northern Iowa has played the 258th ranked SOS so far. This line is lower than it should be according to our power ratings and that’s because UNI has won 4 straight games in blowout fashion vs teams ranked 205th, 353rd, 303rd, and 213th. The Panthers haven’t beaten a single team ranked inside the top 100 and 6 of their 7 wins have come vs teams ranked outside the top 200. Washington State’s 3 losses this season have all come vs teams inside the top 100 (Iowa, SMU, and Washington). The Cougars are coming off a loss @ Washington on Wednesday giving them a little extra motivation here. Unlike UNI, the Cougars have already beaten 3 top 100 teams including Boise State on the road, Nevada on the road, and Bradley at home. Northern Iowa has done most of their damage at home but on the road (away or neutral) they are just 1-3 on the season with their only win coming vs Illinois Chicago. The Panthers lead the nation in FG% and they are #2 in 3 point FG% hitting at numbers that are not sustainable. Their 4 game winning streak has come vs poor opponents that all rank outside the top 200 in defensive efficiency. Now they face a Washington State defense that ranks 87th in that category. We like Wazzou to cover this small number in Las Vegas on Saturday.

#103 ASA NFL PLAY ON Houston Texans +3.5 over Kansas City Chiefs, Saturday at 1 PM ET - The Chiefs are clearly not the dominant team they have been in the past, but they still stand 13-1 SU on the season. Kansas City has an average Margin of Victory of +5.0PPG (11th) which is insanely low for a team with 13 wins this season. KC is averaging 5.1YPP on the season which ranks 24th in the NFL. In their last 3 games they have managed just 4.5YPP against three defenses that allow 5.3YPP or more on the season. Last Sunday against a Browns defense that allows 5.6YPP the Chiefs struggled offensively with a 4.1YPP average. The Houston Texans have one of the top defenses in terms of EPA, DVOA and overall efficiency rankings. The Texans allow the 3rd fewest YPP at 4.9, have the 11best rushing defenses in terms of total yards allowed and rank 6th in passing yards allowed. Houston allows the 9th fewest points per game at 21.4ppg. Houston has a below average offense this season in most key statistical categories ranking 20th in YPP, 17th in rushing YPG and 19th in passing YPG, but they still manage to score on average 23.4ppg (13th). Kansas City’s defense has shown some holes in recent weeks allowing more yards per play in their last three games (5.5YPP) compared to their season average of 5.2. Houston has 4 less wins on the season, yet their average MOV of +2.0ppg is not much less than KC’s. With Mahomes not 100% for this game with an ankle injury and a stout Texans defense we will gladly fade the Chiefs who are 1-7 ATS their last eight games.