#862 ASA PLAY ON Washington -1.5 over Ohio State, Sunday at 6 PM ET - Nice situational set up for the home team here. The Huskies are off back to back road losses @ Indiana and @ Purdue dropping to 1-3 in the Big 10 making this a very important game. They lost both of those games by 10 points but Shot Quality scores had Washington losing by 6 vs Purdue and actually winning the game @ Indiana. UW had won 4 of their previous 5 games prior to their 2 game losing streak. They catch OSU in the 2nd of back to back West Coast games after they topped Oregon on Thursday night. In that win the Buckeyes shot 12% better overall, 10% better from 3, and made 3 more FT’s than the Ducks. OU attempted 8 more shots compared to Ohio State but shot just 33% in the game and were without their 2nd leading scorer Shelstad who averages 16 PPG. The 2nd leg of a long road trip is always tough especially if a team wins the first game, there is a chance they letdown a bit in the 2nd game. We’re getting some line value due to recent results as well. The Buckeyes were just 1.5 point dogs @ Oregon, who was without a key player, and ranked 35 spots below Washington and we’re getting the same number (at the open) here. OSU is 3-1 on the road but their wins have come vs Northwestern (by 4), Rutgers (lowest rated team in the Big 10) and Oregon, all rated lower than this Washington team. Their one road loss was @ Pitt who is rated as the 4th worst team in the ACC currently. The Huskies are 6-1 at home (2 point loss vs UCLA) and shoot 49% and have a +20 PPG margin. They don’t turn the ball over (56th in offensive turnover %) and they should control the boards in this game. Must win for the home team with a small number and we’ll lay it.

ASA NBA play on Chicago Bulls -2.5 vs Dallas Mavericks, 8:10pm ET - The health of both teams plays an important role in this handicap as the Bulls have a key component back in the lineup with Coby White, while the Mavs will be without Anthony Davis. Davis, the often injured star, could miss the remainder of the season with a hand injury. Chicago also has the benefit of extra rest coming into this game as their last game was cancelled due to moisture on the floor so the Bulls have been off since the 7th. Dallas on the other hand will be playing their 3rd straight road game with the most recent game coming in Utah on Thursday night. The Mavs have struggled on the road this season with a 4-13 SU record and an average loss margin in those games of minus -5.9ppg. The Bulls have been a much better team at home than on the road with an above .500 record on their home court of 10-9. The Bulls will enjoy a defensive rebound advantage as they rank 4th best in the league in that stat category plus they don’t turn the ball over like the Mavs do. Dallas is 24th in turnover percentage, the Bulls are 9th. Dallas is 1-6 SU this season when playing with a rest disadvantage and they’ve lost those games by an average of -10.3ppg. We like the health and scheduling advantages in this one and will back the home team to win by 6+ points.

#794 ASA PLAY ON UCLA -11.5 over Maryland, Saturday at 8 PM ET - The Bruins are back from a road trip that saw them lose back to back games @ Iowa and @ Wisconsin. They lost by 13 vs the Hawkeyes and 8 vs the Badgers but their Shot Quality scores had them losing by 1 @ Iowa and winning @ Wisconsin. They combined to shoot 4 of 31 from beyond the arc in those 2 games (13%) which was an outlier for a team that makes 37% of their triples (40th in the country). We expect them to get back on track here when they shoot over 38% from 3 @ Pauley Pavilion and they are facing a Maryland defense that ranks outside the top 300 defending the arc. The Terps have fallen off a cliff after starting 5-1 they have lost 7 of their last 9 with their only wins during that stretch coming at home vs Wagner (ranked 317th) and Old Dominion (ranked 245th). They only have 2 wins vs teams ranked in the top 240 and those were vs Marquette, who has a record of 6-10, and UNLV, who has a record of 7-7. The Terps are 0-4 in the Big 10 and vs they’ve played 3 games vs the top half of the conference teams and lost those games by 18 @ home vs Indiana, @ Iowa by 19, and at home vs Michigan by 18. UCLA head coach Mick Cronin has been very disappointed with his team’s defensive effort as of late and he let them know it after their road trip. Even with that they are still in the top 60 nationally in defensive efficiency and they allow opponents to shoot just 39% at home. The Bruins will play extra hard on that end of the court and that will be a problem for Maryland who isn’t a great shooting team (299th in eFG%). The Terps allow over 80 PPG on the road this season and UCLA averages 86 PPG at home. The Bruins are 9-0 at home this year with 8 of those wins coming by double digits. We’ll lay it.

#754 ASA PLAY ON Auburn -1 over Arkansas, Saturday at 6 PM ET - We were on Auburn earlier this week at home vs Texas A&M and they blew a 16 point 2nd half lead (with under 14:00 remaining) and lost 90-88. The Aggies shot over 50% in that game and hit 43% of their triples (Auburn hit only 27% from deep) and it still came down to the wire. Their previous game they lost in OT @ UGA and now sit at 0-2 in SEC play and are in must win mode. They’ve actually been quite unlucky as Shot Quality stats had the Tigers winning @ UGA by 9 and then beating A&M by 17! That basically tells us Auburn was getting better shots than their opponents but shot a poor percentage which they did making only 27% from 3 point land in each game. This team could easily be 2-0 right now and we wouldn’t be seeing them as a home dog (we were anticipating this line to flip to Auburn as a small favorite). These teams have obviously changed from last season, but Auburn was a 16 point favorite at home vs the Razorbacks last year and now they started out here as a dog (line opened +1.5). That’s too big of a swing in our opinion. Arkansas is 2-0 in league play and coming off a road win @ Mississippi (lowest rated team in the SEC) on Wednesday so this will be their 2nd of back to back away from home and they have 1 less day to prepare as Auburn lost at home on Tuesday night. This will be just their 3rd true road game of the season and they are 1-1 thus far. Since John Calipari took over the Arkansas program as the start of last season, they are just 5-7 in true road games and they are facing an Auburn team that is 19-3 at home during that same time frame. The Tigers have played one of the toughest schedules in the country (4th SOS) and 4 of their losses have come vs teams ranked in KenPom’s top 11 (Michigan, Arizona, Houston, and Purdue) all away from home or neutral sites. Auburn is a very good offensive team (13th in offensive efficiency) that we expect to bounce back and shoot much better at home tonight. They are also one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country (7th) which should lead to extra opportunities. The Tigers have won 4 of the last 5 at home vs Arkansas and we like them in this one.

#607 ASA PLAY ON VCU -1.5 over George Mason, Saturday at 12 PM ET - This line speaks volumes. VCU with an 11-5 record is a road favorite vs a George Masion team that is 15-1 on the season. Hmm? That line is telling you who to take in this game and that is VCU. We agree. The Rams are coming off a home loss on Wednesday (we were on VCU) vs a very good St Louis team (ranked 32nd per KenPom). They shot terribly in that game making only 29% of their shots overall and just 25% from deep and despite that the Rams led by 1 point with just over 2:00 minutes remaining vs one of the better mid major teams in the country. That was an outlier for this VCU offense as they are a very good offensive team ranking 54th in offensive efficiency, 62nd in eFG%, 46th in 3 point FG%, while averaging 86 PPG. We look for them to play much better in this game. All 5 of their losses have come vs teams ranked in the top 55 with 4 of those coming vs teams in the top 35. By comparison, George Mason who has a strength of schedule of 346th, has played ONE top 100 team all season and lost that game by double digits vs Va Tech. VCU will be the highest rated team they’ve faced all season. Their 15-1 record is a bit of a mirage at this point which is why they are a home dog in this game. While this game is @ George Mason, they’ve had some close calls vs poor teams this year beating Penn (ranked 217th) by 4, Loyola Maryland (ranked 341st) by 7, and Winthrop (ranked 151st) by 6. Now they take a huge step up in competition vs a VCU team that has beaten them 6 straight times and 14 of the last 17. The Rams have better efficiency numbers both offensive and defensively and they are the better rebounding team. We’re getting VCU off a loss as well which sets this one up very nicely.

#882 ASA PLAY ON Oakland -14.5 over Cleveland State, Friday at 7 PM ET - Oakland is 8-8 on the year despite playing one of the most difficult schedules in the entire country. Their SOS is rated 12th in the country and they’ve already faced the likes of Michigan State, Houston, Purdue, and Michigan all rated in the top 12 per KenPom. The Grizzlies are on a roll right now winning 7 of their last 10 after losing 5 of their first 6 to start the season. They are ranked as the #1 team in the Horizon League and tonight they are facing a Cleveland State team that ranks as the 2nd worst team in the league and 322nd in the country. The Vikings have faced 7 teams ranked in the top 200 this year (Oakland is 130) and they are 0-7 in those games losing all by at least 15 points including 3 of those games vs teams rated below Oakland. The CSU defense has been abysmal allowing 84 PPG (347th) and ranking 353rd in defensive efficiency. That’s going to be a huge problem vs an Oakland offense that ranks 56th nationally in offensive efficiency which is more than 100 spots higher than any other team in the conference. The Griz are also averaging 84 PPG and that’s all despite playing the 5th best set of defensive efficiency teams in the country. They have only played 4 games at home this year (12 on the road or neutral) and they are 4-0 in those games scoring at least 96 points in all 4. This will be the first opponent Oakland has faced this season that ranks below 300 in defensive efficiency and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if they hit triple digits in this game. They like to play fast (41st in tempo) and Cleveland State does as well (135th in tempo) so simply more chances for this Oakland offense to pull away. A blowout is highly possible here.

#816 ASA PLAY ON New Mexico State NM State -3 over Western Kentucky, Thursday at 9 PM ET - New Mexico State is a perfect 6-0 at home this year including an 8 point win over a very good New Mexico team who is 12-3 and ranked 54th per KenPom. The Aggies are also coming off back to back road losses @ FIU and @ Missouri State and they are happy to be at home after playing 7 of their last 7 on the road or at neutral sites. While NMSU has been on the road for the most part as of late, Western Kentucky has been at home for 5 of their last 7 games and off back to back home wins vs Sam Houston St and La Tech. The Hilltoppers have played only 3 true road games this year losing 2 of those by double digits vs 2 teams both ranked lower than New Mexico State (Marshall and Jacksonville St). WKU did win their first road game of the year way back on November 10th @ Eastern Kentucky who is currently 2-11 vs D1 teams this season. The Hilltoppers are bad shooting team and that usually doesn’t bode well on the road. They rank 306th making only 41.8% of their shots and on the road that drops to 35%. They are facing a lock down New Mexico St defense who allows opponents to shoot only 39% this year (18th) while making only 21 FG’s per game (7th). The Aggies have played the stronger schedule and still have better offensive and defensive shooting numbers. These 2 have met 5 times since NMSU joined Conference USA in 2024 and the home team has won all 5 times. Last season the Aggies dominated the Hilltoppers here at home 65-47 as a 4 point favorite and we look for them to win and cover tonight.

ASA NBA play on Phoenix Suns -4.5 at Memphis Grizzlies, 8pm ET - The Phoenix Suns (21-15) head to FedExForum as 3.5-point favorites against the Memphis Grizzlies (15-20) in a matchup that favors the visitors due to Memphis' fatigue and injury issues. The Grizzlies are coming off a big upset win over the Spurs last night and we predict a letdown. This will also be their second game in as many nights and third in four days. Memphis has also struggled as a home underdog, posting a 7-12 ATS record since the start of last season. On the flip side, we like the Suns to bounce back from a narrow 97-100 loss in Houston a few nights ago, and they've been excellent in this spot with a 10-4 ATS mark this season when coming off a defeat. In those games, Phoenix has won by an average margin of +6.4 points per game. The Suns will also be motivated for payback after dropping a tight 113-114 decision at home to the Grizzlies on October 29th. Adding to the case for Phoenix: Memphis is dealing with a lengthy injury list that could carry over from their January 6th game, including key absences like Ja Morant (calf contusion, out vs. Spurs), Zach Edey (ankle), Brandon Clarke (calf), and others, severely depleting their backcourt and frontcourt depth. The Suns, meanwhile, boast a balanced attack led by Devin Booker (25.7 PPG) and have gone 7-3 in their last 10 games overall.

#690 ASA PLAY ON VCU -2 over St Louis, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - St Louis is an impressive 13-1 on the season but they’ve faced a very easy schedule to date. The Billikens SOS is 343rd out of 365 teams and they’ve played only 1 true road game this season. They’ve faced only 2 top 100 teams this year beating Santa Clara by 1 and losing vs Stanford by 1 (both on neutral courts). VCU will actually be the highest rated team St Louis has faced this season. Last year VCU was favored by 10.5 at home vs the Billikens and won by 9 and now we’re getting them right around a pick-em at home. The Rams have already played 4 games vs teams inside the top 60 and while those are their 4 losses (11-4 record), 3 of those games went to the wire vs Utah St, NC State and New Mexico (also lost to Vandy). The teams that have beaten VCU this year have a combined record of 47-9 and all have strength of schedules in the top 120 unlike St Louis. If you look at straight stats, STL has some very impressive overall numbers. However, keep in mind they’ve faced a set off offenses that combines to rank 353rd in efficiency and they’ve played only 1 top 100 offense the entire season. The defenses they’ve faced combine to rank 302nd. Now they face a VCU offense thar ranks 30th in efficiency (the best offense STL has faced this year) and a defense that ranks 76th in efficiency. This is a big home game for the Rams who are on the road for 3 of their next 4 games and they are 23-2 at home since the start of last season. VCU joined the Atlantic 10 conference in 2012 and they are a perfect 9-0 SU at home vs St Louis since then. Let’s lay the small number.

ASA NBA play on Sacramento Kings +5.5 vs. Dallas Mavericks, 11pm ET - This is as much a bet against Dallas as it is on Sacramento. The Kings have lost 5 straight games and 8 of their last ten. In fact, their last win was at Dallas on December 27th 113-107. They were a +3-point home dog in that game and are now catching a premium number with one of their best players returning from injury. Zach LaVine missed the last go around with Dallas but he’s back for the Kings now who desperately need his scoring. The Mavericks have lost 7 straight road games and have a 3-12 SU road record this season yet are laying points here? The Kings trailed the Bucks in their most recent game by as many as 26-points but battled back to make it respectable in the 4th Q. Dallas is the much better defensive team but offensively they are just average which makes it tough for them to win by margin. The Kings have the worst average margin of victory in the NBA at -12ppg, but the Mavs aren’t much better at -4.0ppg. Going back to the start of last season the Kings have covered 4 of the last 5 meetings with Dallas. We expect another tight game in this series tonight.

#656 ASA PLAY ON Wyoming -4.5 over UNLV, Tuesday at 10 PM ET - UNLV has a 7-6 record yet they’ve only left the state of Nevada twice this year with the last time coming back on December 7th. They already have 5 losses vs teams ranked outside the top 100 and if you throw out their loss vs Alabama (lost by 37) the average ranking of the opponents they’ve lost to is 182nd (Wyoming is ranked 103rd per KenPom). The Cowboys will actually be the 4th best team UNLV has faced this season and Wyoming will come into this one with a chip on their shoulder after getting smoked @ New Mexico over the weekend (we were on NM). The Rebels are one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country hitting just 28% (336th) and Wyoming defends the are very well allowing just 29% (33rd) so we can expect very little from beyond the arc for UNLV. The Cowboys (10-4 record) are the better shooting team overall and from deep and their PPG margin on the year is +12 (UNLV is +5). At home they are winning by an average of +17 PPG and they are the better FT shooting team (73% to 67%). Wyoming should control the glass here (33rd in rebound rated vs UNLV who is 170th) and their offensive rebounding (49th nationally) should lead to a number of second chances (UNLV 244th in defensive rebounding). The Cowboys have bounced back with wins after their first 3 losses this year, 2 coming by double digits, and we expect them to pick up a home win and cover tonight.

#638 ASA PLAY ON Auburn -6.5 over Texas A&M, Tuesday at 9 PM ET - A&M is 11-3 on the season and Auburn is 9-5 but this is one of the more drastic strength of schedule disparities you’ll see. The Tigers have played the 7th most difficult schedule thus far already facing 8 top 100 teams including 3 ranked in the top 4 nationally per KenPom (Michigan, Arizona, and Purdue). You can also throw in Houston who is ranked 11th. A&M’s strength of schedule ranks 320th and they’ve played half their games (7) vs teams currently ranked 295th or lower. The Aggies haven’t left the state of Texas in over a month and they’ve only played 2 true road games this year @ Pitt (8 point win) and @ Oklahoma State (24 point loss). The Aggies are 1-3 vs top 75 teams with their only win coming at home over the weekend 75-72 vs LSU in a game the Tigers played without guard Dedan Thomas (16 PPG & 7 APG). Auburn is coming off a 4 point OT loss at a very good Georgia team (26th per KenPom) in a game that Shot Quality stats had the Tigers actually winning by 9 points. Auburn has quality wins over St Johns, Oregon, and NC State, all by double digits with 2 of those wins coming away from home. They are also undefeated at home this year and their only 3 losses at home since the start of the 2023 season were vs Kentucky (in 2023), Bama (in OT), and Florida (last year’s National Champion) last year. In their home games this year the Tigers are shooting 54% overall and nearly 40% from deep while averaging 97 PPG. The Aggies have fallen off drastically in their few road games hitting 38% of their shots and scoring 72 PPG (they average 100 PPG at home mainly vs terrible competition). To put the disparity of opponents into perspective, Auburn has faced the 4th most difficult set of offenses this year and the 17th most difficult set of defenses. The Aggies have faced the 260th most difficult set of offenses and the 350th most difficult set of defenses. Auburn won by double digits last year here vs A&M and they are in “need to win” mode coming off a loss. Let’s lay it.

#831 ASA PLAY ON Bradley +5 over Murray State, Sunday at 5 PM ET - We’re getting some nice value here on Bradley facing a Murray State team that is on an 8 game winning streak. 5 of those 8 wins came by single digits and they only double digit wins during that stretch came vs teams ranked 310th and 249th. Bradley was just a 4.5 point dog @ Belmont on Thursday, a team that ranks 30 spots higher than Murray State per KenPom. The Braves lost that game by 10 points with Belmont shooting 55% and making 11 more FT’s. Belmont never led in the 2nd have by double digits until 20 seconds left in the game. We expect the Bradley defense (ranked 103rd in efficiency) to bounce back strong in this game. They create turnovers at a 22% rate (12th in the country) which should lead to extra possessions. Murray State’s offense has very good numbers but they’ve faced a group of defensive teams whose average rank is outside the top 300 in efficiency. The Braves should excel offensively in this game as well. The Racers defense isn’t great allowing 78 PPG and they rank 264th in opponent’s FG%. They’ve been winning tight games all season and each of their last 3 was decided by 6 points or less. Bradley should keep this close throughout and we’ll take the points.

ASA NBA play on Orlando Magic -6.5 vs Indiana Pacers 3pm ET - The Pacers are one of the worst teams in the NBA this season and have currently lost 11 straight games. On the year, Indiana has a 1-15 SU road record with an average loss margin of -13.8ppg. Orlando on the other hand has been solid overall and very good at home with an 11-5 record on their home court. Orlando is coming off a loss to the Bulls in their last game and will look to rebound here with a much better effort against a Pacers team they barely beat last week. The Magic were just favored by -4.5 points at Indiana so the number on Sunday’s game is a bargain. In the Pacers 11-game losing streak only 4 of the eleven losses have come by single digits. Easy call with the home team Magic in this one.

#770 ASA PLAY ON UC San Diego -2.5 over Hawaii, Saturday at 10 PM ET - We’re getting a really good team, off a loss, at home with a low number in this one. UCSD is 11-3 on the season and 8-3-1 ATS. They should be extra motivated in this game coming off a rough road loss @ Cal Poly as a 9 point favorite. The Tritons led nearly the entire game and actually never trailed in the 2nd half until Cal Poly took a 66-65 lead with 18 seconds left in the game and won 67-65. UCSD didn’t score a single point over the last 3:49 in that loss. We expect a big bounce back at home where they have won 32 of their last 37 games. Hawaii is 11-2 on the year but they’ve played the 2nd easiest schedule in college hoops thus far. They have 1 win vs a top 200 team and the 2 top 100 teams they played they lost to both. Compare that to San Diego who has 6 wins vs top 200 teams this season. On top of that, Hawaii has played 11 home games, where they obviously have a huge advantage over opponents who have to make the long travel, and only 2 road games. Their most recent game was an easy win @ a bad UC Riverside team and now the Rainbows had to stay stateside to face UCSD 48 hours later. To give you an idea of how easy Hawaii’s schedule has been, thus far they’ve faced the 353rd most difficult schedule of offensive teams and the 362nd most difficult schedule of defensive teams. Even with that, the Tritons have been the better shooting team overall and from beyond the arc this season despite playing the much more difficult slate. The Rainbows have beaten 2 teams this season that currently have a winning record (Utah Tech is 9-7 & UC Davis is 8-5) and the combined record of the teams they’ve beaten is 54-78. UCSD was favored by 15.5 vs Hawaii here at home last year and won by 39 points. Now we’re getting them near a pick-em. We’ll gladly take UC San Diego in this game.

#756 ASA PLAY ON New Mexico -7.5 over Wyoming, Saturday at 8 PM ET - These 2 MWC teams have the same record at 10-3 yet New Mexico has played a strength of schedule nearly 200 spots higher than Wyoming (319th SOS for Wyoming & 126th for the Lobos). We’re also getting a very good New Mexico team coming off a loss @ Boise State in a game Shot Quality metrics had the Lobos winning the game. Now we get them back at home where they are 8-0 this season and 24-1 since the start of last year. The Lobos already have 3 top 100 wins crushing a very good Santa Clara team here at home (98-71), beating Mississippi State on a neutral court, and topping a very good VCU team on the road. Wyoming’s best win on the season was vs South Dakota State who ranks 177th per KenPom. They are 0-3 vs top 150 teams losing to Texas Tech, Sam Houston State, and Grand Canyon. It’s the Cowboys 2nd straight road game after beating a bad Air Force team (ranked 328th) on the road Tuesday night 68-56. Air Force was able to keep the game fairly close (trailed by 5 with 3:00 remaining in the game) despite getting outscored by 13 points from the FT line and by a whopping 27 points from beyond the arc. AF only made 1 of their 12 three point shots. Based on those 2 things alone that game should have been a blowout and Wyoming was unable to pull away. The Cowboys have decent, not great, numbers ranking 110th in offensive efficiency and 84th in defensive efficiency but they’ve faced a schedule where their offensive opponents have an average efficiency rating of 301st and an average defensive efficiency rating of 332nd. The Lobos have similar offensive numbers ranking 119th in offensive efficiency and much better defensive numbers ranking 46th in defensive efficiency. That’s vs a schedule with an average offensive efficiency rating of 110th and an average defensive efficiency ranting of 132nd. The Lobo defense is very good at creating turnovers (64th nationally) and they should have a big edge at the FT line where they make 77% and are facing a Wyoming D that allowed opponents to score almost 30% of their points from the charity stripe this season (2nd worst in the nation). We like the Lobos to bounce back for a double digit win tonight.

#884 ASA PLAY ON California -4 over Notre Dame, Friday at 11 PM ET - We like this spot for Cal coming off a 20 point home loss vs a very good Louisville team. This is also a fade spot for the Irish who won as a dog @ Stanford on Tuesday. Notre Dame was a 7 point dog in that game and now they are only +4.5 vs a Cal team that ranks nearly 20 spots higher than Stanford per KenPom. Stanford shot brutally bad in that game making only 13 of their 56 shots (23%) and just 4 of 30 from beyond the arc. While ND’s defense is solid (top 50 in efficiency), they aren’t that good. Just one of those poor shooting nights and even with those horrible shooting numbers from the Cardinal, the game was still tight with the Irish winning 47-40. Cal was roasted at home by Louisville (ranked 11th per KenPom) on Tuesday and their effort on the boards was poor (-19). Head coach Mark Madsen was disappointed with his team’s physicality in that game and mentioned, “the Notre Dame game is a huge game for us.” They don’t want to drop to 0-2 in the ACC with 2 road games on deck at UVA and Va Tech. Expect a much better effort tonight from the Bears. Prior to that setback, the Bears only loss on the year was @ Kansas State by 3 points. Cal has been at home since mid November while the Irish have been on the west coast since Monday and will be playing their 2nd of back to back roadies. Cal can score averaging 82 PPG and they make nearly 40% of their triples (17th nationally). ND only averages 65 PPG on the road this year and they are without their leading scorer Markus Burton (18 PPG) who was lost for the season a few weeks ago. They are 3-1 since Burton was injured but they did lose at home vs IPFW during that stretch and Cal will be the highest rated team they’ve faced since his injury. This one sets up nicely as a bounce back game for the Bears and we’ll lay it.

ASA NBA play on Phoenix Suns -11.5 vs. Sacramento Kings, 9 pm ET - The Kings are coming off a hard-fought game last night against the Celtics and now face a rested Suns team in their building. Sacramento is shorthanded right now with LaVine and Sabonis both out with injuries. LaVine leads the team in scoring, Sabonis leads them in rebounding. The Kings struggle to play without rest with a 5-16 ATS record dating back to the start of last season and they’ve lost those games by an average of 10+ points per game. Phoenix has been a pleasant surprise this season with a 19-14 Su record, 10-5 at home. Phoenix has solid numbers overall and rank top half of the league in efficiency differential at +1.4. In comparison, the Kings are 29th in eDIFF at -11.3. These two teams met in late November in Sacramento and the Suns won by 12-points. The Suns had won 4 straight games but are now coming off a loss to the Cavs and they’ve excelled in that situation this season with a 9-4 ATS mark. The Suns have beaten the Kings in 4 of the last five meetings in Phoenix and tonight we expect this game to get ugly late.

ASAwins NBA play on Miami Heat +4.5 at Detroit Pistons, 7pm ET - We mentioned this the other day, depending on the exact circumstances, but we like to fade teams coming off extended road trips which is the case for Detroit. The Pistons were on the road for 5 straight games on the West coast which ended with a win against the Lakers. The betting markets are also telling us to back the Heat here as the line on this game is trending down despite a high volume of tickets and money on the Pistons. Detroit is 14-20 ATS as a home favorite dating back to the start of last season with a plus/minus in those games of +5.6. Miami is .500 as a road dog in that same time frame but their +/- is -3.1ppg in that scenario. The Pistons are the 8th best shooting team in the league at 48.2% but the Heat allow opponents to make just 45.6% which is 4th best defensively. The Pistons rely on forcing turnovers with their defense (3rd) but the Heat take care of the basketball with the 4th best TOV% in the league. This has been a very tight series in the past with the last 4 meetings all decided by 3-points or less and two of the last four went to OT. We expect another tight game on Thursday.

#734 ASA PLAY ON Wright State -5 over UW Milwaukee, Thursday at 2 PM ET - This spot heavily favors Wright State from a situational standpoint. They have been home since mid December and this will be their 4th consecutive home game. They have some momentum coming off back to back wins over Eastern Michigan and Oakland. They’ve been off since Monday so they should be set and ready for this one. UWM, on the other hand, played an important conference home game on Monday vs IPFW, then played @ Wisconsin the next night (Tuesday), and now they are in Dayton less than 40 hours after their game vs the Badgers came to an end. The Panthers bussed to Chicago after their game vs Wisconsin and flew into Dayton early on Wednesday. On top of that, their next game is @ rival UW Green Bay. Rough scheduling spot to say the least. Milwaukee is just 1-6 SU on the road this year with their only win coming @ Cleveland State who ranks 323rd per KenPom and has a 2-10 record vs D1 opponents this season. Besides Wisconsin on Tuesday (20 point loss), Wright State will be the highest rated opponent UWM has faced since November. The Panthers have played the slightly better strength of schedule and have better straight FG% numbers on offense and defense as well as better efficiency numbers on both sides of the ball. Milwaukee’s shooting numbers aren’t great (286th in FG% and 275th from 3) and on the road their shooting drops significantly. We don’t expect that to change with a high probability of tired legs for Milwaukee. Wright State is hitting 52% of their shots at home while averaging 82 PPG. We like the Raiders to cover this game at home.

ASA NBA play on Washington Wizards +11.5 at Milwaukee Bucks, 8:10pm ET - The Bucks have Giannis back in the lineup, but the facts are they weren’t great with him early this season and we’re not sure they should be laying double-digits here. On the season the Bucks have the 20th rated Net rating at -2.8 and they currently sit 11th in the East. Washington has a season long Net rating of -11.9 but in their last 10 games they’ve played significantly better with a Net rating of -3.8. In fact, in comparing each teams last 10 games we see the Wiz have a better scoring differential of -3.4ppg versus the Bucks at -5.1ppg. Historically we like to fade teams coming off extended road trips which is the case for Milwaukee as they just played 5 straight away from home. The Wizards are 2-1 SU their last 3 games with solid wins against the Raptors and Grizzlies before a 14-point loss to the Suns. This will be the 3rd meeting this season between these two teams with the series tied 1-1 and we expect Washington to keep this game close.

#712 ASA PLAY ON St Louis -20 over St Joes, Wednesday at 4 PM ET - St Joes has played one of the easiest schedules in the country (333rd SOS) yet they already have 5 losses. They’ve only beaten 1 team ranked inside the top 250 and they are 0-4 in true road games. The Hawks have dropped nearly 100 spots in the KenPom rankings since the start of the year and now barely sit inside the top 200 (197th). Their situation isn’t ideal as their head coach left in September to join the NY Knicks staff leaving them in limbo. They did hire Penn coach Steve Donahue who had losing seasons in 3 of his last 4 years for the Quakers. His system doesn’t necessarily fit the players on this team. The Hawks are a poor shooting team ranking outside the top 320 in both FG% and 3 point FG% and they are facing an elite St Louis D that ranks inside the top 10 in the nation in both FG% and 3 point FG% allowed. The Billikens are also outstanding on offense ranking 16th in FG% and scoring over 90 PPG (3rd in the nation). STL’s only loss came by 1 point @ Stanford and they’ve already topped 3 top 100 teams this season. 8 of their 12 wins have come by more than 20 points and they topped St Joe’s here by 16 last year and this year’s STL team is currently ranked nearly 100 spots higher than last year’s team while this year’s St Joe’s team is currently more than 100 spots lower than last year’s team. St Louis will be the highest rated team the Hawks have played so far this season and this one could get ugly.

#609 ASA PLAY ON Seton Hall -2 over Marquette, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - Marquette is a poor offensive team and they are in trouble here vs one of the best defensive teams in the country. The Golden Eagles rank 335th in FG% and 313th in 3 point FG% and they are facing a Seton Hall defense that ranks 13th in defensive efficiency and 6th in the nation allowing just 62 PPG. They are also one of the top teams in the country at creating turnovers on 24% of opponent’s possessions (5th in the country). The Pirates are 11-2 on the season and they are coming off a 64-56 loss vs Villanova on December 23rd to give them a little extra motivation here. On top of that, they lost both games vs Marquette last year so we can expect the Hall to be focused in this game. They’ve already beaten 3 top 100 teams away from home (road or neutral) topping NC State by 11 (ranked 27th per KenPom), won @ Kansas State by 11 (KSU ranked 73rd), and won @ Providence by 5 (ranked 75th). Marquette has 5 wins on the season all vs teams ranked outside the top 200. They are 0-6 vs teams inside the top 100 (Seton Hall currently ranked 48th) and 4 of those losses have come by 20 or more points. The Golden Eagles have already lost 3 home games this season and 2 of those losses came vs teams ranked outside the top 100. The offense has already been struggling and it won’t get any better as they just kicked their 3rd leading scorer, Zaide Lowery, off the team. Marquette has some issues going on and they are drastically overvalued with a 2-10 ATS record. We like Seton Hall to win this one comfortably.

ASA NBA play on San Antonio Spurs -4.5 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, 8 pm ET - The Spurs are legit and can contend in the West and for a Championship, despite their youth. Cleveland has faded after a hot start going 10-13 SU in their last 23 games. In the month of November, the Cavs were 9-6 SU with an average plus/minus of +4.9ppg. In December they are 5-7 SU with a negative average point differential of minus -0.7ppg. The Spurs on the other hand are red hot right now with a 10-2 run and an average +/- of +8.3ppg in their last 12 games and that included 3 games against the Thunder. Cleveland is near average in team FG% defense and rank 16th in defensive efficiency ratings. In comparison, the Spurs are 7th in dEFF. Offensively the Spurs have the edge with the 6th best offensive efficiency, the Cavs rank 10th. Cleveland has struggled to make shots this season with the 19th rated FG% shooting at 46.4% and don’t make 3’s either at 34.9% (22nd). We like the Spurs at this short number.

#306547 ASA PLAY ON Winthrop +18 over Texas Tech, Sunday at 2 PM ET - Wouldn’t be surprised if Tech is a bit flat here which wouldn’t be ideal vs a very solid Winthrop team. The Red Raiders are coming off a huge, upset win over Duke at Madison Square Garden back on December 20th. They erased a 17 point deficit and made a FT with 3 seconds remaining to win 82-81. They’ve had 9 days to bask in the glow of that win AND they start Big 12 play facing Oklahoma State next. Winthrop is 8-6 on the year and ranked 122nd per KenPom. Their 6 losses have all come by 6 points or less including 3 top 100 teams. The Eagles lost @ Arkansas by 1 and @ Nebraska by 7, two teams power ranked very similar to Texas Tech. Winthrop is a very dangerous dog, especially a large underdog, for a number of reasons. First they are experienced with all seniors in the starting lineup and a few more contributing off the bench. Second, the Eagles shoot the ball very well hitting 37% of their triples (58th in the country) and they are very efficient on offense (top 60 in offense efficiency). They are a good rebounding team and they don’t turn the ball over (13th in offensive turnover rate) limiting extra possessions for their opponent. Lastly, this team can score. They average 90 PPG and even vs their top 100 opponents they are averaging 82 PPG. It’s really difficult to pull away from a team that can put points on the board like Winthrop can. The Red Raiders haven’t been elite on defense this season ranking 293rd in opponents FG% and 228th defending the arc. We highly doubt they’ll shut down Winthrop’s offense. Let’s take the huge points here.

ASA NBA play on Denver Nuggets -3 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 10:40pm ET - Minnesota is blistering hot right now with a 8-2 SU run and have won 3 straight but a closer look tells a slightly different story. Seven of those 10 games came at home, they caught a short-handed Knicks team and 4 of those wins games against the Grizzlies, Kings and Pelicans, three of the worst teams in the league. The Wolves are in a tough spot here traveling to Denver to face a Nuggets team off an upset loss to the Mavericks. Denver is 7-3 SU in their last 10 games and more importantly here, they are 7-0 SU off a loss this season and they’ve won those games by an average of +14.4ppg. Going back further, the Nuggets are 33-12 SU off a loss dating back to the start of last season +5.9ppg. When it comes to efficiency rating the Nuggets have the second-best differential in the league at +9.1, only behind the Thunder. Minnesota is a respectable +4.8 in eDIFF. Minnesota doesn’t shoot it well enough to exploit the Nuggets poor shooting defense and they’ll have a tough time getting second chance points against the 4th best defensive rebounding team in the NBA. Denver is the best overall FG% team in the league at 51.5% and also hit 40.6% from beyond the arc, also tops in the NBA. This has gotten to be a very good rivalry and we expect a convincing win by the home team off a loss.

ASA NBA play on OKC Thunder -9.5 vs. San Antonio Spurs, 2:30 pm ET - What a treat for basketball fans on Christmas Day! This is the new rivalry in the Association and it’s a good one if you haven’t been paying attention. Four weeks ago there was talk of OKC setting the all-time wins record in the NBA, setting the consecutive wins record, big favorites to win it all, everything was positive surrounding the Thunder betting markets. Then the Spurs beat them in the Cup semifinals, and everyone paused and took a breath. Then the Spurs followed up with a win on their home court Tuesday over OKC. Yes, the Spurs are a great young team right now and going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. On Tuesday night the Spurs opened +8.5 point at home and won by 20-points. The story of the game was a ridiculously great shooting night by the Spurs 58% overall and 44% from Deep. They also attempted 24 FT’s to the Thunders 7. Those numbers will be tough to duplicate for these reasons: The Spurs shoot 48% on the season, 37% from beyond the arc AND the Thunder hold opponents to 43% shooting (#1) and 37% 3PT% (22nd). OKC has the best defensive efficiency rating in the league at 1.047-points per possession allowed and are 5th in oEFF. Oklahoma City is 14-0 SU at home and win by an average margin of +19.3ppg. The last 3 times these two teams have met in OKC the results have been double-digit wins by the Thunder. There is some bad blood here and we expect OKC to get ‘home cooking’ in this one and win going away.

#614 ASA PLAY ON Seton Hall -2.5 over Villanova, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - Seton Hall has quietly racked up an 11-1 record with their only loss coming by 2 points vs USC (12-1 record) on a neutral court. It was a game that the Hall led by 13 in the 2nd half and coughed it up with USC making 19 more FT’s yet still winning by just 2 points. This Seton Hall team is legit. They are fantastic defensively ranking 13th in defensive efficiency, 2nd in FG’s allowed per game at 19.8, and they create turnovers at almost a 24% rate which is 6th best in the country. On top of that, they are #1 in the country in block percentage and steal percentage. They give up just 62 PPG and only 2 teams have reached 70 points vs this defense (USC & NC State). Nova is very solid as well with a 9-2 record, however they have played only 2 true road games this season winning @ LaSalle who is 4-9 and also in Philadelphia (only 15 miles from the Nova campus) and getting crushed @ Michigan. The Cats were in Milwaukee on Friday night holding on for dear life beating Wisconsin in OT and now they are on the road again. They rely very heavily on the 3 point shot (40% of their points which is 22nd in the country) which we don’t love on the road, especially vs a high level defense. On the other end of the court, Nova is one of the worst 3 point defenses in the nation allowing opponents to hit 38.5% (342nd in the nation). We like the line value here with Seton Hall as Villanova was just a 4.5 point to 5 point dog on a neutral court vs Wisconsin on Friday and they are now only a 2 point dog (opening number) in a true road game vs Seton Hall who is better than Wisconsin. If it’s tight late, we trust Seton Hall’s defense and they make 75% of their FT’s while Nova makes 69%. Let’s lay this small number.

ASA NBA play on Orlando Magic +5.5 at Golden State Warriors, 10 pm ET - The Magic are the better team in this matchup and are worth a bet as a road dog in this scenario. The season long statistics don’t lie, and the Magic have an eDIFF (efficiency differential) of +3.1 compared to the Warriors at +1.2. Orlando has also faced the tougher overall schedule and still rates better. The Magic were just +4.5 at Denver a few nights ago and the Nuggets are a top 4 team in the NBA. Golden State is 1-3 SU in their last four games and the lone win coming at home against the Suns by 3-points as a -4.5 point favorite. The Magic are 6-7 SU on the road but have a positive road differential of +2.6ppg. Golden State has a +6.7ppg average differential at home and stands 8-4 SU. These same two teams met in Orlando in mid-November, and the Magic came out on top 121-113 playing without Banchero, who is healthy and back in the lineup. With the Warriors coming off a win and having a big game on deck Christmas day against the Mavs we will play against them here.

#838 ASA PLAY ON Oral Roberts +3.5 over UT Arlington, Monday at 8 PM ET - Rough spot for UT Arlington playing their 4th straight road game. Over their last 3 games they played games in Arkansas, back to Texas (road game), and then California and now they are in Oklahoma. They are 3-3 on the road this season but their wins have been by 1 point, by 8 in OT, and by 8. ORU has a 5-9 record but played a tough schedule (52nd SOS). 5 of their 9 losses have come vs top 75 teams and their other 4 losses have all come away from home. They have 2 wins vs team ranked very similar to UT Arlington (top 170) beating Kennesaw State on a neutral court and Montana State at home. They do have 2 home losses but those came at the hands of Belmont (ranked 63rd) and Tulsa (ranked 71st) and those 2 teams have a combined record of 23-2. Their game vs Tulsa (11-1 record) went down to the wire with ORU losing by 1 point and Tulsa never led by more than 3 points. Even with those 2 losses the Golden Eagles are averaging 80 PPG at home while allowing just 67 points. UTA is averaging only 65 PPG at home and they are a really poor 3 point shooting team hitting just 28% from deep (352nd) and that number drops to 24% away from home. Their defensive numbers are solid, however they dip drastically on the road as well where they allow almost 23 points more per 100 possessions compared to their home games. ORU is hungry for a win off back to back road losses vs Missouri St and TCU and we expect a great effort tonight. Let’s take the points.

#742 ASA PLAY ON New Mexico State -3 over Sam Houston, Sunday at 4 PM ET - Really rough spot here for Sam Houston State as they are playing their 6th consecutive game away from home. NMSU hasn’t played a home game since November 21st and they are hungry for a win off 3 straight road losses. The Aggies have also had 8 days off while Sam Houston played at Oregon State on Wednesday and pulled the upset win to move to 8-0 ATS which actually sets this game up nicely with some line value. The Bearkats were +4 at Oregon State who ranks nearly 30 spots lower than New Mexico State (per KenPom) and now they are only +2.5 here vs a rested and desperate team. The Aggies are a perfect 4-0 at home this season including an 8 point win over a 9-2 New Mexico team that ranks 76th nationally. NMSU has one of the top defensive teams in the nation allowing opponent’s to shoot just 39% (37th) and they allow only 20 made FG’s per game (6th). They match up well here with Sam Houston as the Bearkats thrive on offensive rebounds to give them extra opportunities and the Aggies are one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country (42nd). On the other end of the court NMSU is 54th in offensive rebounding and should get extra possessions vs a SHSU team that is 282nd in defensive rebounding. We like New Mexico State to get this home win and cover.

#700 ASA PLAY ON Arizona -14 over San Diego State, Saturday at 10:30 PM ET - This game is on a neutral court in Phoenix but Arizona should obviously have the crowd advantage. We have the Wildcats power rated as the 2nd best team in the country behind only Michigan. For comparison’s sake, San Diego State already played Michigan on a neutral court in Las Vegas and lost by 40 points. Zona already had FIVE top 30 wins on the season including blowout out Alabama by 21 points (in Birmingham, AL) and crushing Auburn by 29 points. The Cats also have wins @ UConn (Huskies only loss this season), and on neutral sites over UCLA and Florida. They are 10-0 on the season with an average PPG margin of +23 which is impressive considering their tough schedule thus far (44th SOS). San Diego State will actually only be the 5th highest rated team Arizona has faced this year. The Aztecs are 6-3 on the year despite playing an SOS nearly 100 spots lower than Arizona. They’ve faced just 2 top 50 teams this year losing to Michigan by 40 and Baylor by 10 (both neutral sites). The Wildcats sit in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency per KenPom while SDSU is outside the top 50 in both. Arizona is the better shooting team (8th nationally in FG% to 88th for SDSU), the better defensive team (43rd in opponent FG% compared to 152nd for SDSU) and they rank 3rd in rebound rate while the Aztecs are 127th. San Diego State has had trouble stepping up in class with an 0-2 ATS record as a dog this year and 4-9 ATS dating back to the start of last season. We like Arizona to roll up a big win on Saturday night.

#689 ASA PLAY ON Xavier +4.5 over Georgetown, Saturday at 8:30 PM ET - We were on Xavier Wednesday at home vs Creighton and they (and we) got embarrassed. XU was favored by 3.5 in that game and lost 98-57! The Blue Jays shot 60% from the field and 48% from beyond the arc. The Musketeers shot 36% from the field and 25% from deep. XU also turned the ball on almost 20% of their possessions and they entered the game #1 in offensive turnover rated coughing it up only 11% of the time. It was the Musketeers worst home loss EVER! It was just one of those games where everything went wrong for one team and everything went right for the other team. That gives us some value here with what should be a very motivated Xavier team. We’re also getting Georgetown coming off a road win as a dog (@ Marquette) which really sets this game up nicely for the dog. Even with that win, the Hoyas are still just 3-8 ATS on the season and when laying points this team is 0-5 ATS. Meanwhile, the Musketeers are 3-1 ATS as a dog winning 2 of those games outright. Xavier should get back to not turning the ball over here vs a G’Town team that doesn’t create turnovers ranking outside the top 200 in defensive turnover rate. We should also get a solid advantage from beyond the arc with XU hitting 36% of their triples (88th) while the Hoyas only make 28% (338th). The last 4 meetings between these 2 Big East rivals have all been decided by 6 points or less. Let’s take the points with Xavier.

ASA NBA play on Cleveland Cavaliers -6.5 vs Chicago Bulls, 7:40pm ET - If you are a value numbers bettor then this play is for you. These same two teams just met on Wednesday in Chicago with the Cavs favored by -5.5 points. The Bulls won that game 127-111 but the line on the game is what has our attention, not the outcome. If Cleveland was favored by -5.5 in Chicago that means they should be at least -13 on their home court. In fact, the Cavs were just favored by -12.5 at home against the Hornets which is a fair comparison. Granted, the Cavaliers aren’t playing their best basketball right now but this team won 64 games a year ago with the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs have a season long eDIFF (efficiency differential) of +2.7 which ranks them 11th best in the NBA. Cleveland is 45-17 SU their last 52 home games with an average MOV of +8.3ppg. Chicago is a below .500 team at 11-15 SU on the season with an eDIFF of minus -5 which is 23rd overall in the NBA. The Bulls are a slightly better than average shooting team at 47.1% on the season but had an uncharacteristically great night against the Cavs on Wednesday, hitting 56% from the field. Chicago is 4—9 SU on the road this season with a negative differential of -4.3ppg. The Cavs had won 5 in a row in this series prior to Wednesday and we expect them to get back on track tonight with a revenge win by double-digits.

ASA NBA play on Philadelphia 76ers +5.5 vs. NY Knicks, 7pm ET - The Knicks were clearly a little hungover from their Cup championship win in Vegas over the Spurs on Tuesday night as they barely escaped Indiana with a win. NY trailed by as many as 16-points in the game and were playing shorthanded with Hart and Towns both out. That means, Brunson, Bridges and Anunoby had to shoulder the load. The 76ers have been off since December 14th and will come into this game fresh, rested and ready to play. Philly is 4-2 SU in their last six games and are starting to figure out their rotations with Paul George and Joel Embiid logging more minutes. Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey and his 31.5ppg will be back in the lineup tonight after missing two games with an illness. New York swept the 76ers in the four meetings a year ago but all the wins were relatively close with one game decided by 5 points and another by 6-points in OT. The Knicks have struggled with playing without rest going 5-13 ATS in that scheduling situation their last 18 games. They’ve also lost those games by an average of -2.7ppg. Scheduling clearly favors the Sixers in this one. Grab the points.

#756 ASA PLAY ON Long Beach St -3.5 over Pepperdine, Thursday at 10 PM ET - LBSU is just 2-9 on the season but they are much better than their record. They’ve faced a tough schedule to date (103rd) and they’ve been really close to beating some solid teams. They’ve had 9 days off since losing in OT @ San Jose State. Prior to that they lost at home vs a very good UC San Diego team (top 100) by 6 and lost @ UC Santa Barbara in OT. Since their first 2 games of the season in early November, double digit losses @ San Diego St and @ Fresno St, they’ve only had 1 loss by more than 6 or in OT. Pepperdine has played the much easier schedule (279th SOS) and after losing 5 straight games, including 3 at home, they finally picked up a win @ Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday. Interesting line comparison in that game is that Pepperdine was a 2 point dog in that game @ Bakersfield, who is ranked 315th and now they are 3 point dogs vs a LBSU team that ranks almost 70 spots higher despite their record. Pepperdine’s wins this year came at home vs Life Pacific, Lincoln of California (both non D1 teams) and New Orleans (currently 3-8 record) and then their road win @ Bakersfield. The Beach has better numbers offensively (efficiency, FG%, and 3 point FG%) and while their defensive numbers aren’t great, they’ve faced a very tough set of offensive teams thus far (average efficiency 87th). Pepperdine has faced teams with an average offensive and defensive efficiency outside the top 250. Last year LBSU was a 6 point dog @ Pepperdine and won outright making it a 6-1 run vs the Waves. This line is tight and Pepperdine has won only 4 of their last 18 road games. Long Beach is desperate for a win and the Waves will actually be the lowest rated D1 team they’ve faced this season. We’ll lay it.

#676 ASA PLAY ON Middle Tennessee State -4.5 over Kennesaw St, Wednesday at 7:30 PM ET - We like this spot for MTSU playing their 3rd straight home game but off a bad loss here vs a very good Belmont team (10-1 record) on December 7th. The Blue Raiders have now had 10 days off to let that loss fester and get ready for this one. The game prior to that loss they won here by 15 points vs a very solid UAB team. Middle Tennessee is 5-4 on the season but all 4 of their losses have come vs top 80 teams. They’ve played one of the more difficult schedules to date (23rd SOS) and still have a winning record. They have 2 solid wins over Murray State and UAB (both top 115 teams). Kennesaw State has an 8-2 record but they’ve faced only 1 top 100 team (19 point loss at home vs USF) and only 1 top 200 team (2 point OT win vs Florida Gulf Coast – 174th ranked team). The Owls strength of schedule is on the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to MTSU (339th SOS). Their other loss was by 8 points on a neutral court vs Oral Roberts who is ranked 295th per KenPom. In the month of December, KSU has faced Southern Wesleyan (non D1), Georgia State (332nd) and Jackson State (327th) all at home. Now they travel for the first time since November and take big step up in competition as MTSU will be the 2nd highest rated team they’ve faced this season. The Owls like to play up tempo (6th nationally in tempo) and the Blue Raiders will slow this one down (237th in tempo) and take them out of their comfort zone. KSU has only played one slow paced team this season and need an 11 point 2nd half comeback to beat Rice in OT (Rice is ranked 211th). They also send teams to the FT line at the highest rate in the country so we should have a solid advantage at the stripe. MTSU is 3-1 at home this season and they’ve won 20 of their last 25 games here. Let’s lay this small number.

#656 ASA PLAY ON Xavier -2.5 over Creighton, Wednesday at 6:30 PM ET - The Blue Jays simply aren’t playing well right now losing 4 of their last 6 games including getting knocked off by Kansas State at home on Saturday. They are just 5-5 on the season and have only 1 win vs a top 100 team. That was vs Oregon on a neutral court when the Ducks played without their best player (Nate Bittle) and lost another key player (Devon Pryor) 6 minutes into the game. The Jays have played 5 games away from home this season (road or neutral) and have just 1 win vs Oregon (In Las Vegas). Unlike Creighton, Xavier is playing very well right now ripping off 5 straight wins since losing by 1 point vs a very good Georgia team back on November 21st. This will be their 5th straight home game and they should be well rested as they’ve only played 3 games so far this month. The Musketeers don’t beat themselves as they almost never turn the ball over. They rank #1 in the country in offensive turnover percentage and that won’t change here vs a Creighton team that ranks 339th in defensive turnover percentage. Both teams rely quite heavily on the 3 point shot but Xavier simply does it better on both ends of the court with a better offensive and defensive 3 point FG% numbers. They rank inside the top 85 in both offensive and defensive 3 point FG% while the Blue Jays rank outside the top 200 in both. Away from home it gets worse for Creighton shooting just 26% from deep. XU has won 7 of the last 10 at home vs Creighton and we like them to get it done in this one as well.

#612 ASA PLAY ON Tennessee +1.5 over Louisville, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - This line opened with Louisville as a 1.5 point road favorite and we’d be shocked if this didn’t flip to Tennessee favored. The Vols are in must win mode at home coming off 3 straight losses vs Kansas, Syracuse, and Illinois. All of those games were on the road or neutral sites and they’ve had 10 full days off to regroup and get ready for this important home. They are 5-0 this season and they are an impressive 65-5 SU at home since the start of the 2021 season. Prior to this 3 game losing streak the Vols were 7-0 including a win over National Runner Up Houston. They face the Louisville Cardinals who are 8-1 on the season with their only loss coming @ Arkansas. That was the Cards only true road game of the season and Tennessee is catching them off back to back impressive wins over Indiana and Memphis. Buy low, sell high spot in this game. Louisville relies heavily on the scoring from the arc with the highest 3 point attempt percentage in the country. That can go awry on the road at times as it did in their loss @ Arkansas where they took 37 triples and made only 8 (21%). Tonight they face one of the best defensive teams in the nation as Tennessee ranks 13th in defensive efficiency and they’ve allowed opponents to make only 29% of their triples. Tennessee should get extra opportunities on the offensive end as they corral 45% of their missed shots which ranks them #1 in the country in offensive rebounding. As we stated above, we don’t expect Tennessee to end up as a dog in this game but if this line sticks (currently +1.5) it will be the first time they’ve been a home underdog since February 8th, 2020 vs Kentucky. The Vols have not lost 4 games in a row since the 2015/16 season and we don’t expect it to happen here.

#624 ASA PLAY ON Wright State +1 over Miami OH, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - Miami OH steps into this game with a perfect 10-0 record yet in some books they are an underdog vs a Wright State team that is 5-6 so far this year. Hmmm? The Redhawks sit undefeated because they’ve played one of the easiest schedules in the country (364th SOS out of 365 teams!). They have yet to face a single team ranked inside KenPom’s top 200 and 6 of their 10 opponents are ranked outside the top 300 or not a D1 team. Of the 8 Division 1 teams they’ve faced, not one has more than 4 wins this season and their combined record is 22-70! This Wright State team will be by far the best team they’ve faced this season (ranked 144th). This is also the 3rd straight road game in the span of 7 days. Their last 2 games, @ UNC Asheville (ranked 237th) and @ Eastern Kentucky (ranked 270th), they won by 3 in OT and by 10. Wright State has played the much more difficult schedule (143rd SOS) and they’ve played only 4 home games and 7 on the road. They are 3-1 in their home games this season and they’ve faced 6 teams ranked 165th or higher. All but 1 of their 6 losses have been by 10 points or less and half of their losses (3) have come by 2 points or less or in OT. The Raiders are very close to having a much better record. Wright State has dominated this series winning 6 in a row, all since the start of the 2019 season. The Raiders have covered 4 of their last 5 (only non-cover @ Butler) and they are happy to be back home and in need of a win. This team is undervalued and we like them to win and cover this one on Tuesday.

ASA NBA play on LA Clippers -4 vs. Memphis Grizzlies, 10:40pm ET - The Grizzlies went through a stretch of playing really well with wins in 7 of nine games. Then they lost Zach Edey to injury and got Ja Morant back from injury. They proceeded to lose at home to the lowly Jazz most recently after the lineup change. Without Edey’s rim protection and Morant’s horrible shooting (7/20) the Grizzlies are a much worse team. This is a great opportunity to buy low on the Clippers who have lost 11 of their last fourteen games. A closer look though and you see that 12 of those 14 were on the road and 9 of those came against teams with winning records. Also included in that stretch of games is a pair of losses to this Grizzlies team, which had Edey in the lineup and were without the distraction of Morant in both. The Clippers were recently a -2-point favorite at Memphis and were laying -6.5 at home in late November. Los Angelese looked much better in their two most recent losses to the Timberwolves and Rockets, two of the best teams in the West, and should get a convincing home win in this one after 3 days rest. The Clippers have an average +/- of +5.5ppg when playing on 2-3 days rest dating back to the start of last season and are also 22-16-1 ATS as a home favorite since 2024. We like the Clippers by 8+.

ASA NBA play on Milwaukee Bucks -1.5 at Brooklyn Nets, 6pm ET - The Bucks are coming off their most complete game of the season, a win over the Celtics, and we like that momentum to carry over here. Brooklyn has been playing better of late but they are still one of the worst teams in the league. The Nets are 3-2 SU their last five but the wins have come against the Pelicans, Bulls and Hornets who have a combined 21-54 record. Milwaukee beat the Nets at home in late November 116-99 and were minus -11.5 points in that game. That means they should be at least -3.5-points here. The Bucks 4th best team FG% should feast on a Nets D that ranks 28th in opponents FG% allowed. Lay it with the Bucks.

#763 ASA PLAY ON Charlotte +5.5 over College of Charleston, Sunday at 4 PM ET - Our power ratings have Charleston as a 2 point favorite in this game so we have some value on Charlotte. Both teams are 4-6 and have played a very similar strength of schedule. Charlotte has been competitive in all but 1 of their losses and that was vs Utah State, a top 40 team per KenPom. They also caught Utah State with some extra motivation after losing @ USF, which was the Aggies first and only loss of the season thus far. That’s the 49ers only loss by more than 10 points. 5 of their 6 losses have come vs teams ranked 120 or higher and 4 of those losses vs top competition have come by 5, 7, 8, and 10 points. Charleston, on the other hand, has been rolled by double digits in 4 of their 6 losses. The Cougars have also had some serious free throw “luck” with their opponents making only 62% on the year which is the lowest opponent FT% in the country yet they still have 6 losses. Charlotte is the better shooting team both overall and from 3 point land. The 49ers should have a big edge from beyond the arc as Charleston makes only 26% of their 3’s (358th) and the Cougars ranks 299th defending the arc. Charlotte is also the better rebounding team both on the offensive and defensive boards. These 2 met last season and C of C pulled off a 3 point win. Charleston currently ranks 30 spots lower than last year’s team while Charlotte currently ranks 55 spots higher than last year. Expect another close game here and we’ll take the points.

ASA NBA play on Oklahoma City Thunder -11 vs. San Antonio Spurs, 9pm ET - This is the NBA Cup’s semi finals and decides who will represent the West in the Cup Finals. If you haven’t been paying attention the Thunder are on a whole different planet right now compared to the rest of the NBA. OKC is 24-1 SU on the season and the one game they lost they were up 22 before a late game collapse. There are many futures bets available on this team setting all kinds of records including most wins ever in a season. The Thunder have won 16 straight games by an average of 21ppg. For the season the Thunder are winning games by an average of +17.5ppg, they have an average road differential of +15.7ppg. When it comes to efficiency ratings the Thunder are 4th offensively and 1st defensively. The Spurs are having a nice season and have great young players, but this team is not quite ready to challenge the Thunder who are on a mission after losing in the Cup finals a year ago to Milwaukee. San Antonio will get Wemby back for today’s game, but they will disrupt their flow and the chemistry they’ve built in their current 9-3 SU run without him. In OKC’s current winning streak, only one has not come by double-digits. Lay it with the Thunder.

#708 ASA PLAY ON Ohio State -4 over West Virginia, Saturday at 8 PM ET - This game is being played at a neutral court in Cleveland but it will be a “home game” for OSU when it comes to fan support. The Buckeyes should be highly motivated for this one after losing at home to Illinois earlier this week. It was an 88-80 loss to the Illini who rank 9th in the country per KenPom. OSU kept the game close despite making 14 fewer FT’s with Illinois making 29 of 32 from the stripe (90%) and 11 of 27 from beyond the arc (41%). We don’t expect WVU to be anywhere near those numbers in this game as they shoot just 67% from the FT line and 34% from 3. Despite the Illini offensive showing on Tuesday, the Buckeyes still rank in the top 30 defending the arc allowing just 28% from deep. On the offensive end, Ohio State is one of the best shooting teams in the country. They rank 8th in the country in eFG%, 4th in FG% hitting 52% of their shots, and 32nd in offensive efficiency. Compare that to WVU who ranks 129th in eFG%, 241st in FG%, and 113th in offensive efficiency. OSU should win the 3 point battle here facing a West Virginia D that ranks 278th defending the arc. They should also have an advantage from the charity stripe as the Buckeyes get there more often and shoot 77% as a team compared to 67% for West Virginia. The Mountaineers have played a really easy schedule to date (354th SOS out of 365 teams) and they’ve lost to all 3 top 100 teams they’ve faced. They’ve left the state of West Virginia just twice for neutral site games and lost both to Xavier and Clemson. The Buckeyes will be the 2nd most difficult team WVU has faced this year (28th per KenPom) with only Clemson ranking higher (by 2 spots – 26th). The Neers have already faced SIX teams ranked outside the top 300 which is more than half of their games. Ohio State is the better team and we should get an extra motivated team off a loss. Let’s lay it.

#306610 ASA PLAY ON Queens NC -15.5 over South Carolina State, Friday at 7 PM ET - South Carolina State is 0-10 on the season and this will be their 6th straight road game in the last 20 days. On the season they’ve played 9 road games and only 1 home game so the travel has to be taking it’s toll. Looking at their scores would verify that. Of their 10 losses, only 1 has come by less than 12 points and their average score on the season is 63-88. Queens is 4-4 on the year with 4 home wins and 4 road losses. They have a huge advantage offensively in this match up. Queens is a solid shooting team who ranks in the top 70 nationally in FG% and 3 point FG% while averaging 84 PPG. SCSU, on the other hand, is the 3rd worst shooting team in the country making only 36% of their shots while averaging only 63 PPG. They also rank 358th in offensive efficiency averaging 0.94 points per possession while Queens averages 1.13 PPG (84th in the country). On top of that, SCSU is a terrible defensive team allowing opponents to shoot 49% (350th) and put up 88 PPG (361st). We just don’t think South Carolina State can keep up here. In their 4 home games, Queens is averaging 94 PPG and this will be the lowest rated defense they’ve faced. This will be the 4th defense they’ve faced ranked outside the top 300 in efficiency and they put up 107, 101, and 81 points in the first 3. SCSU has been held to 66 points or less in 7 of their 10 games. We don’t think South Carolina State can keep up here. We’ll lay it.

ASA NBA play on Milwaukee Bucks +9 vs. Boston Celtics, 8:10pm ET - Boston is playing extremely well right now and the Bucks are not, but this line is higher than it should be and the value lies with Milwaukee. In Boston’s last two road games they were -4.5 a Toronto and -11 at Washington. Milwaukee was just a 1-point home favorite over the Sixers and +4.5 versus Detroit. Our ratings have the Celtics -6.5 on this court. The Bucks need this break and should be better coming out of it with more practice time with Porter Jr in the lineup. Porter Jr is averaging just under 22ppg and 6 assists since his return from injury and has become the Bucks go-to with Giannis out. The time came at a bad time for Boston who has won 5 straight and 10 of their last 12 games. We like the Bucks #1 rated 3PT% shooting going up against a Celtics 3PT% defense that ranks 21st in the league allowing nearly 40% from beyond the arc. Everyone knows the C’s live and die from the 3-point line but the Bucks 3PT% defense is 13th best in the NBA and can contest Boston’s shooters on the perimeter. Milwaukee is 3-1 ATS their last 4 when playing on 4 days rest. Boston 6-13 ATS their last 19 when playing with 2-3 days rest.

#306598 ASA PLAY ON Texas Rio Grande Valley -1.5 over UT Arlington, Thursday at 7:30 PM ET - UTRGV is rated 5 spots ahead of UT Arlington per KenPom despite a 3-5 record compared to Arlington’s 6-3 record. That’s because the Vaqueros have played the much tougher schedule with the 25th most difficult slate thus far to 209th or UT Arlington. All of UTRGV’s losses have come on the road and 3 were vs top 50 teams Illinois (9th), Baylor (31st), and Boise State (47th). They gave Illinois a good run losing by 14 as a 33 point dog and did the same @ Baylor losing by 15 as a 25 point dog. They played just their 3rd home game of the season on Sunday and picked up a 13 point win over Austin Peay who has a very similar ranking to UT Arlington. Now they get to play back to back home games after 6 of their first 7 games were on the road. They are 3-0 at home this season. UTA is 2-3 on the road this season (road/neutral) after going just 3-11 in true road games last season. Their 2 wins coming @ Weber State by 1 and @ Evansville by 8, both ranked outside the top 200. The Mavericks are one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country hitting only 28% while making only 5 triples per game (both outside the top 340). They’ll be at a huge disadvantage here as UTRGV hits 39% from deep (top 25) while making almost 10 per game. The host should also have a solid advantage in turnover margin as UTA is one of the worst in the country, coughing it up at a 23% rate (357th). Tough to win on the road when you can’t make 3’s and you turn the ball over a lot. We’ll lay this small number with Texas Rio Grande Valley.

#662 ASA PLAY ON Nebraska +2.5 over Wisconsin, Wednesday at 9 PM ET - Wrong team favored here according to our power ratings. The Huskers are 9-0 on the season and have already beaten 4 top 100 opponents (Oklahoma, Creighton, New Mexico, and Kansas State). They have some serious momentum heading into this game after crushing a very good Creighton team here on Sunday 71-50. The Huskers have one of the best home court advantages in the Big 10. They are 6-0 at home this year and 34-6 here since the start of the 2023 season. The Badgers are 7-2 with their losses coming vs BYU and TCU, both by double digits. They’ve played 3 neutral site games this season (1-2 record) but this will be their first true road game. Wisconsin relies heavily in the 3 point shot with 33 attempts per game (21st in the country) but they’ve struggled to shoot in their games away from home (all neutral sites) making only 28 of 97 (28.8%) triples. The Huskers have defended very well this season ranking in the top 20 allowing opponents to shoot just 38% overall and 30% from deep (top 90). They play D without fouling with opponents only attempting 13 FT’s per game (8th in the country) and that will be key here as Wisconsin makes 80% of their FT’s. Keep UW off the line and Nebraska wins this game. Extra motivation for Nebraska as they were destroyed in their only meeting last year in Madison but they have topped Wisconsin each of the last 2 games here at home, both as an underdog. We like the Husker to win this one at home.

ASA NBA play on Toronto Raptors +4.5 vs. NY Knicks, 840pm ET - This is a value bet as these two teams recently met in New York and the line on that game was Knicks -8.5. That would mean this game should have them as a 1-point favorite or a pick’em. The Raptors have lost 3 straight making them desperate and dangerous while the Knicks have won 3 in a row and may be a little ‘fat’. The Raptors just lost to the Celtics who are playing extremely well right now. In NY’s last 3 wins, two came against Utah and Charlotte and the one quality win was against the Magic who were in a bad scheduling situation and off an emotional win over the Heat. New York has the advantage offensively, the Raptors have it defensively. The Knicks are 3-6 SU on the road this season and 17-19 ATS their last 36 as a road favorite with an average plus/minus of +3.8ppg. The Raptors are 8-5 SU at home this season 18-14-1 ATS their last 33 as a home pooch. Grab the points with Toronto at home.

#612 ASA PLAY ON Providence -16.5 over Brown, Tuesday at 7:30 PM ET - Rough scheduling spot for Brown as they are playing their 4th game in 8 days. They’ve struggled to say the least with a 5-6 record despite playing one of the easiest schedules in the country this year (339th SOS). Providence will be, by far, the best team they’ve faced and the only team ranked in the top 100 they’ve played this season. The Bears wins have all come vs teams ranked 296th or lower and they’ve already lost to 3 teams ranked outside the top 200 (per KenPom). Providence has 4 losses but they’ve all been to teams ranked 65th or higher and all either road or neutral games. That includes 2 top 25 teams Wisconsin and Florida. At home the Friars are 5-0 winning by an average of +23 PPG. For comparison’s sake, both of these teams have played Rhode Island within the last week with Providence beating the Rams by 21 and Brown losing by 10. The Friars are the much better shooting team (37th eFG% compared to 237th for Brown) and they score an average of 90 PPG (95 PPG at home). Brown averages only 64 PPG in their 5 road games this year and we don’t think they can keep up here. Lay it with Providence.

ASA NBA play on Philadelphia 76ers +4.5 vs. LA Lakers, 7:40pm ET - With a busy NFL Sunday this write up will be shorter than usual. It looks like the line on this game is suggesting Luka Doncic will be back in the lineup for the Lakers after missing several games. We are fine with that and still feel the value lies with Philly. The Lakers are 16-6 SU on the season but look closer at their 10 most recent games where they are 8-2 SU. Only 1 of those wins came against a team with an above .500 record and that was a 3-point win in Toronto. The two losses in that stretch of games came against the Suns and Celtics who both grade out similarly to the 76ers. Philadelphia is getting healthier with the return of Paul George who scored 20 points last time out against the Bucks. Maxey is quietly one of the best scorers in the NBA and they are getting great play out of Edgecombe. The Lakers have a slight advantage in terms of efficiency differential at +3.2 compared to the 76ers at +0.3, but again the Lakers have faced the much easier schedule. Philly has won 3 straight games and 4 of their last five. We like them to win this home game outright.

#803 ASA PLAY ON TCU -9.5 over North Texas, Sunday at 5:30 PM ET - TCU should be in a foul mood here after blowing a home game on Friday vs Notre Dame and getting clipped by 2 points in OT. The Horned Frogs have a defensive efficiency rating of 27th nationally but did not play well on that end of the court vs the Irish. After the game head coach Jamie Dixon voiced his frustration, “I’m extremely disappointed in how we guarded.” You can bet they’ll be focused on that end of the court which is bad news for UNT. Prior to losing in OT vs the Irish, the Frogs pulled off back to back upsets beating Florida and Wisconsin on a neutral court. They also took Michigan, who is destroying everyone now, to the wire losing by 4. While TCU has played a number of high level teams, the Mean Green have played one of the lightest schedules in the country (347th SOS). They’ve only played 2 top 200 teams and lost to both. The only top 100 team they played was St Mary’s and they lost that game by 31 points. UNT is stepping into this contest on a 4 game winning streak but all were at home and all vs teams ranked 235th or lower. Their most recent 3 games all went to the wire (at home) vs bad teams. They topped Eastern Washington in OT, beat Prairie View A&M by 3 and Houston Christian by 2. Those 3 teams have a combined record of 5-16 (vs D1 opponents). This is not a great match up for North Texas. First of all, TCU will be extra motivated off a loss. It’s not a true home game for the Frogs but it’s being played at Dickies Arena which is 3 miles from their campus. TCU creates turnovers at a high level (11th nationally) and UNT turns the ball over at a 19% rate (265th). And that’s facing a schedule of teams that isn’t great at creating turnovers. In fact, only 1 opponent ranks in the top 100 in defensive turnover rate, Houston Christian, and the Mean Green turned the ball over at a 27% rate in that game. TCU should have a big edge at the FT line (UNT fouls at a high rate) and after getting outrebounded by Notre Dame, they’ll bring it on the glass as well. We like TCU by double digits in this one.

ASA NBA play on Miami Heat -8 vs. Sacramento Kings, 8pm ET - It’s not the best scheduling situation for the Heat who are coming off a game last night while the Kings are rested, but Miami has lost two games in a row which should have them focused here. This bet is just as much a play against the Kings as it is a play on the Heat. Sacramento has not played well this season and are likely on the verge of blowing this roster up and starting over. The Kings have lost 4 straight, 2 of which came against Memphis and Utah, two below average teams. Sacto is the 3rd worst offensive efficiency team in the league and 5th worst defensively. They have an efficiency differential of minus -11.2. The Heat were in Orlando last night and lost a close game to the Magic. They didn’t have Tyler Herro for that game, but he’s expected back here. Miami ranks 13th in oEFF averaging 1.163-points per possession. The Heat are one of the best defensive teams in the league (3rd) with a defensive efficiency rating of 1.119 points per possession allowed. When playing on the road this season the Kings have a negative point differential of minus -11.6ppg. Miami has an average plus/minus at home of +6.9ppg. Miami is 6-2 ATS when coming off a loss and should get a double digit win here.

#706 ASA PLAY ON UW Milwaukee -4.5 over Robert Morris, Saturday at 8 PM ET - Milwaukee is in must win mode here at home after losing 4 of their last 5 games. Nothing to be ashamed of for the Panthers as they were double digit underdogs in all 4 of those losses, all were on the road, and all were vs top 100 teams (Indiana, Texas Tech, Wichita State, and Akron). You might assume based on those opponents that UWM has played one of the tougher schedules in the country and you’d be correct (32nd strength of schedule). The Panthers are 3-5 on the season and all 3 wins have come at home with all 5 losses coming on the road. Robert Morris could be gassed here after playing @ UWGB on Thursday night and completing a huge come back to win 80-78 on a layup as time expired. Green Bay led that game by 11 points with 2:35 remaining and blew it. Robert Morris is 7-3 on the season but they are just 2-3 in road games and really should probably be 1-4 if it weren’t for their unlikely win @ UWGB 48 hours ago. The Colonials are poor at a few things that make it tough to win on the road. They turn the ball over a lot (292nd in the country), they foul a lot (28% of opponents points come from the FT line – 6th most in the nation), and they don’t get to the FT line themselves (only 12% of their points come from the stripe – 4th least in the country). This is a double revenger for UWM who lost both games last year vs Robert Morris, including a 2 point loss here at home as a 9.5 point favorite. Now we’re getting the Panthers at a much cheaper price, they’ve had a full week off, while Robert Morris played on the road 48 hours ago. Lay it with Milwaukee.

#654 ASA PLAY ON Kansas State -2.5 over Seton Hall, Saturday at 4 PM ET - We expect a huge effort from KSU off a bad home loss vs Bowling Green on Monday. The Wildcats lost that game 82-66 as a 12 point favorite and while the Falcons are solid (110th per KenPom) it was still a game KSU expected to win. They may have been gassed after back to back losses away from home vs Indiana and Nebraska (both top 50 teams). They shout 39% overall, 26% from 3 and just 55% from the FT line in that loss to BG, all well below their season averages which are 49%, 41%, and 75% respectively. KSU sits with a 5-3 record and they’ve played a very tough slate (68th SOS) including 5 top 100 teams. Seton Hall, on the other hand, has a better record (8-1) but they’ve faced the 351st most difficult schedule and this will be their first true road game. Despite the much tougher schedule, Kansas State has shot the ball much better than Seton Hall this season including ranking 10th nationally from beyond the arc at 41%. That could be bad news for a Pirate D that has allowed opponents to make of their triples (249th). Points from deep could be the difference in this game with KSU scoring 35% of their points from 3 point land (85th in the country) while Seton Hall gets only 25% of their points from 3 (302nd). KSU has won 17 of their last 22 home games while the Pirates were 0-11 in true road games last season. Let’s lay it with Kansas State in a must win home situation.

#730 ASA PLAY ON Montana State -3 over St Thomas, Wednesday at 9 PM ET - This is the Tommies 4th trip to the West Coast already this season in a 4 week span. They went to St Mary’s (California) then home, @ Washington State then back home, off to Portland for 3 games in 3 days then home, now off to Montana. Their 3 losses on the season all came on the West Coast. St Thomas is 6-3 on the season but they’ve faced the 266th strength of schedule and 2 of their 3 losses have come vs teams ranked 160th or lower. Montana State is 3-5 on the season but they are much better than their record. There is a reason the team with the much worse record is a full 3+ point favorite in this game. The Bobcats have faced one of the toughest schedules in the country (21st SOS) and 4 of their 5 losses have come vs teams currently ranked in the top 80 per KenPom and all on the road. For comparison, St Thomas has played only ONE game vs a team ranked in the top 150 and they lost that game by 26 points vs St Mary’s. The Bobcats have played only 2 home games this season and haven’t been at home since November 9th. The Bobcats most recent game on Saturday they faced the best team in the Mountain West, Utah State, on the road and took them to OT before losing by 3. That was an impressive loss, if there is such a thing, vs a Utah State team that is now 7-0 and 5 of their wins came by double digits. Despite their 3-5 record they have exceeded expectations in the market with a 5-1 ATS record. They are a good shooting team that ranks in the top 75 nationally in FG%, 3 point FG%, and scoring putting up 80 PPG. Montana State is in a must win spot here as their next 3 games are on the road. They catch St Thomas in a tough spot and we like the Bobcats to cover at home.

#680 ASA PLAY ON Arkansas +2.5 over Louisville, Wednesday at 7:15 PM ET - Louisville is 7-0 on the season but they’ve played the 345th ranked strength of schedule (out of 365) per KenPom. They do have 2 decent wins beating Kentucky at home and Cincinnati on a neutral court. The Cards haven’t played a “true” road game this season although they did play Cincy in Cincinnati, just not on their home court. Arkansas is 5-2 on the season with their 2 losses coming @ 8-0 Michigan State by 3 points and vs Duke by 9 points in their most recent game last Thursday. In their game vs Duke the Razorbacks led with 6:00 remaining and trailed by just 6 with under 1:00 remaining in the game. Not a bad loss. Arkansas has now had a full week off and they are at home where they are very tough to beat with an 18-4 record since Rick Pitino took over at the start of last season. They’ve only been a home dog twice in Pitino’s tenure (1-1 ATS) covering vs Bama last year and missing a cover vs last year’s National Champion Florida losing that game by 8. Louisville relies heavily on a few things that don’t match up all that well with Arkansas. They shoot a lot of 3’s, get to the FT line frequently, and create turnovers defensively. The Razorbacks have been solid at defending the arc (allowing 30% shooting), don’t foul very often (only 19% of opponent’s points come from the charity stripe), and don’t turn the ball over (13th nationally offensive turnover percentage). If this one is close late let’s keep in mind that Arkansas shoots 80% as a team from the FT line. We’ll take the points as we give Arky a great shot at pulling this “upset”.

ASA NBA play on Orlando Magic -7.5 vs. San Antonio Spurs, 7pm ET - We successfully backed the Spurs on Tuesday night but will fade them here. San Antonio played a 4-game road trip from Nov 23 - 30th, then were home last night against Memphis, and now travels to Orlando. The Magic have been at home and are coming off a win over the Bulls on Monday night 125-120. Orlando has won 6 straight home games with some impressive victories over the Knicks, Clippers and Warriors. Orlando is 8-3 SU at home this season with an average +/- of +5.5ppg. The Spurs are a respectable 5-4 SU on the road this season but again this schedule is going to have a negative impact on this team that is lacking depth at the moment with several starters out with injuries. The Spurs are 8-10 ATS their last 18 when playing without rest with an average loss margin of minus -5.2ppg. The Magic have won 4 straight in the series with three of those wins coming by double-digits. Lay it with Orlando.

#652 ASA PLAY ON Notre Dame +1.5 over Missouri, Tuesday at 9 PM ET - Mizzou steps into this game with a perfect 8-0 record but they have played nobody. Their strength of schedule ranks 364th per KenPom (out of 365 teams) and they’ve played only 1 road game vs Howard (ranked 311th). That game was way back on November 3rd and since that they have played 7 straight home games. Their best win was over Minnesota who is currently 4-4 and ranked as the 17th best team in the Big 10. Subtract that game and the Tigers haven’t played a single team ranked inside the top 230 and they’ve faced 4 teams ranked outside the top 300. They travel tonight to take on a solid Notre Dame team that has played a much tougher schedule already facing 3 top 100 teams. The Irish have 3 losses coming @ Ohio State by 1 point, vs Houston on a neutral court by 10 points and vs Kansas on a neutral court by 10 points. Those 3 teams have a combined 19-4 record and all sit in the top 35 per KenPom with Houston and Kansas residing in the top 20. ND has played 4 home games this year and they are 4-0 in those contests and they have won 19 of their last 24 home tilts. They’ve had a week off since losing to Houston in Las Vegas last Wednesday. The Tigers have ridiculous shooting numbers to date hitting 55% of their shots on the season but they defenses they’ve faced have been a joke. The average defensive efficiency rating of the 8 teams they’ve faced is 278th and half the teams they’ve played (4) have a defensive efficiency rating of 330th or lower. Similar situation to last season when Mizzou started the season 13-3 but their 3 losses were their only neutral/road games they had played to that point. They finished last season with a 4-10 SU record in road/neutral games. Let’s take Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

ASA NBA play on San Antonio Spurs -4.5 vs. Memphis Grizzlies, 8:10 pm ET - We like the Spurs by double-digits in this one. Memphis is not in the best of schedule situation here playing their 4 straight road game and 5th of six away from home. In comparison they were just +6.5 at the Clippers who are not playing well and lost that game by 5-points. The Spurs will be happy to be home after a 4-game road trip with the most recent game being a loss in Minnesota. Prior to that game the Spurs had two solid road wins in Portland and in Denver. San Antonio does not have Wemby back yet, but did get Kornet and Harper back recently which strengthens their rotation. Memphis will have a tough time scoring here with the 28th ranked FG% at 44.3% going up against a Spurs D that allows the 9th lowest FG% against at 45.9%. San Antonio meanwhile is the 4th best shooting team at 49% versus a Grizz D that allows 47.6% (22nd). These two teams met on Nov 18th with the Spurs winning by 10-points as a 6-point chalk. We expect a similar result Tuesday night.

#878 ASA PLAY ON Middle Tennessee State +2.5 over UAB, Monday at 7:30 PM ET - Wrong team favored here according to our power ratings. We have MTSU as a slight home favorite and we’ll grab the value. MTSU has been through the gauntlet already this season playing the 19th most difficult schedule in the country yet they still have a record above 500 (4-3). Their losses have all come vs top 80 teams (Michigan, McNeese St, and George Washington) and they were all away from home (road and neutral). The Blue Raiders actually haven’t played at home since November 8th! They are in must win mode coming off 2 losses in a row and have a chance to make some hay with 4 straight home games. They’ve been off since last Tuesday so they will be rested and ready. This team was 22-12 a year ago and they bring back 4 of their top 8 players and a few key transfers. UAB, on the other hand, has NOBODY back from last year. Their starters and rotation players are all transfers and freshmen. The Blazers beat MTSU at home by 7 last year and they don’t have a single player on this year’s team that played in that game. UAB has played the much easier schedule (243rd SOS) and they’ve played only 1 true road game vs NC State and lost by 24. The Blazers can’t shoot from deep, ranking 335th (making only 26%) which is why only 20% of their points come from beyond the arc (354th nationally). They are facing an MTSU defense that allows just 27% shooting from beyond the arc so we expect the Blue Raiders, who shoot 35% from 3, to have a decided advantage in that key stat. The Raiders have won 19 of their last 23 home games and we’ll call for them to win this game as a dog.

ASA NBA play on Atlanta Hawks +1.5 at Philadelphia 76ers, 6PM ET - The 76ers are beat up right now and aren’t a deep team to begin with. Atlanta is quietly 12-8 on the season with an 8-4 SU road record. The Hawks are the 5th best shooting team in the league at 48.9% with the 7th best 3PT%. The Sixers are 18th in team FG% at 46.4% and 11th in 3PT%. Defensively the Hawks are 13th in efficiency ratings, the 76ers are 19th. Embiid is out today for Philadelphia along with his backup Drummond. Edgecombe is doubtful, Oubre Jr out and Paul George is still not 100%. Atlanta has been playing without Trae Young for most of the season but Jalen Johnson is playing lights out in his absence. Porzigis missed the Hawks last game but could be back here. Atlanta has won 5 straight in this series and should be the favorite in this game.

ASA NBA play on Miami Heat -3.5 vs. Detroit Pistons, 8:10pm ET - We absolutely love the Heat in this situation with a massive scheduling advantage over the Pistons. Detroit is coming off a huge game last night against Orlando and now travel to Miami for their 3rd game in four days. The Pistons played 4 straight road games, then went home for Orlando and are now back on the road to face the Heat who have been off for 2 days. Detroit had ripped off 13 straight wins but have now lost 2 straight. Detroit has the 7th best efficiency differential on the season in the NBA at 6.4. In the Pistons last 5 games their eDIFF has improved to +7.6. The Heat are quietly flying under the radar right now and are a serious contender in the Eastern Conference. Miami has won 5 straight games by an average +13.4ppg. In that 5-game stretch the Heat have an eDIFF of +12.6 and are +5.4 on the season. Detroit has some good road numbers but the Heat at home are 9-1 SU with an average /- of plus +6.9ppg. Miami will force tempo here and play fast and the weary Pistons will have a tough time keeping up. Lay it with Miami.

#716 ASA PLAY ON Southern Illinois -13.5 over Little Rock, Saturday at 7 PM ET - Love this spot for SIU. The Salukis are a very good team, but their record doesn’t show that. They are 3-4 on the season with all of their losses coming away from home vs top 160 teams. They’ve been on the road since November 7th and played only 2 home games this season and came away with 2 easy wins. Their most recent 2 losses came away from home vs top 100 teams UAB (lost by 8) and Memphis (lost by 16). We were on Memphis in that game as it set up perfectly to take the Tigers. Today we like SIU back at home in a must win game. They’re facing Little Rock who will be playing their 6th consecutive road game. The Trojans are 1-4 in those 5 road games leading up to this one with their only win coming @ Ball State (ranked 298th) who is 1-4 vs D1 teams. 3 of their 4 losses during this stretch have come by at least 20 points. They turn the ball over at a ridiculous 26% rate (worst in CBB) and they aren’t a good rebounding team (outside the top 200 in offensive and defensive boards). SIU is top 70 in the nation in both offensive and defensive FG%. Little Rock is 175th in offensive FG% but their defense has been a sieve ranking 343rd in defensive FG% and 360th in 3 point FG% allowed. They’ve also allowed 89 points or more in 3 of their 5 games vs D1 opponents. The one thing the Trojans have done well is shoot the 3. They have hit 43% of their triples, which isn’t sustainable, and despite that they are 1-4 on the season (vs D1 opponents) and they’ve been blown out 3 times. If they don’t hit a high number of triples today this one could get ugly. We’ll lay it.

ASAwins NBA play on NY Knicks -8 vs. Milwaukee Bucks, 7:40pm ET - The Bucks have lost 6-straight games and it’s not going to matter if Giannis is back or not for this one. Giannis is questionable tonight against the Knicks and I’m guessing he returns but it won’t be enough to cover against this Knicks team. These two teams met earlier this season in Milwaukee with the Bucks being a +2-point home dog. Milwaukee won that game by 10-points and this time around it will be the home team Knicks by double-digits. The Bucks lost most recently to the Heat by 3-points but prior to that their 5 losses were all by 10+ points. The Knicks are coming off a successful 3-2 road trip and have won 7 of their last ten overall. New York is 8-1 SU at home this season with the 3rd best average point differential of +12.3ppg. On that note, the Bucks are 3-5 SU away with an average differential of minus -6.2ppg. This is a massive game for the Cup standings as the winner has a chance to move on. These teams aren’t as close as this number indicates as the Knicks have the 5th best efficiency differential in the NBA at +6.6 compared to the Bucks at -2.8. Revenge, health, venue, Cup…it all adds up to a big home win for New York.

#609 ASA PLAY ON Oklahoma -2 over Marquette, Friday at 2 PM ET - This game is being played on a neutral court in Chicago. Marquette is a young team with 4 underclassmen in their top 7 and still trying to figure things out. They are 4-3 on the year despite playing all home games and 1 neutral site game. While other teams are grabbing experienced players in the portal to fill spots, Marquette coach Shaka Smart doesn’t really use the portal. He builds with his young players which is fine, but when they lose their 3 leading scorers from last season (combined to average almost 45 PPG) and replace them with inexperienced players, it can be tough sledding early in the season. Oklahoma has a number of transfers but they are all experienced players who play big roles on their previous teams. The start 4 upperclassmen and their rotation is mainly seniors and juniors. They have 2 losses this season @ Gonzaga, which was to be expected, and vs Nebraska on a neutral court here in Chicago. The Huskers have proven to be very solid early in the season (7-0 record) and Oklahoma blew a 16 point lead in that game. The Golden Eagles thrive on creating turnovers for extra possessions (41st defensive turnover rate) and getting to the FT line (top 100 in percentage of points from the FT line). That doesn’t match well vs this Sooner team who has a very experienced backcourt and doesn’t turn the ball over (13th in offensive turnover rate). They also don’t foul with opponents scoring only 14% of their points from the charity stripe (11th best in the country). Oklahoma is the better shooting team across the board overall FG%, 3 point FG% and FT%. We’ll lay the small number here as we expect the Sooners to win this one by a solid margin.

ASAwins NBA play on Memphis Grizzlies -1.5 at New Orleans Pelicans, 8pm ET - The Pelicans are one of the 4 worst teams in the NBA with an eDIFF (efficiency differential) of minus -12.9 on the season. Memphis has an eDIFF of 4.3 on the year. A closer look at each team's last five games and we see the Pels aren’t getting any better with an eDIFF of -12.5 compared to the Grizz in their last 5 games at -1.7. Memphis has won 2 of their last 3 games with the lone loss coming to the Nuggets. New Orleans is coming off a win over the Bulls, their first win in 10 games. These teams are similar offensively but the Grizzlies hold a decisive advantage on the defensive end of the court with a defensive efficiency rating of 1.150-points per possession allowed versus the Pels who are 29th in the league at 1.226PPP. Memphis has won 5 straight in the series dating back to the start of last season and we like them to extend the streak here.

#744 ASA PLAY ON Louisiana Tech -2.5 over Indiana State, Wednesday at 7:30 PM ET - Weird spot here as these 2 non-conference foes just faced off a week ago @ Indiana State. The Sycamores won that game 60-51 as 3.5 point favorites. Just based on that line 1 week ago, La Tech should be favored by at least 3.5 here. In that loss, LT shot 29% from the field, 12% from beyond the arc (2 of 16) and only made 11 of their 20 FT attempts. Even with that horrible shooting effort, it was a 5-point game with under 1:00 minute left. That’s because LT dominated the boards pulling down nearly 30% of their misses which led to 6 more shot attempts and 10 more FT attempts in that loss. If the Bulldogs do anything but shoot terrible in that game they could have picked up a big road win. Indiana State didn’t light the world on fire either (33%) but they made 9 more triples (+27 points from 3) and the game still was fairly tight. We expect ISU to have problems again offensively here vs a La Tech defense that ranks 2nd in the nation allowing opponents to shoot just 32% from the field while allowing only 55 PPG. The Sycamores are 1-2 on the road this season with their only win coming @ SIU Edwardsville. They have shot under 40% this year on the road and jot only 26% from deep. La Tech is coming off back to back 20 win seasons and they’ve been tough at home going 27-6 SU since the start of the 2023 season. Meanwhile, ISU is off a 14-18 year and their head coach, Matthew Graves, has never had a winning season in his 6 years as a head coach (South Alabama and ISU). LT has had a full week to stew over last Wednesday’s loss @ ISU and we like them to win this game at home and cover this short number.

ASAwins NBA play on LA Lakers -5.5 vs. LA Clippers, 11 pm ET - We are going to fade the Clippers here after a grueling 6-game road trip that started in Dallas on Nov 14th and ended in Cleveland on the 23rd. The Lakers also have LeBron back in the lineup after missing the first few weeks of the season. The Lakers are the better team right now with an efficiency differential of +2.6 compared to the Clippers at -5.5. The Lakers are 15th in offensive efficiency at 1.172-points per possession, the Clippers rank 21st at 1.144PPP. The gap defensively is even greater with the Lakers 15th in dEFF versus the Clippers who rank 24th. The Lakers have shot the ball extremely well this season at 50.6% (2nd) while the Clippers are average at 47%. The Clippers are 2-7 SU on the road this season, the Lakers 4-2 SU at home. The Lakers won 3 of four last season against this Clippers team and this year’s version of the Lakers is better and the Clippers are worse.

#662 ASA PLAY ON Notre Dame -6.5 over Rutgers, Tuesday at 1 PM ET - This game is on a neutral court in Las Vegas. Both teams lost on Monday here with Notre Dame getting knocked off by Kansas (lost by 10) and Rutgers losing to Tennessee by 35 points. The Irish, a top 100 three point shooting team, hit only 16% vs Kansas (11th nationally defending the arc) which was the difference in that game. ND is hitting 36% of their triples this season and now facing a Rutgers defense that ranks 300th defending the arc. We expect the Irish to shoot much better on Tuesday. Rutgers is rated as the worst team in the Big 10 per KenPom and by a fairly wide margin. They rank 131st nationally and the next worst team in the conference is 104th (Minnesota). The Scarlet Knights have faced one of the easiest schedules in the country (351st SOS) and yet they still have 2 losses including a home setback at the hands of Central Connecticut. All of their wins have come vs teams ranked 285th or lower and many of those wins were much tighter than anticipated. That’s why Rutgers is just 1-5 ATS this season. They were creamed on the boards yesterday vs Tennessee (-15 rebounds) and we expect Notre Dame to control the glass here. The Irish are inside the top 100 in both offensive and defensive efficiency while Rutgers is outside the top 100 in both. These 2 met here in Vegas last season and Rutgers escaped with a 1 point OT win. The Knights had 2 top 5 NBA 1st round draft picks on that team (Harper & Bailey) and the only 2 players back for Rutgers that played in that game combined for 0 points in 15 minutes of play. Notre Dame, on the other hand, return 3 starters from that game and 4 of their top 6 in minutes played. We like the Irish to get their payback and cover this game in Vegas.

#306526 ASA PLAY ON McNeese State -1 over Murray State, Monday at 7:30 PM ET - This game is being played on a neutral court in the Cayman Islands. Both of these teams played yesterday as well with McNeese topping a very good George Washington team (62nd in KenPom ratings) by 6 points while Murray State lost by 3 vs Middle Tennessee State (142nd per KenPom). The Racers are still adjusting to a new head coach and they don’t have a single key player back from last season. All 5 starters and their top reserves are either transfers or freshmen. They are 4-2 on the season but all 4 wins have come vs teams ranked 230 or lower per KenPom. Murray State’s strength of schedule to date is 304th. In their loss vs Middle Tennessee State last night actually made 10 more FT’s and 1 more 3 pointer so they were +13 points from FT and 3 yet still lost the game. McNeese, on the other hand, has already faced a top 70 strength of schedule and they sit with a 4-1 record. Their lone loss was @ Santa Clara who is 6-0 on the season. McNeese was 27-6 last season and upset Clemson in the NCAA tourney before losing by 12 to Purdue. They return 4 of their top 7 players so much more continuity for this team early in the season. They do have a new head coach Bill Armstrong who took over for Will Wade (went to NC State) but Armstrong has coached under Wade (at LSU) so the system is similar. Despite playing the tougher schedule, the Cowboys have the better stats across the board ranking 4th nationally in shooting percentage (Murray State ranks 63rd) and 22nd in defensive FG% allowed (Murray ranks 211th). McNeese also shoots 80% from the FT line and they are 3rd nationally in defensive turnover rate (27%). We’ll lay this small number with McNeese State.

#685 ASA PLAY ON Utah State -7.5 over Davidson, Sunday at 9 PM ET - Utah State is currently rated as the best team in the Mountain West and 39th in the country per KenPom. That’s nearly 30 spots higher than last year’s team that went 26-8 and made the NCAA tourney. The Aggies have a number of key players back from that team including 4 of their top 6 players. They are 5-0 on the season with all double digit wins with the exception of their 3 point win over a very good VCU team. How good was that win? The only other loss VCU has this season was @ NC State (ranked 19th per KenPom) by just 6 points in a game where the Wolfpack made 15 more FT’s. Davidson is also 5-0 but they have yet to face a top 100 team. They are coming off a win here in Charleston on Friday over Boston College. BC shot only 14% from 3 in that game, made only 57% of their FT’s and turned the ball over on 24% of their possessions. The Wildcats lost most the key players off their 2024 roster returning only 1 starter (4 new starters are all transfers) and a few lightly used reserves. They are due for big time regression from 3 point land both offensively and defensively. They currently have made 42% of their 3’s (14th in the country) on the season while limiting opponents to 23% (7th) from beyond the arc. The Cats are facing a USU offense here that ranks 13th in FG% and is averaging 88 PPG. The Aggies should control the boards vs Davidson, who is a poor rebounding team and USU creates turnovers at almost a 22% rate. Not great for a Davidson offense that ranks 248th in offensive turnover percentage. We like USU by double digits.

ASAwins NBA play on LA Lakers -9.5 at Utah Jazz, 8pm ET - I hate to be a ‘square’ today but even they win at times so give us a ticket on the Lakers -9.5 at Utah. We are betting a premium price here but the rest trends outweigh the number. The Lakers fall into a 61-24 ATS trend as they have been off since November 18th against this same Jazz team. The Lakers won the most recent meeting by 14-points and have won 5 of the last six against the Jazz. We know L.A. should get plenty of good looks in this game and will knock down shots with their #1 rated team FG% at 51.1%. The reason we know this is because the Jazz are 26th in FG% defense allowing 48.9%. Utah will have a tough time scoring with an offense that ranks 21st in oEFF scoring 1.149-points per possession, going up against a Lakers D that is 9th in dEFF. The Lakers should also have an easier time covering double-digits against a Jazz team that has allowed 140 or more points in 3 straight and 132 or more in four in a row. With 3+ days rest we like the Lakers big in this one.

ASA NBA play on Atlanta Hawks -8.5 at New Orleans Pelicans, 7PM ET - The Hawks have lost two straight and will look to bounce back in New Orleans against one of the worst teams in the NBA. The Pelicans have the 2nd worst overall efficiency differential at minus -13.3, only ahead of the Wizards. New Orleans has the 5th worst offensive efficiency at 1.101PPP and the 29th defensive efficiency allowing 1.243PPP. In comparison the Hawks are 14th in dEFF, 13th in oEFF. Atlanta lost at San Antonio on Thursday but had won 4 straight on the road in their most recent road trip. Two of those road wins were against similar teams to the Pels (Kings, Jazz) and both of those wins games by double-digits. Going into Friday night the Pelicans had lost 7 straight games 5 of which were at home, and all 5 came by more than this spread. New Orleans is 1-7 SU at home with a negative average point differential of minus -12ppg. Atlanta 7-3 SU on the road this season and also benefit from a scheduling advantage as the Pels played Friday night.

#306580 ASA PLAY ON Lipscomb -4.5 over Western Carolina, Saturday at 5 PM ET - Lipscomb is 1-4 on the season and all of their losses have come on the road. They’ve played a tough schedule (65th strength of schedule) but after a few rough games to start the season they’ve been competitive the last 3 with 1 win and 2 close losses on the road (both covers). This is a solid program with 3 straight 20 win seasons including 25-10 a year ago. They’ve been fantastic at home with a 41-6 record over their last 47 here at Allen Arena. Western Carolina has won 3 straight (all at home) but they have been at home for 2 weeks and this will be their first road game since early November. They are 0-2 on the road this season and have lost 15 of their last 16 road games dating back to the start of last season. This program, unlike Lipscomb, hasn’t been overly successful with just one 20 win season since 2015 and they were 8-22 last year. If we look at straight stats neither team has been good this year. Lipscomb does have a few advantages, however besides being at home. They are the much better FT shooting team (87% to 69%) and they’ve been decent at creating turnovers at an 18% rate facing Western Carolina who turns it over at a 21% rate (307th). We’ll take the better program in basically a must win game at home.

ASAwins play on Phoenix Suns +3.5 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 9pm ET - I’m not so sure the T’Wolves should be favored on this court against the Suns.When you compare efficiency differentials the Suns are +5.3, the Wolves are +6.5 but Phoenix has faced a tougher schedule. On that note, both teams are 8-2 SU in their last ten games. In the Wolves 8 wins in that 10-game stretch - not one is against a team with a winning record. Phoenix hasn’t faced a tough schedule either but they do have a win over the Spurs in their last 10 and are coming off a win in Portland most recently. The Suns have an edge with their 7th best 3PT% going up against a T’Wolves defense that is 14th in defending the 3PT line. We also like the Suns advantage on the offense glass with the 9th best rebound % compared to the Timberwolves 15th ranked REB%. Phoenix is 6-2 on their home court with the 5th best scoring differential of +13.3ppg. Minnesota is 3-3 ATS as a road chalk this season. Take the home dog here.

#815 ASA PLAY ON Oakland -1.5 over Eastern Michigan, Friday at 6:30 PM ET - Huge disparity in strength of schedule in this game. Oakland has played the #1 rated SOS this year having already faced 4 top 80 teams, including 3 top 15 teams (Houston, Purdue, and Michigan) all on the road. The 4 D1 teams they’ve played this season have a 19-1 combined record. They took UCF to the wire on the road on Monday before losing by 4 points. They gave Purdue all they could handle in West Lafayette before losing by 10. Oakland’s offense has actually been quite good despite facing 4 high level defensive teams. They’ve scored at least 77 points in every game but one and that was vs Houston who is the #1 defensive team in the country (efficiency). They’ve shot it well from 3 (35.2%) and they turn the ball over only 15% of the time (85th). They also make nearly 80% of their FT’s which could be key in a tight game. While the Grizzlies have been on the road a lot, they haven’t played since Monday and their trip to EMU is only an hour bus ride. EMU’s strength of schedule sits outside the top 300. All of their wins (2) have come vs teams that rank 300 or lower and they actually lost at home vs IU Indy who ranks 330th. Their 1 games vs a team with a pulse, they lost by double digits vs Pitt. Despite facing one of the easiest schedules on the country, the Eagles have been a poor shooting team ranking 289th in eFG% and making only 30% of their triples. That’s despite half of their opponents ranking outside the top 300 in defensive efficiency. Oakland doesn’t have great defensive numbers which is to be expected going up against the teams they’ve faced. They’re much better than their record and better than their overall stats might indicate. This is also a revenger for Oakland after losing by 4 a year ago vs EMU. The Griz shot only 17% from 3 in that game (3 of 18) which was the difference. We like Oakland to get this win and cover.

#744 ASA PLAY ON USC -18.5 over Troy, Thursday at 10 PM ET - Horrible spot here for Troy. They are playing their 4th game in 8 days, all on the west coast. They played Friday @ Loyola Marymount (lost by 11), Sunday @ CSUN (lost by 9), Tuesday @ San Diego State (won by 1 in double OT) and now Thursday @ USC. Not only is that a brutal stretch, their most recent game @ San Diego State Tuesday was a double OT game. Troy doesn’t use their bench often (363rd in bench minutes) so their starters have to be physically and mentally cashed and looking forward to getting home after leaving last Thursday. USC has been off since Friday and they’ve played all home games to date winning by 31, 30, and 20 points. They are in the top 25 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. They’ve been great on the offensive glass pulling down over 40% of their misses (22nd nationally) and they should cream Troy in that regard as they have tired legs and are ranked 312th in defensive rebounding. Troy relies heavily on the 3 point shot which could be tough with tired legs and facing a tough USC D that limits their opponents to 25% from deep thus far this season. USC is a fast paced team, averaging 98 PPG, that could run this Troy team into the ground. Let’s lay it.

ASAwins NBA play on Memphis Grizzlies -2.5 vs. Sacramento Kings, 8pm ET - Memphis is in a scoring drought averaging 106.5ppg over their last ten games. That’s about to change on Thursday night when they face the Kings. The Grizz have faced a brutal stretch of games with 8 of their last ten games coming against some of the league’s best teams. Now they face one of the worst with the Kings ranking 27th in defensive efficiency allowing 1.233-points per possession.Sacramento is 30th in opponents FG%, 30th in opponents FG’s made, 22nd in 3PT% allowed and give up an average of 124.4ppg (30th). Memphis should get a significant bump in scoring facing this defense that has allowed 122 or more points in 9 of their last ten and 130 or more in 5 of those. The Grizz battled the Spurs late into the game on Tuesday night before falling by double-digits. Scheduling also favors Memphis here with the Kings coming off a game last night in Oklahoma City. Sacto is 4-14 ATS their last 18 when playing the 2nd night of a back to back. The Kings are 1-7 SU on the road this season with a negative average point differential of minus -8.5ppg. Don’t be fooled by the Grizzlies 3-5 SU home record as the losses have come to: OKC, Houston, Detroit, Lakers and Heat who have a combined 58-16 SU record. The home team won all three meetings a year ago and we expect that trend to continue here. Lay it!

ASAwins NBA play on: Miami Heat -6.5 vs. Golden State Warriors, 7:40pm ET - The Warriors are in a tough scheduling situation here which is why this line is as high as it is in Miami’s favor. Golden State played last night with the “big 3” (Green, Butler, Curry) all logging 31+ minutes. This is the Warriors 6th game in nine days, 3rd in four days and the second of a B2B so don’t be surprised if several players are rested tonight. Golden State has an overall average point differential of minus -5.8ppg on the season with a below average offensive efficiency rating (23rd) and slightly better than average dEFF (11th). Miami has been a big surprise this season and have played at the fastest pace in the league. They are 6-1 SU at home with a +6.8ppg average +/-. The Heat are about league average in both oEFF and dEFF but simply out score opponents with volume. Miami is the 8th best shooting team at 48.8%, 4th in 3PT% at 38.5%. They should get plenty of open looks against a fatigued Warriors team that ranks 20th in opponents FG% and 15th in 3PT% allowed. Miami has the 3rd best FG% and 3PT% defense in the NBA which will limit Golden State on the offensive end. Don’t be intimidated by the spread on this game which looks unusually high, but they made it this for a reason. Bet Miami.

ASAwins NBA play on: San Antonio Spurs -5.5 vs. Memphis Grizzlies, 8pm ET - Injuries to both teams will dominate the headlines but the Spurs are the deeper team and can overcome the absence of Wembanyama. Memphis will be without Ja Morant so expect rookie Cedric Coward to fill his minutes. San Antonio is 6-2 SU at home this season with an average +/- of +7.5ppg. The Spurs are coming off a 13-point home win over the Kings with De’Aaron Fox pouring in 28-points with 11 assists. Memphis is off to a 4-10 SU start which includes a 1-5 SU road record. They are losing on the road by an average of -13.3ppg. The Grizz are in a dilemma right now and have to be considering blowing up this roster and starting over. They are bad on both ends of the court with 29th FG% overall, 27th in 3PT% and rank 27th in offensive efficiency. It’s not much better on the defensive side with the 18th ranked DEFF, 24th FG% D and 19th 3PT% defense. Memphis gives up the 27th most 2nd chance points in the NBA and the Spurs scored the 4th most. San Antonio is 7th in offensive efficiency at 1.186PPP and rank 7th in FG% (49.7%) and 17th in 3PT%. The Spurs have the better overall roster and it will show tonight against a Memphis team that has lost 4 straight on the road.

#626 ASA PLAY ON Yale -8.5 over Rhode Island, Tuesday at 8 PM ET - Yale is off a 22-8 season and NCAA tourney appearance last year losing by 9 vs Texas A&M in round 1. They return 4 of their top 6 players from that team and rank 73rd nationally per KenPom which is nearly 100 spots higher than the next best team in the Ivy League (Cornell). They are taking on a Rhode Island team that lost everyone off last year’s team. Literally everyone. Their top 8 players are all transfers. The Rams are 3-1 on the season but they’ve faced one of the easiest schedules in the country (358th out of 365 teams). Their 3 wins are vs teams all ranked outside the top 300 and those teams currently have a combined record of 0-10 vs D1 opponents. The one team they’ve faced ranked inside the top 200, Tulsa, rolled the Rams by 17 points on a neutral court. This will be their first true road game of the season. Yale has played the tougher schedule (3-0 record) having not faced a team ranked lower than 240. They are the better team and they have a little extra motivation here. That’s because they lost @ URI last year by 6 points. The Bulldogs made only 22% of their triples in that tight loss which was WAY below their season average of 39% which ranked them 4th in the country. Yale also made 7 fewer FT’s and still nearly won on the road. We expect them to shoot much better at home in this one. Yale ranks 22nd nationally in FG%, 4th in 3 point FG%, and they make over 82% of their FT’s so far this season. We like the home team to win by double digits here.

#813 SIU Edwardsville +25.5 over Wisconsin, Monday at 8 PM ET - SIUE is the highest rated team Wisconsin has faced this season currently sitting at #180 per KenPom yet the spread is similar to the Badgers games vs NIU (304th) and Ball State (263rd). Another comparison is Wisconsin’s first opponent, Campbell, sits about 10 spots below SIUE in the KenPom rankings and the spread for that game was +21. Value is on the Cougars here who are 2-0 SU this season as an underdog including beating Drake on the road over the weekend. The Cougs made the NCAA tourney last year with a 22-12 record and they return 5 of their top 8 players from a season ago. Their only chance to keep this game close is to play with a slow tempo (297th in adjusted tempo) and shorten this game. They have a very good defense ranking 82nd in defensive efficiency, 20th in FG% allowed and 58th in 3 point FG% allowed. They have held all 3 of their D1 opponents to 64 points or less (Drake, Indiana State, and UTSA). The Cougars also have the size up front to compete with the Badgers with 2 starters at 6’9 and 7’1 and a few bench players with size as well. We don’t expect Wisconsin to shoot 50% here which is their average on the season. They’ve faced 3 defenses ranked 336th, 276th, and 194th in efficiency. The Badgers have a HUGE revenge game on deck later this week vs BYU who knocked them out of the NCAA tourney last year winning by 2 points. They’ll be fine with getting out of here with any type of win and moving onto that game. We’ll take the points.

ASAwins NBA play on Philadelphia 76ers -5.5 vs. L.A. Clippers, 7pm ET - This is a very favorable scheduling spot for the Sixers who have had 2 days of rest and now face a Clippers team playing their 3rd game in four nights and the second of a back-to-back. The Clippers lost a hard-fought game in Boston yesterday 118-121 and are now just 2-8 SU in their last ten games with 5 of those L’s coming by more than 6-points. We love the fact that Philly is rested, but also coming off a loss in their most recent game in Detroit 105-114. The 76ers continue to be undervalued by the oddsmakers as witnessed by their 8-1-1 ATS record in their last 10 games. Philadelphia is 4-2 SU in six home games this season, the two losses are respectable coming against Detroit and Boston and 3 of the four wins have come by more than tonight’s spread. The Clippers are 1-4 SU on the road this season with an average differential of minus -10ppg. In each team's last ten games the Clippers have a negative net rating of -7.4, the Sixers have a positive net rating of +2.9 which is a great indicator of where these teams currently stand. This game have blowout written all over it.

ASAwins NBA play on Portland Trailblazers -3.5 at Dallas Mavericks, 7:40pm ET - The Mavs continue to struggle at 3-10 SU on the season with 3 straight losses on their home court. Portland got off to a hot start to the season but have since cooled to 6-6 SU on the year. A great recent barometer of this line is the Blazers were just favored at New Orleans by -8 points just a few games ago and now laying a significantly lower number on this game. Dallas was home dogs to the Clippers by 3 and the Suns by 2 which tells us this line is about right. The Mavs' struggles start with an offense that ranks last in the league in Offensive Efficiency, scoring just 1.045-points per possession. They don’t shoot it well with an eFG% of 50.6% (27th) and make just 10.2 3-pointers per game (30th). The other big factor in this game is turnovers. Dallas averages 17.1 TO’s per game - 3rd most. Portland turns teams over 17.5 times per game - 3rd most. The Blazers are also top half of the league in OeFF at 1.172PPP while making 13.9 3-pointers per game (11th most). We will lay the short number with the road chalk here.

#705 ASA PLAY ON Houston -6.5 over Auburn, Sunday at 3 PM ET - Both teams are 3-0 having faced weak competition but Auburn is in full start from scratch mode. They lost all 5 starters from last year’s team and only return 1 key member off that team. Houston, on the other hand, played for the National Championship last year, lost by 2 points vs Florida, and they bring back 3 upperclassmen starters from that team. The Cougars have started right where they left off defensively ranking #1 in defensive efficiency last year and so far this season. They’ve held their 3 opponents to 57, 48, and 45 points. Their most recent win was over Oakland, a top 200 team and the Grizzlies veteran head coach Greg Kampe raved about this Houston defense after the game. His Oakland team scored 78 and 77 points their first 2 games vs Purdue (top 5 team) and Michigan (top 15 team) but were only able to score 45 vs Houston. This Auburn team, with a sophomore and 2 freshmen in the starting lineup, will have trouble with Houston’s physical nature on defense. The Cougs have better efficiency numbers on both sides of the ball and they have the experience factor as well. On top of that, they have a Hall of Fame coach in Kelvin Sampson facing an Auburn team with Bruce Pearl’s son Steven now running the show in his first year as a head coach. While this game is in Alabama, it’s not at Auburn’s home court (game in Birmingham). We’ll lay it with Houston.

#660 ASA PLAY ON Nebraska Omaha -9 over Southern Utah, Saturday at 8 PM ET - Omaha is in an early must win type spot here at home as they’ve started the season 0-3. All 3 of those games have been away from home and they had tight losses vs Murray State and Abilene Christian, both solid teams, and a blowout loss @ Colorado State (top 65 team) in their most recent game. Now they’ve had a full week off and finally get to play a home game. This UNO team is rated as one of the top 4 teams in the Summit League. They won the conference tourney last year and made it to the Big Dance. They finished with a 22-13 record and they have 4 of their top 7 players back from that team. The Mavericks were 11-2 at home last season and 22-5 the last 2 years. Southern Utah lost pretty much everyone from last year’s team including their 5 starters. They have only 2 players back who played minimal roles a season ago. The are rated outside the top 300 and currently sit as the lowest rated team in the WAC. The Thunderbirds rank outside the top 300 in both eFG% offense and defense. Their 3 point D has been horrendous this year 49% from deep while their offense makes less than 24% of their triples. They are 1-2 with 2 double digit losses and their only win was vs Bethesda. They have been poor on the road winning only 6 of their last 31. SUU also has a game @ Gonzaga in 2 days (on Monday) so they might be a bit distracted here. Lay it with Nebraska Omaha.

#704 ASA PLAY ON South Dakota -7 over Southern Indiana, Wednesday at 8 PM ET - South Dakota is 1-2 on the season with their losses coming in OT vs Utah Tech and @ Creighton where they played well losing by 16 as a 26 point dog. The Coyotes have some continuity returning this year with 4 regulars (3 starters this year) that played key roles last season. Southern Indiana sits at 0=2 and has all transfers in their starting line up and only 1 player that played here last year in their top 8. It’s going to take some time them to figure out how to play together. These 2 faced off last season @ Southern Indiana and South Dakota was a 2.5 point road favorite in that one and lost outright. We were on SIU in that game as South Dakota was coming off an upset win @ Western Michigan just a few days earlier and the set up to take Southern was solid. We’re now getting the Coyotes at home, where they were 14-2 last season, laying only a few points more than they did on the road last season. The Screaming Eagles are 0-1 on the road this year and have been a terrible road team going 5-27 SU away from home since the start of the 2023 season. It’s early in the season but South Dakota has been the much better shooting team to date hitting almost 47% of their shots compared to 33% for Southern Indiana (344th nationally). The Screaming Eagles are also averaging less than 1.00 point per possession so far this season. Let’s take South Dakota at home on Wednesday night.

ASA play on Oklahoma City Thunder -7 vs. Golden State Warriors - 8PM ET - Golden State just played in Denver last week and was +9.5 points and now they are catching a smaller number at OKC? The Thunder are rated as the best team in the NBA with an eDIFF (Efficiency Differential) of +13.2, Denver is 2nd at +13.1. Golden State ranks 13th in eDIFF and they’ve played a weaker schedule than the Thunder. The Thunder are 4-0 SU at home with a +14.4ppg average margin of victory. Since the start of last season, including the playoffs, the Thunder are 50-8 SU at home with a plus +16.2ppg average differential. THAT INCLUDES THE PLAYOFFS against the other best teams in the NBA. Golden State has a very respectable 28-26 SU road record going back to the start of last year, but are 1-5 SU away from home this season with the only win coming at LA against the Lakers. The Warriors five road losses have come by 5-points or more, three of those L’s came by double digits. We will take the Champs on their home court and expect a 10+ point win in this one.

#632 ASA PLAY ON North Dakota State -1.5 over Cal State Northridge (CSUN), Tuesday at 8 PM ET - CSUN is in a bad situational spot here playing their 3rd road game in 6 days. They played @ Northern Iowa last Thursday (lost by 29 points), then played @ North Dakota on Sunday (won by 8) and now @ North Dakota State tonight. CSUN is 2-1 on the season and probably ready to get back home to California after being gone for a full week (left last Wednesday). The Matadors are coming off a 93-85 win @ North Dakota Sunday which wasn’t overly impressive. UND is ranked as the worst team in the Summit League, basically tied with UMKC (per KenPom) and the 324th best team in the country. The Fighting Hawks were just 12-21 last season and only won 5 Summit League games. Now CSUN, just 48 hours later, faces one of the top teams in the Summit (NDSU rated 3rd best team in the league) and the Bison will be hungry for a win after starting the season 0-2 losing @ Oregon State by 2 and @ UC Davis by 12. This will be their first home game of the season and unlike CSUN, they’ve had a full week off to get ready for this one. After 2 games, the Bison are shooting just 15% from beyond the arc and we’d expect them to shoot much better at home tonight. This team led the NATION in 3 point shooting last year hitting 40% of their triples so positive regression is likely tonight. NDSU should get plenty of extra possessions on Tuesday as CSUN has been a turnover machine this year coughing it up on over 24% of their possessions while the Bison create turnovers on 22% of their defensive possessions. NDSU, on the other hand, has done a nice job of taking care of the ball with just a 14% turnover rate. They should also control the boards as they rank in the top 70 in both offensive and defensive rebounding while CSUN is outside the top 300 in both of those this season. We like the hungry Bison to get this win at home.

#746 ASA PLAY ON Washington State -1.5 over St Thomas, Monday at 9:30 PM ET - St Thomas is in a really tough situational spot here. They played on the West Coast @ St Mary’s last Monday (lost by 26), then played at home vs a bad Army team (ranked 340th per KenPom) and won by just 7, and now 48 hours later they are back on the West Coast to take on Washington State. The Cougars are in must win mode here after dropping their first 2 games vs Idaho and Davidson. In their home opener vs Idaho, Wazzu was a -7.5 point favorite and now just 1 week later they are laying under 2 (current line -1.5) vs a St Thomas team that is similarly rated to Idaho. In that 83-81 loss, the Cougs shot just 6 of 28 from deep (21%) while Idaho made nearly 40% of their triples and the game still went to the wire. In 2 games, Wazzu is just 12 of 49 from deep and we would expect some positive regression here, especially at home. Just prior to the regular season, the Cougars faced a solid New Mexico team (95th per KenPom) in a scrimmage and knocked off the Lobos which tells us they just might be better than they’ve played in the first 2 games and they are most likely undervalued here laying a short number here. The Tommies were walloped on the West Coast in their opener vs St Mary’s and then struggled to put away Army at home. They shot 50% in that game and made 7 more FT’s and still only won by 7. The spot heavily favors Washington State and we’ll take the Cougs on Monday night.

#660 ASA PLAY ON Bradley -9.5 over Central Michigan, Saturday at 8 PM ET - Bradley is off a tight 69-63 loss vs a good St Bonaventure that is projected to be one of the top teams in the Atlantic 10 this year and finished 22-12 last season. That game was on a neutral court in South Carolina and now the Braves are back at home where they were 13-3 last season and 41-7 since the start of the 2022 season. The Braves finished 2nd in the Missouri Valley last season with a 28-9 overall record and they are projected as one of the top 3 teams in that league this year. CMU, on the other hand, is projected to be one of the worst teams in the MAC this year and the Chippewas have had only 1 winning season since 2018. However, CMU did win their season opener giving us some value on Bradley here. The Chippewas beat App State at home on Monday but they were fortunate as the Shot Quality stats had them losing that game by 6. CMU is projected as a bottom 4 team in the MAC and now we’re getting some value at home with one of the best teams in the Missouri Valley at home off a loss.

ASA play on Houston Rockets -2.5 at San Antonio Spurs, 7:30pm ET - This is a short number with the road team so we’ll lay it with the Rockets in this “big State” rivalry. After opening the season with a pair of losses the Rockets have ripped off 5 straight wins, 3 of which were on the road. Houston currently has the best eDIFF (efficiency differential) in the at +13. They currently rank 1st in offensive efficiency, 6th defensively. The Spurs have some great numbers too including an eDIFF of +8.3, ranking 2nd in DEFF, 10th in OEFF. Houston has one of, if not the biggest starting lineup in the league and basically everyone can switch and still guard Wemby. The big advantage we like in Houson’s favor is their #1 ranked 3PT% of 42.7% going head-to-head with a Spurs defense that ranks 26th in 3PT% defense allowing 38.4% on the season. The young Spurs don’t shoot it nearly as well from deep ranking 15th in 3PT%, 15th. San Antonio has feasted on opponents by crashing the offensive glass but that won’t be an asset tonight against the 2nd best defensive rebounding team in the NBA. We like the vet Rockets to get it done Friday.

#712 ASA PLAY ON Kent State -5.5 over Cornell, Friday at 7 PM ET - Kent is off an OT loss here at home on Monday vs Troy. This now becomes an important game early in the season as they don’t want to lose back to back home games to start the season. The Golden Flashes are tough to beat at home where they were 34-10 SU the prior 3 years. In their loss they simply shot very poorly making only 38% of their shots while Troy was throwing everything in the ocean hitting 52% from the field. Even with that discrepancy, the game still went to OT. Look for the Kent defense to play much better tonight as they were very solid last year (83rd in defensive efficiency) under long time head coach Senderoff who has nine 20 win seasons as the head man here. It wasn’t a bad loss by any means as Troy was an NCAA tourney team last season, but a game if Kent shoots just OK they win. The Flashes had quality shots they just didn’t make them. In fact, the post game shot quality score for this game should have been 100-84 in favor of Kent. One positive is they had a very good rebounding game with 44 boards (+11 margin) and that should continue here vs a Cornell team that was a poor rebounding team last year. Kent returns 3 starters and picked up some big transfers from UNLV, Cincinnati, and Niagara and we expect them to be one of the top teams in the MAC again this year after finishing 24-12 last season. Cornell lost 3 key starters from last year’s team that combined to average over 40 PPG. This is their first game of the year and they are walking into a tough situation. We’ll lay this small number with Kent State.

ASA NBA play on Chicago Bulls -4.5 vs. Sacramento Kings, 8pm ET - The Bulls are 3-0 with all three wins coming against playoff qualifying teams from a year ago. They have gotten great all around contributions with 6 players scoring in double-digits in all three games. The Bulls have the 10th best FG% in the NBA at 48.1% and are shooting 37% from beyond the arc (11th). They also have the 7th best FG% defense and best 3PT% D in the NBA. The Kings have gotten off to a 1-3 SU start and are in a tough scheduling situation here with this being the second night of a back-to-back and 3rd game in four days. They also are coming off an emotional game in OKC last night. Last season the Kings were 5-11 SU when playing without rest with an average point differential of minus -6.4ppg. Chicago is on a 13-7 SU run when playing with a rest advantage dating back to last season. To be honest, the Kings have the better roster, but the Bulls are playing hard for Billy Donovan right now and benefit from scheduling. Lay it with the home team.

ASA NBA play on Cleveland Cavaliers -3.5 at Boston Celtics, 7pm ET - Last season these two teams were eerily similar with the Cavs have the 2nd best Efficiency Differential in the NBA at +9.6, the Celtics were right behind them at +9.4. But that Celtics roster included Tatum, Porzingis, Holiday and Horford who are injured (Tatum) or not on the roster anymore. The Cavs return the core of their roster including All-Stars Mobley and Mitchell. The Cavs were -2-point favorites at Detroit and at New York this season and we grade those two teams significantly better than this Celtics roster. Boston is coming off their first win of the season at New Orleans who currently rate as the 2nd worst team in the NBA when it comes to eDiff. The Cavs have won 2 straight games against Eastern Conference contenders the Bucks and Pistons. Cleveland is shooting the ball significantly better than the Celtics right now at 47.6% overall (11th) and 36.8% from deep (11th) compared to Boston’s numbers of 44.8% and 31.9% which both rank 26th or worse in the NBA.

ASA play on New Orleans Pelicans -1.5 vs Boston Celtics, 8:10 pm ET - It’s the battle of “beatens” tonight as the 0-3 Celtics take on the 0-2 Pelicans. New Orleans does enjoy a scheduling advantage here as they last played on Friday, while the Celtics played yesterday making this the 2nd of a back-to-back and it’s also their 3rd game in four days. The Pelicans have some injuries to their bigs and it's shown in their first two games, but a small lineup tonight won’t hurt them. Boston has been outrebounded 108-75 in their last two games as the offseason losses of Porzingis, Horford and Kornet have taken a toll on their frontcourt. New Orleans has lost two close games to the Grizzlies and Spurs and have been dominated inside with opponents averaging 60ppg in the paint. The Celtics can’t take advantage of that weakness as they rank 24th in points scored in the paint. Boston lives and dies with the 3-point shot and the Pelicans are 2nd in the league in 3PT% defense at 30%. The Celtics still have a bullseye on their backs from a Championship two years ago so it’s not like the Pelicans will be looking past them here. There is a reason the Pels are favored here, lay the points!

ASA play on Portland Trailblazers +8.5 at LA Clippers, 9:10pm ET - The Blazers clearly have some controversy swirling around their team with their head coach on leave after gambling implications, but the players should put that behind them here in a big game in Los Angeles. The Blazers are going to be better than anticipated anchored by a formidable defense. The Blazers had the 4th best Defensive Net rating in the NBA a year ago post All-Star break and this year's squad has potential to be better with the addition of Jrue Holiday. Portland didn’t let the noise distract them Friday night when they pounded the Warriors 139-119 at home. The Clippers were embarrassed in the season opener in Utah but bounced back on Friday with a 27-point win over the Suns. L.A. has a rebuilt roster with several new faces and make take a little time to jell with all of the ‘alpha’s’ in that lineup. Portland had an average road differential of minus -1.2ppg on the road last season after the All-Star break with a 6-8 record. This should be a tight defensive game from start to finish.

ASA play on: Hornets +4.5 at 76ers, 7:40pm ET - The Charlotte Hornets looked sharp in their season opener, dismantling the Brooklyn Nets 136-117 behind a franchise-record nine players in double figures, including 25 points from Brandon Miller and 20 points with eight assists from LaMelo Ball. Their balanced attack and 53.3% field goal shooting signal a team that's bought into new coach Charles Lee's system early—no injuries to report, and they're riding high heading into Philly. On the flip side, the 76ers' 117-116 thriller over the Celtics was a mirage propped up by unsustainable shooting from Tyrese Maxey (40 points on 13-of-24) and rookie VJ Edgecombe (34 points on 13-of-26), who combined for a ridiculous 26-of-50 from the field. That's 52% efficiency on high volume—well above Maxey's career 45.5% mark or any reasonable rookie baseline for Edgecombe. Expect regression tonight, especially with Charlotte's backcourt (Ball, Tre Mann) primed to hound them. Joel Embiid was a non-factor in his return from knee surgery, logging just 20 minutes with four points on 1-of-9 shooting and visibly limited mobility—no lift on shots, slow recovery on the floor. He's on a strict minutes cap and doesn't look anywhere near MVP form yet, leaving the Sixers thin inside against Charlotte's frontcourt depth (Miles Bridges' 18-11 double-double in the opener). Paul George remains sidelined with a knee issue, thinning the wings further.