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Date | Match Up | Rating | Score | Result | Profit | Lead Time | Analysis |
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01-30-19 | Memphis v. Tulsa +2.5 | Top | 79-95 | Win | 100 | 5 h 38 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Tulsa +2.5 over Memphis, Wednesday at 8:00 PM ET - AAC GAME OF THE MONTH Great spot for Tulsa here in our opinion. They are just 2-6 in AAC play, however they’ve played the toughest schedule thus far in conference play. The Golden Hurricane have lost 3 straight but those 3 losses were to the 3 best teams in the AAC (Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF). The two best teams in the AAC are Houston & Cincy and Tulsa has already played them both twice. They are 10-2 with their only 2 home losses coming at the hands of Cincy in OT & Houston. This is a big game for the Hurricane as 3 of their next 4 come on the road. Memphis is 13-7 overall but they’ve only played 4 true road games the entire year. They are 1-3 in those games and their lone road win was tight 4-point win over a Tulane team that is ranked below 300 and is just 4-15 on the season. The Tigers are coming off a huge home win over UCF and they have a big road match up with USF this weekend. Tulsa has a big edge from beyond the arc as they are hitting 38% in conference play while Memphis makes just 28%. Even worse on the road for the Tigers where they hit just 25% from deep. Because they aren’t a great outside shooting team, the Tigers get most of their points inside the arc but they are facing a Tulsa defense that allows opponents to make only 47% of their shots (55th nationally). They also hold opponents to scoring just 45% of their points from 2-point land which is in the top 40 nationally. Memphis isn’t used to the role of road favorite and they haven’t been very good in this spot covering just 3 of their last 9 when laying points on the road. Just playing away from home in general has been tough for the Tigers as they’ve won only won 6 of their last 19 road games. Since these two joined the AAC, they’ve faced off 3 times here in Tulsa with the Hurricane winning all 3 by double digits. We like Tulsa getting points at home here. |
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01-30-19 | Marquette v. Butler -2.5 | Top | 76-58 | Loss | -103 | 3 h 59 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Butler -2.5 over Marquette, Wednesday at 6:30 PM ET This is a massively important game for Butler. They come into this game 12-9 overall and 3-5 in the Big East. They are coming off 2 straight losses to Villanova (the top team in the Big East) and @ Creighton. The Bulldogs are better than their record in our opinion. They are currently tied for 6th place in the league yet their power rating has them as the 3rd best team in the Big East behind Villanova and Marquette. Speaking of the Golden Eagles, we feel they are overvalued at this point in the season. They are ranked 9th in the country yet their power rating has them at 34th. They’ve played on 5 road games the entire season (3-2 record) and this is the first back to back road game of the year. Their defense on the road has been very poor allowing 88 PPG on 52% shooting. After losing by 20 @ St Johns to open the Big East season, the Eagles have won 7 straight. However they’ve had a number of tight games with 4 of their 7 conference wins coming by 5 points or less. They have also played the easiest schedule thus far in the Big East. Of their 8 conference games, 6 have been played vs the bottom 5 teams in the league in terms of power ratings. On Saturday they traveled to Xavier where they rallied from 11 down in the 2nd half to pick up the 87-82 win. The Eagles shoot the 3 ball a lot. They have very little inside game. 36% of their points come from deep but they may have problems here vs a Butler defense that is #1 in the Big East at defending the arc allowing just 34% in conference play. The Bulldogs might be without starter McDermott in this game but we often find teams rise to the occasion in the first game with a rotation player on the bench. Butler has been favored by at least 5 points in 4 straight meetings at Hinkle and we’re laying a much smaller number here. The Bulldogs are also 9-1-2 ATS their last 12 games vs Marquette. We really like spots like this with a desperate unranked team at home yet favored over a top 10 team. That should tell you something. Butler is the side here. |
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01-29-19 | Nevada v. UNLV +9.5 | Top | 87-70 | Loss | -105 | 8 h 13 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON UNLV +9.5 over Nevada, Tuesday at 11:00 PM ET on ESPN2 We like UNLV at home getting significant points in this rivalry. Nevada is 19-1 and ranked in the top 10 and deservedly so. However, they simply haven’t played as well on the road as they have at home. They are 6-1 in MWC play but their tight games have been on the road. They are 2-1 in MWC games on the road losing @ New Mexico by 27 points, winning @ Fresno by 10 (it was a 5-point game with 2:00 minutes remaining), and then won @ Boise by 1 point. Their conference wins at home have come by margins of 15, 23, 39, and 40 points so a big difference in road vs home performance. UNLV is a perfect 4-0 at home in league play. They are 11-8 overall and 5-2 in conference play. The Rebels have their flaws but they are a solid, scary opponent, especially at home getting significant points. They have had some injuries in their frontcourt and have turned to a 3-guard lineup that shoots the 3 very well. They are #1 in the MWC in league play hitting almost 42% of their triples. They rank #1 in the conference in offensive efficiency and they because of their solid guard play, they turn the ball over fewer than anyone else in the MWC. While Nevada is very good defensively, the one thing they are not at the head of the class in the conference is defending the 3 point line (5th in the league). UNLV should be able to take advantage of that. This line is too high in our opinion. Part of that might be that Nevada is coming off a 40-point blowout home win (vs Colorado St) and UNLV off a 27-point blowout road loss (@ San Diego St). Those results set this one up nicely for the home team. Last year when Nevada played here they were favored by just -1.5. Now they are laying nearly double digits. Value on the home team and we’ll take UNLV. |
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01-29-19 | Kentucky v. Vanderbilt +9.5 | Top | 87-52 | Loss | -109 | 7 h 29 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Vanderbilt +9.5 over Kentucky, Tuesday at 9:00 PM ET The Wildcats are off an impressive home win over Kansas and taking on a Vandy team that is 0-6 in the SEC and coming off a blowout loss @ Oklahoma on Saturday. So Kentucky’s the play here right? It looks pretty easy to jump on the Cats here but we think Vanderbilt is in a great spot to give UK all they can handle. First of all these two have already met this year and Kentucky won by 9 at home as a 12.5 point favorite. Now they are laying nearly that number on the road just a few weeks later so the line value is definitely with Vanderbilt here. In that first game Kentucky shot 50% from the field and held the Commodores to just 36% yet the Wildcats NEVER had the spread covered during the game. Not once. Their biggest lead was 11. Vandy knows they can play tight with Kentucky because they did just that in Rupp Arena. UK may overlook this game coming off their much anticipated game with Kansas over the weekend. Also, the fact they’ve already beaten the Dores AND they have a big game @ Florida on deck. Vanderbilt is off an embarrassing effort on Saturday losing by 29 points @ Oklahoma. It wasn’t a huge surprise as they were coming off a OT home loss to #1 Tennessee prior to traveling to OU. In their game against the Vols, Vanderbilt actually led by 6 with just 1:30 remaining but lost in OT. This team knows they can play with the best in the SEC as they’ve already played toe to toe with both Tennessee & Kentucky. This has been a very close series as of late with the last 5 games all being decided by single digits. Vandy is 13-3-1 ATS their last 17 vs Kentucky and we think they get another cover here. We actually like the host to give Kentucky a scare in this one and the points are worth taking. |
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01-29-19 | Mississippi State v. Alabama -1.5 | Top | 79-83 | Win | 100 | 7 h 53 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Alabama -1.5 over Mississippi State, Tuesday at 8:30 PM ET We released Bama as a play last week in a similar situation vs Ole Miss and picked up an easy 21 point win. The Crimson Tide is coming off a tight loss @ Baylor in the SEC / Big 12 Challenge over the weekend. Bama played very well on the road against one of the better teams in the Big 12. Baylor never led by more than 6 points and Alabama had the lead with 4:30 remaining. The loss dropped them to 2-3 their last 5 games but they are playing as well as they have all season despite that mark. Their losses during this stretch came by 1-point on a last second 3-pointer vs A&M, a 3-point loss at #1 Tennessee, and their close setback @ Baylor. It’s not crazy to say they could very easily be 5-0 their last 5 facing very good competition. Just as the Ole Miss game was last week, this is a huge home game for Bama. They sit at 3-3 in the SEC and they played 3 of their next 4 games on the road. They have already beaten Kentucky, Arizona, and Ole Miss here at Coleman Coliseum and Mississippi State is next. The Bulldogs are in a rough spot here. They had one of the biggest home games of the season last Saturday as they upended Auburn and they have a huge revenge game on Saturday vs arch rival Ole Miss who beat MSU on the road just a few weeks ago. The Dogs are just 1-2 SU on the road in SEC play with their only win @ Vandy. MSU averages 78 PPG on 47% shooting overall for the season, however in their road games that drops to just 68 PPG on 40% from the field. We really like this match up as Bama should control the boards (#1 in the SEC both offensive & defensive rebounding). They also shoot the 3 well, especially at home, and they are facing an MSU defense that ranks 12th in the league defending the arc. We really like Alabama in this spot. |
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01-29-19 | Bucks v. Pistons +8 | Top | 115-105 | Loss | -115 | 4 h 56 m | Show |
ASA play on: Detroit Pistons +8 over Milwaukee Bucks, 7PM ET – The Bucks are coming off a loss in Oklahoma City and haven’t lost two consecutive games this season. BUT they must win this game by 8 or more points, and we don’t think they’ll do that. Let’s talk about value here first. The Bucks hosted the Pistons on January 1st and were -10 points at home. In mid-December the Bucks were a -3-point favorite in Detroit and won 107-104. You can see for yourself the over-adjustment the oddsmakers have made on tonight’s number. Milwaukee also has a MUCH bigger game on deck in Toronto and may get caught looking past a team they just beat by 23 a few weeks ago. Detroit is well rested here with their last game being on January 25th in Dallas. They are 21-27 SU on the season and It’s becoming a dire situation if they want to make the playoffs this season. Of their 27 losses this season, fourteen have come by 8 or less points. They have an overall negative differential of -2.6PPG on the season, +.1 at home. The Bucks have failed to cover 4 straight games which is a sign the lines are catching up to them. The Pistons are the play here and they will get their 7th cover in their last nine games. |
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01-27-19 | Iona v. Fairfield +1.5 | Top | 68-80 | Win | 100 | 2 h 32 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Fairfield +1.5 over Iona, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET Iona steps into this game in 2nd place in the MAAC with a 5-2 record. Fairfield is tied with Manhattan for last place with a 2-6 record. The line opened Iona -1.5 and despite the fact the Gaels are receiving over 70% of the wagers, the line has dropped to -1 and a number of shops. That’s always a signal to take a strong look as more money is coming in on the team that is getting less than 30% of the overall wagers. This is one of those games we’ve talked about where the “obvious” pick for those that don’t follow closely would be to take Iona simply to win the game and that shows up in the percentage of wagers we discussed above. That’s too easy. While Iona is currently in 2nd place they are far from a solid team ranking 218th nationally and they have just a 7-11 record overall. Going on the road has been tough for them as they have covered only 1 of their last 11 away from home. They are just 1-7 SU this year in true road games and if you add neutral games into the mix Iona is just 2-10 SU on the season. Iona is coming off a huge win just 2 days ago (Friday) beating 1st place Rider in a tight game at home. Now they hit the road a face a team they already beat a few weeks ago. Speaking of that game in early January, Iona was favored by 5 points and won 94-87 at home. First of all that tells us that Fairfield should be favored by about -3 based on the first meeting a short time ago. Secondly, the way that game played out will have Fairfield extra motivated for this rematch. That’s because Fairfield blew a 51-39 halftime lead and the Stags still led with 2:00 minutes remaining before Iona pulled away for the 7 point win. Both teams took 64 shots and made 31. Fairfield, a solid 3-point shooting team, took advantage of Iona’s terrible 3-point defense (331st nationally) making 16 from deep (just 10 for Iona). The rebounds were pretty much dead even. The difference? Fairfield was “homered” by the refs getting called for 25 personal fouls leading to a +13 edge a the line for Iona. We don’t expect the officials to be quite as biased toward Iona here @ Fairfield. The host has won 9 of the last 10 meetings outright and we’ll grab Fairfield as a home dog today. |
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01-26-19 | Colorado v. Stanford -1.5 | Top | 62-75 | Win | 100 | 25 h 37 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Stanford -1.5 over Colorado, Saturday a 8:00 PM ET The Cardinal were in a similar spot a few weeks ago at home vs Arizona State and we jumped on Stanford and picked up an easy win. In that spot, Stanford was off a tight home loss to Arizona and was in a must win spot for ASU before going on the road for 2 games. They were a short underdog in that game and handled the Sun Devils 85-71. Now the Cardinal are off a 70-66 home loss at the hands of Utah in a game that was tied with 1:00 minute left to play in the game. Utah shot 64% from beyond the arc which was the difference. No shame losing to a red hot Utah team that is 4-2 in the Pac 12 with their only losses coming @ Arizona in OT and @ Washington who is 6-0 in league play. Similar to a few weeks ago, Stanford is now backed into a corner with a 2-5 conference record and they leave on a 3 game road trip after this match up. This is a must win for Stanford. They are much better than their overall & conference record in our opinion. First of all they played one of the toughest schedules in the nation to get them ready for league play facing the likes of Kansas (lost @ KU in OT), North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Florida. Meanwhile Colorado played one of the easiest non-conference slates facing a grand total of ONE top 100 team which resulted in a loss to San Diego. In Pac 12 play, the tough slate has continued for Stanford as they’ve faced 5 of the 6 teams that are currently in 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in the conference. Colorado comes in with a 2-4 record in league play and their 2 wins have come against the two worst teams in the Pac 12, Washington State & Cal. One of those wins came on Thursday night at Cal who is easily the worst team in the Pac 12 with an 0-7 league mark and 5-14 overall. It was a game the Buffs were trailing with under 7:00 minutes remaining and led by just 4 with under 45 seconds remaining so the 11-point win was deceiving. CU shot 51% from the field and Cal just 38% and the game still went to the wire. Now off that win, Colorado plays their 3rd road game in 7 days (@ Utah, @ Cal, @ Stanford). We really like the match for Stanford as well. Neither team shoots the 3 particularly well and both prefer to score inside the arc. The Cardinal hit 55% of their 2-point shots in league play (2nd in the conference) and Stanford doesn’t defend well inside the arc allowing 55% in league play (9th in the conference). On the other side the Cardinal defend very well inside the arc (3rd in the Pac 12) while CU doesn’t shoot all that well from 2-point range (9th in the league). This game sets up very, very well for the home team and we’re sitting at a number where they basically just have to win. Take Stanford. |
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01-26-19 | Old Dominion v. Texas-San Antonio | Top | 73-74 | Win | 100 | 21 h 38 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON UTSA (pick-em) over Old Dominion, Saturday at 4:00 PM ET ODU checks in at 16-5 overall and they sit in first place in CUSA with a 6-2 record. That being said, we think this team is overvalued right now. They played one of the easiest non-conference slates in the nation (329th ranked SOS) and despite their 6 wins in league play, they’ve been far from dominant. They’ve had one easy win in CUSA play and their other five wins have come by margins of 1, 1, 2, 3, and 6 points. The Monarchs are 3-1 on the road in conference play but all of those games have come against the lower 6 teams in the league and all came down to the wire. This is also a rough scheduling spot as ODU is playing their 3 road game in 7 days here. They beat Charlotte by 6 on Sunday (Charlotte is 5-14 overall) and they barely got by UTEP on Thursday winning by 2 (UTEP is 6-12 on the year). Now they face the best team they’ve seen on the road in CUSA this year. UTSA is 5-2 in conference play, a half game behind Old Dominion. The Roadrunners have won 8 of their last 10 with their only losses coming on the road. They are rested and ready for this one after cruising to a 45 point win over Charlotte on Thursday night. Yes you read that correctly and that’s the same Charlotte team that ODU struggled to beat last Sunday. Not only are they playing well right now, but UTSA has been waiting for this one. These two met just once last year and it resulted in UTSA’s most embarrassing performance of the season, a 100-62 loss @ ODU. The Roadrunners were a decent team last year (20-15 record) but just played horribly in all aspects in that one. UTSA is a talented offensive team (#1 in CUSA in offensive efficiency in conference games) that will be sky high vs an ODU team that struggles to score at times (67 PPG average). The host gets their revenge vs a team that simply isn’t as good as their record may indicate. |
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01-26-19 | Iowa State v. Ole Miss -1 | Top | 87-73 | Loss | -108 | 17 h 39 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Ole Miss -1 over Iowa State, Saturday at 12:00 Noon ET This is a game we’ve had our eyes on for a few weeks simply because of the situation. There is obviously more to it than that, but this is a terrible spot for ISU. The Cyclones are coming off a road game @ Kansas which is one of their most important games of the season. They topped KU a few weeks ago at home but lost a tight one this week in Lawrence 80-76. It was an emotional roller-coaster type game for ISU who led at half, got down by 8 with just 4:00 minutes remaining, battled back to tie the game with 2:00 remaining only to lose by 4. We feel this will be a tough spot for the Cyclones to be on the road again in a somewhat meaningless non-conference game as they have their sights set on the Big 12 Title. Iowa State is always tough to beat at home, however on the road this year they have a 2-3 record with their wins coming down to the wire as well (won by 6 & 4 points). Ole Miss should be extra motivated here off perhaps their worst effort of the season, a 21-point loss @ Alabama (we were on the Tide). That game set up very nicely for an underrated Bama team who was 2-3 in conference play and almost in a must win spot vs the Rebels. Ole Miss is happy to be back home where they are 8-1 on the season (only loss to red hot LSU) shooting over 51% here at home while allowing just 40% to their opponents. They should control the interior here as the Rebs are very good at scoring inside (22nd in shooting percentage inside the arc) and very good at keeping teams from scoring inside (20th nationally in defensive shoot percentage inside the arc). That means ISU will have to be hot from deep which is always tough on the road, especially in a venue none of them are used to. Ole Miss is 5-2 ATS as a dog this year and they’ve been tabbed a home dog just once vs a very good Auburn team. The Rebs dominated that game 82-67. Mississippi head coach Kermit Davis said their loss to Bama was one of the few times that his team was “out toughed” this year so you can expect a great effort in their bounce back game on Saturday. |
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01-24-19 | St. Mary's v. BYU +1.5 | Top | 66-71 | Win | 100 | 9 h 24 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON BYU +1.5 over St Marys, Thursday at 11:00 PM ET on ESPN2 This is a revenger from a game played @ St Marys back on January 5th. The Gaels were favored by 6 in that game and now favored on the road just a few weeks later. Based on that first number, BYU should be a 2 point favorite here. The first game was an 88-66 blowout win for St Marys which is a contributing factor to why they are now favored on the road. The loss should have BYU extra motivated here as they played very poorly shooting just 40% from the field (55% for St Marys) and just 6 of 17 from 3-point land. After losing their WCC opener @ San Francisco, the Gaels have ripped off 4 straight wins – 3 of those coming at home. Their only road win in conference play was @ Loyola Marymount who is 2-3 in league play. Overall St Marys is just 1-2 in true road games and 3-5 in road/neutral games. BYU is 9-1 at home and just happy to be back at the Marriott Center as 7 of their last 9 games have been played away from home. The Cougs are 4-2 in WCC play and this is a huge game for them kicking off a 3 game homestand which includes a date with Gonzaga. They are winning their home games by an average score of 83-67 and they really step in up defensively at the Marriott Center holding opposing teams to just 39% from the field. Provo has proven to be a very tough place for teams to come in and win as BYU has won 37 of their last 40 games here. It’s not often we get BYU as a home dog and we’ll jump on it. |
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01-24-19 | Western Kentucky -1.5 v. Southern Miss | Top | 66-63 | Win | 100 | 6 h 23 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Western Kentucky -1.5 over Southern Miss, Thursday at 8:00 PM ET - CONERENCE USA GAME OF THE MONTH These two teams have very similar records with Western Kentucky coming in at 10-9 (3-3 on Conference USA play) while Southern Miss sits at 11-8 (3-4 in CUSA play). However, we feel WKY is the much better team and we’re getting some solid value laying only a point or two in this game. Western’s 3 conference losses have come by 1, 1, and 3 points. Two of those losses came at the hands for Old Dominion (rated #1 in CUSA) & Marshall (#4 in CUSA), two of the top 4 teams in CUSA (Western is the #2 rated team in the conference). USM’s conference losses have come by 18, 15, 8, and 3 points. The Eagles wins have come by 3, 5, and 7 points with two of those games played against Middle Tennessee State & Charlotte, two of the three teams in CUSA. Southern Miss has 11 wins as we mentioned however ZERO of those wins have come against teams ranked inside the top 100 and only one of those wins came against a team ranked inside the top 150 and that game took place on November 11th (win over SMU). Nine of their eleven wins have come against teams ranked 200 or lower including 3 vs non-division 1 opponents who are not ranked at all. The Hilltoppers, on the other hand, have beaten Wisconsin, St Marys, Arkansas (on the road) and West Virginia (neutral site). They have a huge edge defensively (2nd in CUSA in defensive efficiency in conference games) over the Eagles who are a poor defensive team (13th in CUSA defensive efficiency in conference games). WKY should also have a large advantage on the boards as USM is one of the worst rebounding teams in the nation. The Eagles are the shortest team in the nation with only one regular contributor taller than 6’5. Their rebounding margin in their 7 conference game is -36 while WKY is +36 on the boards in their 6 league games. Western has dominated this series winning 4 straight all by double digits including last year’s wins by 16 & 17 points. Southern Miss has not had a big home court advantage with a record of just 20-18 SU @ Reed Coliseum since the start of the 2016 season (minus non-division 1 opponents). Because of USM’s +.500 record this year vs terrible competition, we’re getting WKY as the lowest number they’ve laid in this series since 2013. Hilltoppers cruise here. |
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01-23-19 | St Bonaventure v. Massachusetts -3.5 | Top | 65-51 | Loss | -105 | 5 h 18 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON UMass -3.5 over St Bonaventure, Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET A few weeks ago we grabbed St Bonnies at home vs St Joes as a Top Play and the Bonnies won in a rout. We felt they were undervalued as their record was poor but they were getting some players back and finally at full strength. Since that win they are just 1-2 with their only win coming against Fordham who is 0-5 in league play. The Bonnies also now have some more injurie issues and they are in a terrible situational spot here. They are coming off a double OT loss at home on Saturday to Dayton. It was a game St Bonaventure led by 10 in the 2nd half and felt they should have won making this an emotionally tough spot for them on the road. They were down 2 starters in that game (Kaputo & Poyser) both with concussion issues leaving this team very thin. They have almost no bench right now leaving their starters to play 50, 48, 47, 46, and 35 minutes on Saturday. On top of that the Bonnies are 0-6 this year in true road games and if you add in their neutral site games, they are 1-9. They are also 0-8-1 ATS their last 9 true road games. UMass is 0-5 in league play yet favored by 3.5 here which is a buy sign in our opinion. They are better than their A10 record as they’ve been very competitive with some of the top teams in the league losing by 3 @ St Louis (currently 5-0 in first place in A10), by 5 @ Dayton (4-1 in the A10), and by 5 to a red hot George Mason team (5-1 in the A10). The Minutemen have been competitive against the best teams in the league and they’ve played the toughest conference schedule already having faced 4 of the top 5 teams in the Atlantic 10. This is now a huge home game for them as they see an opportunity for their first win in conference play. Lay the small number with UMass here. |
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01-22-19 | Ole Miss v. Alabama -1 | Top | 53-74 | Win | 100 | 8 h 57 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Alabama -1 over Ole Miss, Tuesday at 9:00 PM ET We always have to take a long, sometimes a strong look, at unranked teams at home favored over ranked teams. That’s what we have here. The 11-6 Crimson Tide are a slight 1-point favorite over the 14-3 and 20th ranked Ole Miss Rebels. Many times what will happen in this situation is the ranked team will get the majority of the bets simply because people see they are ranked and an underdog on top of that. That is the case here with the Rebs receiving over 55% of the wagers as of this writing. However, over 70% of the money is coming in on the unranked home team which tells us the heavy bettors in the know are siding with Bama. We are in that group as well. This is a MUCH bigger game for the Tide. They are 2-3 in SEC play and they really need this home win. Ole Miss is already 4-1 in conference play so a loss would not be a huge setback here. Bama has some impressive wins at home this year including Kentucky and Arizona. Their only home loss in SEC play was an 81-80 setback to Texas A&M as the Aggies made a miraculous 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull the upset. The Tide played one of their best games of the season on Saturday almost pulling the upset @ now #1 Tennessee. Bama actually led with under 3:00 minutes to go on the road but couldn’t hold on in a 71-68 loss. A great effort vs the top ranked Vols who had won every home game by at least 13 points entering that game and have won every SEC game, except Bama, by double digits. Now the host it backed into a corner and we expect a very good performance tonight. Ole Miss is coming off a home win over Arkansas and they have a huge non-conference home game on deck with #24 Iowa State on Saturday. Mississippi guard and one of their key players Devontae Shuler is not at 100% which could be a key tonight. He’s had a foot problem as of late which limited him in Saturday’s win over Arkansas as he played his lowest minute total of the year and was just 1 of 6 from the field. In his last 2 games Shuler is just 2 of 12 from the field. He didn’t practice on Sunday or Monday as he is resting his foot. He may play tonight but he’s obviously not at full strength. The Rebels come into this game having won 11 of their last 12 games but only 3 of those 11 wins came against teams ranked in the top 100. They are overvalued right now and this is a bad spot for them. The home team has dominated this SEC series winning 15 of the last 18 SU and we look for Bama to continue that tonight. |
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01-21-19 | Blazers +5 v. Jazz | Top | 109-104 | Win | 100 | 5 h 40 m | Show |
ASA play on: #526 Portland Trailblazers +5 over Utah Jazz, 9PM ET – Let’s double up on our NBA profits today with a late game winner on this Western Conference showdown. Earlier today we cashed with a wager on the Under in the Pistons vs. Wizards game. We like the Blazers here for several reasons including double-revenge from two losses to the Jazz in late December. Portland is playing well right now have faced a tough schedule coming into this game. In their last four games on the road the Blazers have gone 2-2 SU with wins at the Warriors and Kings, two losses in Denver by 3 and at Sacramento by 8. In the game at Denver they were +4.5 points and at the time the Nuggets had the best overall record in the West. Now they are catching more points against the 7th seed Jazz? The over-correction by the oddsmakers is due to the Blazers current 6-game winning streak, but don’t be fooled by that number. Utah’s last six wins have come against two of the worst teams in the league (Cavs and Bulls), a 19-win Magic team, a 20-win Pistons team, the Lakers without LeBron and the Clippers. We’re not impressed. The Jazz have some injuries at guard right now which is a strength for the Blazers with Lillard and McCollum, who combined average 46PPG, over 8 RPG and nearly 9 assists per game. The Blazers are quietly on a 5-1 ATS run and playing with plenty of motivation here after a pair of losses late last month. Grab the points! |
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01-20-19 | Rams v. Saints -3 | Top | 26-23 | Loss | -110 | 48 h 19 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON New Orleans -3 over LA Rams, Sunday at 3:00 PM ET The home team has won each of the last 5 NFC & AFC Championships for a perfect 10-0 SU mark (8-2 ATS). We like New Orleans to do the same on Sunday. Last week the Rams came out and shocked the Cowboys with their gameplan which was to run the ball right down their throat. LA did so with great success rushing for 273 yards which took the pressure off of 3rd year signal caller Jared Goff. That worked last week at home, however we don’t see LA dominating the ground game this week vs New Orleans who has the #1 rush defense in the NFL allowing just 3.6 YPG and only 78 YPG on the ground. In their first meeting this year, the Saints held the Rams to just 92 YPG on the ground and we see a similar outcome on Sunday. That will make Jared Goff have to win this game and we’re not sure he’s ready for that. If it comes down to Brees vs Goff to win this one, we’ll take the veteran QB at home all day long. Goff has faced 6 different Super Bowl winning QB’s (Brees included) in 12 games over his career. The Rams are just 3-9 ATS in those games. Goff also have very good numbers at home this year, but on the road they dropped off dramatically (68% down to 60% on the road / 2,737 yards passing at home down to 1950 on the road / 22 TD’s and 9 picks at home to just 10 TD’s and 9 picks on the road). The Saints are a perfect 6-0 at home in playoff games under head coach Sean Payton and QB Drew Brees (14 TD’s and just 2 interceptions for Brees in those games). They are veterans who have been here while Goff and head coach McVay are playing in just their 3rd ever playoff game. We really like the way the New Orleans defense played down the stretch. If you take out their meaningless season finale vs Carolina when they rested players having already clinched the NFC South, the Saint defense allowed just 14.5 PPG over their last 8 games. Last week the New Orleans offense scored only 20 points, however they rolled up 420 yards so that score was pretty deceiving (outgained Eagles by almost 200 yards). We expect them to put more points on the board this week while we like the New Orleans defense to at least slow down the Rams a bit. The Saints won the first meeting here 45-35 and while we don’t expect quite the offensive output we saw in that one, we do expect a similar result with New Orleans winning by a TD or more. Since 2012, no team that made the Super Bowl has played a road game. It’s tough to win on the road in the NFL playoffs and we don’t expect the Rams to change the streak on Sunday. Lay it with New Orleans in the dome. |
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01-19-19 | Cincinnati v. Wichita State +4.5 | Top | 66-55 | Loss | -111 | 14 h 13 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Wichita State +4.5 over Cincinnati, Saturday at 2:00 PM ET - AAC GAME OF THE MONTH We’ve gone against Wichita a few times this year and cashed in. This team was overvalued coming into the season as they lost some key players from last year’s 26-8 NCAA tourney team. They are well coached and have talent, they just weren’t ready to play at their best early in the season, especially on the road. Well this team now looks like the are a play on type team, especially at home as an underdog. After opening the AAC season with an 11 point loss @ Memphis (we were on the Tigers), the Shockers have played quite well. They led a very solid Temple team for all but 50 seconds of regulation but blew a 15 point second half lead and lost by 4 in OT. WSU then traveled to the best team in the AAC (Houston – ranked 26th nationally in Ken Pom) and played very well leading the 16-1 Cougars by 5 points at half. They were still right there with 1:00 minute remaining trailing by just 5 points (they lost by 9). They finally broke into the AAC win column earlier this week upsetting a very good UCF team who came into the game with a 13-2 record. The Shockers led for the final 33 minutes of that game getting the 8 point win. That initial AAC win gives this team some great momentum heading into this game as they had been playing well as we stated, but now broke into the win column. We feel the opposite is true for Cincinnati. They are not playing at the top of their game right now. After beating the worst team in the league, Tulane, handily to open conference play, they have had to battle to the wire in their last 4 games. They are 4-1 in conference play, but they lost @ East Carolina (the 2nd worst team in the league – ranked 226th nationally), needed to come from 6 down with under 2:00 minutes remaining to beat Tulsa in OT, beat UConn at home by 2 in OT, and then held on earlier this week beating USF by 8 at home. Cincy is 15-3 overall but just 2-2 in true road games with their wins coming by 4 @ UNLV (ranked 158th) and in OT @ Tulsa as we mentioned above. They have a negative point differential on the road and their offense has struggled averaging just 66 PPG. Head man Gregg Marshall has built a great program and getting points at home is something they are not used to. This is just the 2nd time since 2009, yes 2009, that WSU has been a home underdog. The other happened to be earlier this week when they beat UCF as a 2-point dog. They do the same here. Wichita pulls the upset. |
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01-18-19 | Heat +1.5 v. Pistons | Top | 93-98 | Loss | -109 | 9 h 12 m | Show |
ASA play on: Miami Heat +2 over Detroit Pistons, 7PM ET – We feel the Heat are a team in the East that will make the playoffs and cause some problems for the upper echelon teams before it’s all said and done. We can’t say we feel the same about Detroit. The Pistons have talent but don’t play hard or well consistently. Detroit is 6-17 SU their last twenty-three games and are trending in the opposite direction. Their last four wins are less than impressive as they’ve come against Orlando, Clippers, Memphis and Washington. The Pistons are 12-10 SU at home but they are one of just 8 teams in the league with a negative home differential (-.1PPG). Miami on the other hand is 10-9 SU away from home with the 9th best road differential in the league at -.3PPG. The Heat are coming off a horrible showing in Milwaukee but have rest (6-1 ATS L7 with two or more days rest) going into tonight. Miami is 7-3 SU on the road this season when coming off a loss which is a sign of a well-coached, solid team. The Heat have covered four straight in this series and obviously have some matchup advantages. Take Miami plus the points! |
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01-18-19 | Maryland v. Ohio State -2 | Top | 75-61 | Loss | -110 | 20 h 4 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Ohio State -2 over Maryland, Friday at 6:30 PM ET This is an absolute must win for OSU. They are coming off a 3-game losing streak after starting the Big Ten season 2-0. Now at home with Purdue next and then two road games @ Nebraska & @ Michigan this becomes a huge game. OSU recent 3 game losing streak was tipped off by a loss @ home to Michigan State. The Buckeyes led that game by 9-points in the 2nd half before the Spartans came back and pulled out the win. The Bucks then lost @ Rutgers and it was very apparent in that game that they were emotionally spent from their previous home game vs MSU. Plus, Rutgers actually isn’t that bad this year. They play very hard and play excellent defense. Last Saturday we thought OSU would bounce back and give Iowa all they could handle on the road. They led at half in Iowa City but simply couldn’t hold on due to poor shooting (just 37% for the game) and a pretty large deficit at the FT line (minus 10 made FTs). Now the Buckeyes have had nearly a full week to recoup and get ready for this home game. Maryland, on the other hand, played a big game last Saturday at home vs Indiana and then had to host Wisconsin on Monday, another big game for them. This will be their 3rd game in a week and they are coming off back to back huge wins. They trailed IU by 14 points and came back and won by 3. Against the Badgers they jumped out a 20 point lead in the 2nd half only to have Wisconsin come back and take the lead late in the game. Maryland hit a late 3 to pick up a 4-point win. Off those 2 emotional home wins we expect this young Maryland team (349th nationally out of 351 in experience) will potentially have a tough time in this road tilt. Ohio State has won 24 of their last 28 home games dating back to last year and they are in a desperate spot here. This line is set where OSU pretty much just has to win the game which we think they’ll do. Take the Buckeyes. |
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01-16-19 | Sabres v. Flames -1.5 | Top | 4-3 | Loss | -100 | 10 h 56 m | Show |
ASA NHL 10* TOP PLAY ON Calgary Puck Line (-1.5 goals) over Buffalo, Wednesday at 9:35 PM ET - The Sabres are on a Western Canada road swing and playing for the 4th time in 6 nights. Buffalo enters this game having lost 3 straight. The Flames scheduling situation is much better as they are on home ice and playing for the first time since Sunday! Calgary enters this game having won 7 of their past 8 games. The Flames have scored an average of 5 goals per game during this red hot 8-game stretch. Of course that is part of the reason that Calgary is a 2 to 1 money line favorite on home ice for this one. That said, the way to get value out of a situation like this is with the puck line. By laying the 1.5 goals with the Flames bettors get a plus money return of approximately +120 with Calgary. The Sabres have scored an average of just 2 goals per game in their last 9 games. Seeing the numbers above it is no wonder as to why our math modeling is projecting a dominating 5-2 home win for the Flames in this one. Calgary is one of the top teams in the NHL and a legitimate Stanley Cup contender this season. The Sabres had a hot streak earlier this season that was quite exciting for Buffalo of course. However, reality is now setting in as normalcy has returned for Buffalo. The Sabres have lost 15 of their last 21 games. Buffalo's last 11 losses have come by an average margin of 2.2 goals per game and another loss by a multiple-goal margin is in the forecast here. The Flames last 9 wins have come by an average margin of 2.7 goals per game. In road games with an O/U of 6 or more goals, the Sabres have lost 14 of their last 17 games. The Flames have won 5 of 6 games this season when playing with 2 days of rest between games and Calgary has won 10 of 13 games this season when coming off a divisional game. We predict this one turns into a home blowout. Laying the 1.5 goals for a plus money return with Calgary is the value play here. |
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01-16-19 | Iowa State +5.5 v. Texas Tech | Top | 68-64 | Win | 100 | 9 h 54 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Iowa State +5.5 over Texas Tech, Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET Tech is very good but they’ve been skating on thin ice. They are 4-0 in the Big 12 and all of their games have come down to the wire. Their wins in conference play have come by margins of 3, 6, 6, and 7 points. Iowa State is 2-2 in league play and their losses have come by 3 & 1 point so it’s safe to say we can expect a close game here. Getting points will be valuable. ISU should come in and play with some urgency as they have lost 2 straight games after trouncing Kansas by 17 points. Their most recent loss was a 1-point setback to KSU and a game the Cyclones led by 7 with 5:00 minutes remaining. This is a huge game for ISU as they don’t want to drop below .500 in the conference. We realize Tech is a very solid team but they are not 15-1 solid in our opinion. They are primed to be picked off very soon and this could be the night. The Raiders have been outrebounded in every Big 12 game but have held their opponents in league play to just 36% shooting. Even with those defensive numbers, all 4 of the games have been tight. ISU will be the best offense they’ve faced so far in the Big 12 as the Cyclones are 23rd nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency. They are tough to guard with 5 players averaging 10 PPG or more. We think the Cyclones will have more success offensively than the other Big 12 teams Tech has faced which will make it tough for the host to cover this one. That’s because on the other end of the court, the Red Raiders are not a great team offensively (95th in offensive efficiency). They have not topped 68 points in any of their conference games. We expect this one to be played in the mid 60’s with Iowa State taking Texas Tech to the wire with a shot to win outright. Take the points. |
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01-16-19 | Auburn v. Texas A&M +7 | Top | 85-66 | Loss | -115 | 7 h 56 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Texas A&M +7 over Auburn, Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET We were on Auburn on Saturday and picked up a win, however we think this is a great spot to fade the Tigers. We caught the Tigers at home on Saturday coming off an embarrassing 15 point loss @ Ole Miss earlier in the week. Their loss to the Rebels was their first SEC game and they definitely didn’t want to lose at home and drop to 0-2 in the league with a road game here on deck. Auburn played well at home as we expected shooting 50% from the field and 48% from deep in their 15 point win on Saturday. They have a HUGE home game this Saturday vs Kentucky so we won’t be surprised at all if the Tigers are not at the top of their game tonight. On top of that, this team struggles on the road. They have played just 2 true road games this year and they are 0-2 in those games losing by 15 & 7 points. They were FAVORED in both. They are shooting just 40% on the road while allowing opponents to hit 49% of their shots. Looking back to late last season, the Tigers have now lost 5 straight road games and they were favored in 4 of those games. They have covered just 2 of their last 9 road tilts. A&M is just 7-7 on the season but they are playing better and have some solid momentum coming into this game after upsetting Alabama on the road last weekend. In their 3 SEC games the Aggies lost by 2 vs Arkansas, lost by 11 @ Kentucky (was a 2 point game with 7:00 remaining), and they beat Bama on the road by 1. They are playing their best basketball and now have 4 of their next 5 games at home. Four of A&M’s seven losses have come by 5 points or less so they have had a chance to win a majority of the games that they lost. The Aggies were +6.5 @ Auburn last year in their only meeting (A&M won outright) and in their only meeting 2 years ago A&M was a 7-point favorite at home. Getting +7 at home tonight (in some spots) is a definite value in our opinion. We like the Aggies to keep this one close and have a shot at the outright win. |
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01-16-19 | Iowa v. Penn State -1.5 | Top | 89-82 | Loss | -105 | 7 h 55 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Penn State -1.5 over Iowa, Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET There is a reason the 0-6 in Big Ten play Nittany Lions are favored (or pickem in some spots) over the now rated #23 Iowa Hawkeyes. Most will look at this game an automatically side with the Hawkeyes over a team that sits with a 7-10 overall record. The fact is the Lions have played a brutal Big Ten slate and they are looking at this game as a prime opportunity to get their first conference win. We expect they’ll play very well in this game. The Nits have not played a “lower tier” type team in the Big Ten yet this season. They have already faced the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Indiana, and Maryland. Those teams are ranked (Ken Pom ratings) #1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 teams in the league. Iowa will actually be the lowest ranked team (Ken Pom) they’ve played in the Big Ten this season. The Hawkeyes come into this game overvalued off 3 straight Big Ten wins – 2 of those at home. We expect after beating Nebraska and Ohio State and home as well as Northwestern on the road, this is very likely a game Iowa may overlook. That would be a mistake as this team as PSU will look at this as a prime opportunity to pick up their first conference win and Iowa is not a good road team. The Hawks did come from 7 points down in the 2nd half to pull the upset at Northwestern but they are just 1-2 in their 3 true road games with both losses coming by double digits. The fact is the Hawkeyes have won only 5 of their last 25 road game dating back to the start of the 2017 season. Last year that this venue they were crushed 82-58 by PSU. The Lions were favored by 8.5 in that game and now this number a swung a full 8+ points from last year due to the perception that PSU is bad due to their winless conference mark. Iowa might be without leading scorer Tyler Cook who sprained his ankle late in the OSU game and didn’t practice on Monday. The Nits solid defense (20th nationally in defensive efficiency) will slow down Iowa’s offense that shoots only 40% in their road games. PSU gets the outright win on Wednesday. |
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01-15-19 | Marquette v. Georgetown +2 | Top | 74-71 | Loss | -110 | 4 h 15 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Georgetown +2 over Marquette, Tuesday at 8:30 PM ET - On Fox Sports One Marquette is currently a play against team on the road in our opinion. Their home/road dichotomy is quite drastic, especially on the defensive end. They have only played 3 true road games this year getting blown out at St Johns and at Indiana and winning in OT @ Creighton. Their road win last Wednesday over the Blue Jays was a complete miracle. First of all the Golden Eagles NEVER led in the game until overtime. Not once. On top of that they were down 85-80 with under 2 seconds remaining in the game and were able to get it to OT by scoring 5 points in the final 2 seconds. Yes you read that correctly. Lastly, they shot lights out in that game hitting 56% of their shots, 57% of their 3-point attempts, AND made 24 FT’s (shot 80% from the foul line) and still NEVER led in regulation. We don’t see those numbers being duplicated tonight @ Georgetown who plays much better defense than Creighton (Blue Jays are dead last in defensive efficiency in the Big East and it’s not close). Speaking of defense, Marquette has been horrendous on that end of the court on the road this year. They have allowed 89, 93, and 104 points in their 3 road games. They are allowing their road opponents to make 55.7% of their shots! The undervalued Hoyas who are scoring 88 PPG at home this year should be able to take advantage of that. Georgetown is 2-2 in the Big East but are very close to being undefeated as their losses came in OT vs St Johns and by 5 points @ Xavier, a game they led 17 points. They are off a home win last Saturday over Providence and now back at home again. The Hoyas also got one of their top players back in the line up, Mac McClung, back on the court last Saturday after he missed 4 straight games. Marquette has played back to back down to the wire games winning both vs Creighton & Seton Hall and now going on the road we see letdown potential from the Eagles. G’Town has a little extra motivation here as well after they lost at home in OT to Marquette last year. Hoyas in this one outright. |
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01-14-19 | Blazers v. Kings -2.5 | Top | 107-115 | Win | 100 | 8 h 31 m | Show |
NBA play on: #510 Sacramento Kings -2.5 over Portland Trailblazers, 10PM ET - We have lost some value with this bet as these two teams recently played and the Blazers were a 1-point favorite on this court. The line has swung the other direction with good reason as the Blazers are off a hard-fought loss in the higher altitude of Denver last night. Teams have done well this season when coming off a game in Denver and playing without rest, but historically this is a tough scheduling situation. The Kings have revenge on their side here as they recently lost at home to Portland 108-113 in OT. The biggest discrepancy in that game was at the free throw line where the Kings were minus 15 in makes and minus 18 in attempts. Sacramento played a tough home stretch of games which include a win over the Lakers, an OT loss to the Portland team and a 4-point loss to Golden State. They then won three straight games at home by an average of 11PPG. Portland has an 8-11 SU road record this season and the WORST road differential of any team in the NBA with a winning record. The Blazers are in the bottom half of the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency ratings when playing away from home this season. The Kings are 4-0 ATS as a small favorite less than -2.5 points this season and they get this home win. |
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01-13-19 | Chargers v. Patriots -4 | Top | 28-41 | Win | 100 | 24 h 54 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON New England -4 over LA Chargers, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET - NFL PLAYOFF GAME OF THE YEAR The Chargers have become a very popular underdog in this game and we just don’t see it. First of all, the situation is terrible for LA. They are playing their 3rd straight road game and 2nd of back to back games on the east coast. Secondly, it’s their 4th road game in 5 weeks. Of course the Pats are rested and coming off a bye so huge situational advantage to New England. HUGE coaching advantage to the Patriots as well. Bill Belichick has more playoff wins than any coach in NFL history and it’s not close. He has a record of 28-11 in the post-season while the coach with the 2nd most wins in the playoffs is Tom Landry with 20, a full 8-games less than Belichick. Giving him two full weeks to prepare for a home game vs Anthony Lynn who is coaching in just the 2nd playoff game of his career gives the Pats a distinct advantage. Last week the Chargers were in a beneficial situation playing a Baltimore team they faced just a few weeks earlier. They knew the Ravens haven’t been a prolific passing team since QB Lamar Jackson took over, they also were able to see the funky rush offense that Baltimore implemented 6 weeks earlier. Facing it already gave the defense a big advantage and they sold out to stop the run and it worked. This is a much different situation having no idea the game plan that Belichick will employ here and we guess it will be a very good one. Brady and company are VERY tough to beat at home where they are 8-0 this season (all wins but one coming by at least a TD) and they are 20-3 SU at home in playoff games with Brady under center. The Chargers offense hasn’t looked all that great over the last month or so. Philip Rivers looks a bit tired and his numbers have fallen off drastically. He had a QBR of more than 80 in 6 of his first 12 games this year. Since then he’s had 3 of his lowest QBR ratings for the season in the last 5 weeks and hasn’t topped 80 in any of those games. He’s thrown just 5 TD passes in his last 5 games. His running game won’t be what it was earlier in the year as Melvin Gordon’s knees are both banged up and he isn’t nearly as explosive as he was earlier in the year. Over their last 3 games the Chargers have averaged just 18 PPG on 239 YPG. Last week they held on to win 23-17 but LA was gifted 3 turnovers by the Ravens and many of their points came on very short fields. In fact, they scored only 1 TD in the game and their 3 of their 5 FG drives were 16-yards or less. The Pats were the only team in the NFL with an undefeated home record (8-0) and they averaged 33 PPG at home never scoring less than 24. They played 4 winning teams at home (Minnesota, KC, Houston, and Indy) and beat those teams by an average score of 33-23 and outgained them by an average of 78 YPG. Defensively the Patriots got better as the year went on, just as they did last season. They held 5 of their last 6 opponents to 17 points or less. The only team that topped 20 points on New England in Foxboro this season was KC. The Chargers were obviously very good on the road this year but this is the toughest situation they’ve faced as far as travel situation (3 straight road + back to back east coast) plus opponent. LA pulled the road upset last week but that is highly unlikely this week. In fact, teams that win in the wildcard round as an underdog are just 12-48 SU (21.39 ATS) the following week. The Patriots get the home win and cover. |
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01-12-19 | Cowboys +8.5 v. Rams | Top | 22-30 | Win | 100 | 7 h 6 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Dallas +8.5 over LA Rams, Saturday at 8:15 PM ET We feel this is a very tough match up for the Rams. Dallas has the better defense ranking 9th in defensive efficiency (Football Outsiders) while the Rams rank 19th. Worse yet for the Rams, they struggle to stop the run allowing 5.1 YPC (last in the NFL) and they rank 28th in defensive efficiency vs the run. That’s a bad match up when facing a very good running team like Dallas. The Cowboys rank 8th in the NFL in rushing YPG and found their groove last week rushing for 164 yards in their win over Seattle. Even more impressive, the Cowboy defense held the league’s top rated rushing attack to just 73 yards on 24 carries – less than 3 YPC. With Todd Gurley banged up as well for the Rams, the Cowboys should have a solid advantage in the running game which will be a big key in this game. LA only faced 3 teams this year ranked in the top 10 in rushing which makes their 5.1 YPC allowed even more concerning. Those 3 games were vs Seattle (twice) and New Orleans. They lost by 10 to New Orleans and both Seattle games went to the wire with LA winning close. That looks like a precursor to what might happen in this game. If you take a close look at the overall schedule this year, you’ll see that the Rams mopped up on the worst teams in the NFL but that wasn’t the case when they stepped up to play a good team. In their games vs playoff teams LA was just 1-5-1 ATS (4-3 SU) with an average score of 32-32. They outgained those teams by just 22 YPG. Dallas also played 7 playoff teams and the Cowboys were 4-3 ATS (3-4 SU) with an average score of 17-20 but they outgained those teams by 43 YPG. This line is a full TD (-7.5 in some spots) and the only teams the Rams beat by more than 7 this year were the Cardinals, Niners, Raiders, Lions, and Chargers. You can see the only good team on that list is the Chargers. Dallas, on the other hand, stepped up when they were tabbed a big underdog winning all 3 games OUTRIGHT this year when getting 7 or more points. Since 2003, dogs of a TD or more in the divisional round have been a money making 19-11-1 ATS (63%). Our eye test tells us Dallas was the better team over the 2nd half of the season (LA came out of the gate hot) winning 8 of their last 9 games with their only loss coming @ Indy a week after the Boys clinched the NFC East Title (can you say letdown spot – we were on Indy for a Top Game in that one). The Rams ran through the first half of their schedule but lost to the Saints, Bears, and Eagles down the stretch. On other thing to keep in mind is that while this is a home game for the Rams, you can bet the Cowboys will have more fans in the stands. LA’s following is not great for home games. Too many points here as we give Dallas a decent shot at the outright win. |
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01-12-19 | Spurs v. Thunder -5 | Top | 112-122 | Win | 100 | 9 h 38 m | Show |
ASA NBA play on: #570 Oklahoma City Thunder -5.5 over San Antonio Spurs, 8PM ET – We are not huge ‘revenge’ bettors when it comes to the NBA but that will certainly factor into tonight’s game. These two just met on Thursday night in a shootout in San Antonio (pun intended) with the Spurs coming out on top by 7 in OT. The Spurs were a small dog of +1.5-points which means the Thunder should be minus 7 or 8 at home. Spurs center LaMarcus Aldridge had a career type night with 56-points which is unlikely to happen again today on the road at OKC. The Spurs were also +10 in free throw makes which now flops to the home team Thunder. The Spurs have been an ‘average’ team on the road in the NBA this season with a negative point differential of -3.3PPG (16th in NBA) and a 7-13 SU record. San Antonio’s road defensive efficiency rankings is 24th in the league as they allow 1.139PPP. OKC is a tough place to play as the Thunder enjoy a 13-6 SU record at home with the 9th best point differential at +7.4PPG. The Thunders 4th ranked defensive efficiency rankings will be the difference here as they allow just 1.028PPG which is far superior to the Spurs numbers. OKC is 6-3 SU at home off a loss while the Spurs are just 5-15 ATS the last 20 clashes on this court. Thunder by 10. |
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01-12-19 | Arizona State v. Stanford +4 | Top | 71-85 | Win | 100 | 5 h 54 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Stanford +4 over Arizona State, Saturday at 6:00 PM ET - PAC 12 GAME OF THE WEEK Stanford has played one of the toughest schedules in the nation to date having already played 9 top 100 teams (31st ranked SOS). Thus, they are better than their 7-8 overall record in our opinion. They have started the Pac 12 season 0-3 with losses @ UCLA, @ USC, and a 5-point home setback vs Arizona on Wednesday. It was a tight game throughout with neither team leading by more than 5 at any point in the 2nd half. Stanford killed themselves at the FT line making only 55% (Arizona made 88%) which was the difference in the down to the wire game. It was Stanford’s only home loss this season (5-1 record). The Cardinal now go on the road for 2 games after this one and cannot afford a loss here which would drop them to 0-4 in the Pac 12. We expect an all out effort on Saturday. ASU is playing their 2nd road game this week after beating the worst team in the league, Cal, on Wednesday. The 80-66 final score was a bit deceiving as the Devils never led in the first half and led by just 8 with 3:00 remaining in the game. Again, not a huge win as Cal is just 5-10 on the year and 9 of their 10 losses have come by at least 9 points. In their 3 road games this year, ASU was whipped @ Vandy by 15 (the 10th rated team in the SEC) , beat Georgia by 2 (12th rated team in the SEC) and beat the worst team in the Pac 12 (Cal). Now they go on the road again for the 2nd time in 4 days and might be without one of their top players, Cheatham (17 points on Wed), who has a family situation today. The Devils are overvalued in this spot in our opinion vs a desperate home team that is better than their record. The home team has dominated this series going 12-4-1 ATS the last 15 meetings. Take the points with Stanford. |
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01-12-19 | Georgia v. Auburn -13.5 | Top | 78-93 | Win | 100 | 3 h 53 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Auburn -13.5 over Georgia, Saturday at 4:00 PM ET - SEC GAME OF THE MONTH We’re siding with one of the top teams in the nation off a loss here. Not only a loss but an embarrassing one. The Tigers were whipped 82-67 @ Ole Miss on Wednesday as a 4-point favorite. Auburn attempted 14 more shots in the game but shot uncharacteristically poor at 32%. Ole Miss also picked up some home cooking from the refs making 27 FT’s to just 9 for the Tigers. Really tough to overcome those two situations. Heading home after that bad loss to a place where they are 8-0 winning by an average score of 89-60 should lead to a very nice bounce back. They take on a Georgia team that is off a big win at home over Vandy, but a team that has struggled on the road. The Dawgs are 1-2 in their 3 true road games beating rival Georgia Tech but losing @ Temple and @ Tennessee. They are away from home for just the 3rd time since November 22nd. For comparison’s sake, UGA was completely overmatched @ Tennessee losing 96-50 and today’s opponent Auburn is the #2 ranked team in the SEC just behind Tennessee. The Bulldogs have not beaten anyone ranked inside the top 75 this year going 0-4 vs teams ranked 75 or higher (Ken Pom ratings) and Auburn is currently #13. Not only will the talented Tigers be extra motivated here, it’s simply a bad match up for Georgia. The Tigers thrive at creating extra opportunities through turnovers as they force opponents into giveaways almost 29% of the time (1st nationally). The problem here is UGA is the most turnover prone team in the SEC and one of the most in the nation (314th nationally in turnover percentage). Auburn is also the #1 shot blocking team in the nation at 20.8% which will be a problem for UGA the doesn’t shoot the 3 very well (32%) and relies on scoring inside the paint. The Tigers have scored at least 88 points in 6 of their 8 home games and we don’t feel UGA will be able to keep up here. Last year Auburn won both games by 14 & 17 points and while the Tigers might be a bit better than last year’s 26-8 team, we feel Georgia isn’t as good as they were a year ago. We feel this one could turn into a blowout. |
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01-10-19 | Pepperdine v. Santa Clara -1.5 | Top | 64-67 | Win | 100 | 8 h 31 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Santa Clara -1.5 over Pepperdine, Thursday at 11:00 PM ET Veteran head coach Herb Sendek (formerly head coach at NC State & Arizona State) has this Santa Clara team playing very well right now. After losing 5 of their first 6 games the Broncos have hit their stride winning 8 of their last 10 games. They had won 6 in a road including wins over Pac 12 teams Washington State & USC, before finally losing last Saturday @ Gonzaga, who many consider to be the top team in the nation. That loss dropped Santa Clara to 1-1 in the WCC with their win coming here at home 68-56 vs a very good San Diego team. Pepperdine is also 1-1 in the WCC and off a home loss to San Francisco last Saturday. It was a huge home game for the Waves and they have big games on deck vs San Diego and BYU. They may not be ready for this road tilt @ Santa Clara. Part of that might be mental coming off a huge game but much of that is the fact the Waves are simply not a good road team. They are 0-5 SU this year in true road games and only one of those contests came vs a team ranked inside the top 175. They shoot just 40% on the road and they run into a SC defense that allows an eFG% of just 47.5% (70th nationally) a limits their opponents to only 29% (24th nationally). That should be a problem for Pepperdine who relies fairly heavily on the 3-point shot. Santa Clara has won 5 of the last 6 home meetings with Pepperdine and they get the win again tonight. |
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01-09-19 | Florida -1.5 v. Arkansas | Top | 57-51 | Win | 100 | 6 h 44 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Florida -1.5 over Arkansas, Wednesday at 8:30 PM ET - SEC GAME OF THE WEEK The Razors come into this game with a 10-3 record but have done most of their damage against inferior competition. They are one of the youngest teams in the nation (339th in experience) with 4 freshmen in the rotation. Arkansas has played the 3rd easiest slate thus far in the SEC and they already have two home losses at the hands of Georgia Tech (currently ranked the 12th best team in the ACC) and Western Kentucky who’s ranked outside the top 100 nationally. Florida will actually be the highest rated team the Razorbacks have played this season and the catch the Gators off a loss. You can bet the Gators will be angry coming in after blowing a 14 point lead with 10:00 minutes remaining in a 71-69 home loss to South Carolina last Saturday. It was a game that South Carolina led for less than 3:00 minutes but won on a dunk at the buzzer. It wasn’t a bad loss so to speak and the Gamecocks went on to beat #14 Mississippi State last night for impressive back to back wins. Florida is a slight road favorite here despite the worse record (8-5) because unlike Arkansas, they’ve played a very tough schedule. Their losses have come against Michigan State, Florida State, Butler, South Carolina, and Oklahoma and 4 of those games came down to the wire. Also unlike the young Razorbacks, the Gators return 4 of their top 6 players from last year’s team that won their opening game in the NCAA tourney before losing by 3-points to Texas Tech. This is a revenger for those returning players as they were ousted by Arkansas in the SEC tournament last season. Florida has a great defense (ranked 9th nationally in adjusted efficiency) and they are the better offense efficiency wise as well. Arkansas hangs their hat on creating turnovers but the fact is Florida is better at doing that than the Razors are (24.7% defensive turnover rate for Florida and 21.4% for Arkansas). So the Gators are better offensive, better defensively and better at the one thing Arkansas thrives on. Florida has dominated this series winning 13 of the last 15 meetings and we’ll take Florida to win this one on the road. |
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01-09-19 | St. Joe's v. St Bonaventure +1 | Top | 47-73 | Win | 100 | 20 h 23 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON St Bonaventure +1 over St Joes, Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET - A10 GAME OF THE WEEK St Bonnies has just a 4-10 record but much of that is due to their very tough schedule. They have played 8 of their 14 games this year away from home. At home they are 4-2 with one loss to Buffalo (one of the best teams in the nation) and the other coming way back on November 7th in OT vs a solid Bucknell team. Their 4 home wins have come by margins of 15, 29, 31, and 42 points. This is the Bonnies first home game in a full month after a 4 game road trip which took them to Vermont, Northeastern, Syracuse, and George Mason. They lost all 4 of those games with 2 going to the wire. That stretch is giving us some value here now that they are back at home. The Bonnies are back at full strength as well with leading scorer Courtney Stockard back and playing very well after missing the first 6 games of the season. Senior Ladarien Griffin also is back at full strength playing in the last 3 games after missing 10 straight games. Those were 2 key contributors on last year’s team that was 26-8 and won an NCAA tourney game over UCLA. They actually return 4 of their top 7 players from that team and now that they are healthy, this team is vastly underrated due to their record. St Joes is 7-7 on the season but they are just the opposite of St Bonnies as they haven’t left home in over a month. They haven’t played a road game since December 8th and they are just 2-2 their last four games, all played at home. The Hawks are off back to back home losses by 25 vs George Mason and by 15 vs a poor George Washington team. They are not playing well right now and we don’t expect them to find their rhythm in their first road game in a month. St Bonaventure has a big edge defensively here ranking nearly 100 spots ahead of St Joes in both adjusted defensive efficiency and eFG% defense. At home they are even better allowing opponents just 60 PPG on 36% shooting. The Bonnies average 7 more PPG at home while allowing 10 PPG fewer. They’ve won 21 of their last 24 games at home and we’re getting line value here. The last 2 years St Bonnies was favored by 7 & 10 points vs St Joes at home. Now this line sits near a pick-em. While they have struggled early (partly due to schedule & injuries) St Bonaventure is a very solid program who had 3 straight 20 win seasons entering this year. We expect them to go on a run starting on Wednesday. Take St Bonaventure at home. |
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01-08-19 | Iowa State v. Baylor +2.5 | Top | 70-73 | Win | 100 | 4 h 48 m | Show |
ASA's 10* CBB PLAY ON Baylor +2.5 over Iowa State, Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN The Cyclones jumped into the top 25 this week after taking care of Kansas at home last Saturday. For those of you that follow CBB closely, you’ll know that Hilton Coliseum in Ames is one of the toughest places to play in the nation. ISU has pulled off a number of big wins in that building over the last 5+ seasons. On Saturday they shot lights out hitting 13 of their 25 three point attempts as the steamrolled the Jayhawks 77-60. It wasn’t an ideal situation for the Jayhawks who found out about an hour before the game that their top big man Azubuike was lost for the season with a hand injury. Tonight is a tough spot for this fairly young Iowa State team that has 2 freshmen and a sophomore in the starting line up. They have played only 2 true road games this season getting smoked 98-84 @ Iowa (who is now 1-3 in the Big Ten) and they snuck by Oklahoma State 69-63 (Cowboys are rated as the worst team in the Big 12). In their 2 road games ISU is shooting just 42% and allowing opponents to hit 48% of their shots. They face a Baylor team coming off a road loss @ TCU 85-81. The Bears are a fantastic defensive team (28th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency) and they switch between zone & man. It’s a defense that can be tough to prepare for if you haven’t seen it which a few of ISU’s key players have not. Baylor is coming off their worst defensive performance of the year allowing TCU (who is now 12-1) to hit 56% of their shots on Saturday. Even with that, Baylor had a shot missing a 3-pointer to tie with just 8 seconds remaining. We expect the Bears to play very well defensively after struggling on Saturday. We also feel that ISU, who finally leaves the comfort of Hilton Coliseum, will not shoot lights out again after doing so vs Kansas on Saturday. The value is with Baylor here. They were favored by 9 each of the last 2 seasons at home vs Iowa State. Now they are getting points. The Bears pull the upset here. |
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01-07-19 | Alabama v. Clemson +6 | Top | 16-44 | Win | 100 | 38 h 52 m | Show |
ASA CFB 10* PLAY ON Clemson (+) over Alabama, Monday at 8:00 PM ET - We have these teams rated nearly even (Bama should be 2.5 point favorite in our ratings) so whoever happened to be getting points in this game, we feel the value is with the dog. Clemson absolutely dominated Notre Dame in the semi’s winning 30-3 and outgaining the Irish by almost 300 yards. That’s nothing new for this team as they outgained every opponent but one by at least 144 yards. Bama beat Oklahoma 45-34 but outgained the Sooners by just 57 yards. The overall numbers of these teams for the season are almost identical. Clemson averaged 531 YPG on 7.3 YPP. Alabama averaged 530 YPG on 7.9 YPP. Defensively the Tigers allowed just 280 YPG on 4.1 YPP. The Tide just 308 YPG on 4.7 YPP. So for the season Clemson was +251 YPG and +3.2 YPP. Bama was +222 YPG and +3.2 YPP. Clemson’s point differential checked in at +32 PPG. The Tide was +31 PPG. You get the point. Pretty much as close as you could be for a full season as far as statistics go. If we break it down vs good teams only (bowl teams) entering the post-season Clemson had faced 10 bowl teams and outgained them by an average of 236 YPG. Alabama had faced 8 bowl teams and outgained them by 212 yards. Again, very close. Many stick to the rhetoric and Saban is simply tough to top in bowl games. However, the facts tell a different story. Saban is just 3-6 ATS his last 7 bowl/playoff games. Clemson head man Dabo Swinney, on the other hand, is a near perfect 8-1 ATS his last 9 post-season games. You say the SEC was much tougher than the ACC? The SEC is currently 6-5 in their bowl games while the ACC is 5-5. While we will agree the SEC is better, the difference isn’t as drastic as most might think. Bama has a tendency to intimidate opponents beating many of them before the game even starts. They are already in the heads of their opponents before the first kick. That’s not the case with Clemson. The Tigers have no fear of the vaunted Tide. They have already proven the can beat this team in big games. They have met twice in the last three years in the National Championship game and both games went to the wire with Bama winning 45-40 in 2016 & Clemson winning 35-31 in 2017. Last year they met in the semi-final and while Bama won 24-6, it was closer than that as the two were separated by 70 total yards and the Tide returned an interception for a TD in the 4th quarter to break the game open. Breaking down the yardage in their 3 meetings over the last 3 seasons, Clemson actually has the advantage with 1250 total yards to 1110 for Alabama. We predict this one comes down to the wire just as their last two National Championship battles did. Taking the points with Clemson is the value play here. |
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01-06-19 | Memphis v. Houston -9.5 | Top | 77-90 | Win | 100 | 19 h 59 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Houston -9.5 over Memphis, Sunday at 6:00 PM ET We were on Memphis on Thursday night and picked up a nice win as the topped an over-rated Wichita State team 85-74. On Sunday we’ll switch gears and play against the Tigers on the road. Memphis had not been away from home since December 1st. They are on a nice roll winning 6 of their last 7, however all 7 of those games have been at FedEx Forum in Memphis. They only have one win during that stretch vs a team ranked in the top 120. If you break it down even further, the 9-5 Tigers have a grand total of 2 wins vs teams ranked in the top 100. Those are both at home vs #85 Yale in OT and vs #81 South Dakota State. Overall Memphis is just 2-5 vs the top 100 and 4 of their 5 losses have come by at least 9 points. They have played only ONE true road game this season losing by 9 @ LSU back in November. They are just 1-4 overall in games away from home this year (road or neutral). Now in the comforts of their home arena for over a month, the Tigers must travel to Houston who is a perfect 14-0 on the season. Memphis has rolled up some big offensive numbers during this stretch at home vs poor defenses. Now they face a Houston team that ranks 12th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and 2nd nationally in eFG% defense. The faced a similar defense back in December 1st taking on Texas Tech and scored a season low 67 points. We think Memphis struggles on offense on the road vs a Houston defense that is allowing just 58 PPG on 35% shooting at home. The Cougars are 6-0 this year vs top 100 teams and their home wins have come by an average score of 75-58. Memphis thrives on up tempo play (7th nationally in tempo) and creating turnovers. The problem here is, Houston will slow this game down (306th in tempo) and the veteran Cougars, 4 starters are upperclassmen, they don’t turn the ball over very much (just 17%). The Cougars have been a covering machine going 19-7-2 ATS their last 28 games. We look for Houston to completely take Memphis out of their game and put up a double digit win on Sunday. |
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01-05-19 | San Diego State v. Boise State -2.5 | Top | 64-88 | Win | 100 | 8 h 21 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Boise State -2.5 over San Diego State, Saturday at 10 PM ET on CBS Sports Network San Diego State played fairly well at the beginning of the season, but they have really fallen off as of late. On top of that, most of those poor performances have been at home. The Aztecs have not played a road game in a month. They are just 3-3 their last 6 games with their wins coming against Cal State Dominguez Hills (no rating), BYU, and Cal State Northridge (ranked 303). Their win over BYU was solid but that is their only good performance since December 1. Their most recent two games were both at home and included a 21 point loss to Brown and a 5-point win over a terrible CS Northridge team. The Aztecs trailed by 30 points at home vs Brown before losing by 21. On Wednesday SDSU was down by 17 points with just 14 minutes remaining vs CS Northridge before battling back for the unimpressive 5 point win. Traveling to play an improving Boise team will be tough. The Broncos are just 6-8 on the season but they have played the majority of their games (8) away from home. After losing at home to Oregon last Saturday, the Broncos bounced back with a very solid performance and an 11-point win @ Wyoming on Wednesday. They allowed just 55 points in that game and veteran head coach Leon Rice stated after the game he feels his team is really picking it up on the defensive end of the court. “We’re becoming a really good defensive team,” Rice said after the win. The Broncos have allowed their opponents to hit just 40% of their shots over their last 4 games. At home they allow only 39% for the season. This is an experienced Boise team that returns 4 of their top 7 players from last year’s 26-9 team. Because of their struggles early, we feel they are a bit underrated right now. We feel SDSU is just the opposite. Boise has a great home court advantage winning 34 of their last 40 games here at Taco Bell Arena. These teams are headed in opposite directions and we’ll side with Boise laying the small number. |
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01-04-19 | Mavs +5.5 v. Celtics | Top | 93-114 | Loss | -109 | 5 h 36 m | Show |
ASA play on: #525 Dallas Mavericks +5.5 over Boston Celtics, 7:35PM CT – Doesn’t this line look sooooo inviting to take Boston at home over a Mavs team with a 3-16 SU road record? Yeah, that’s why we’ll bet who the oddsmakers don’t want us to bet. Dallas is back to full strength with Wes Matthews and Dennis Smith Jr. back in the line up and both played well in their last game out against Charlotte. Even though the Mavs have been bad on the road, they have a differential of just -4.9PPG, which should be far worse considering their straight up record. Let’s look who Dallas has visited recently. They just beat Charlotte, lost at OKC by 20-points the night after beating them at home. Prior to those two games they lost at New Orleans by 2, at Portland by 3 in OT, at Golden State by 4, at LA Clippers by 4 and at Denver by 8. Those are some of the best teams in the West and they were in every game to the final buzzer. Tonight, they take on the Celtics without Kyrie and Aron Baynes, which is significant for their front court depth against the Mavs. In their last five games the Mavs have better overall efficiency stats than Boston and are playing well right now. The Celtics have a 12-5 SU home record this year but have let down against other losing teams like Phoenix, Orlando and New York who are worse than this Dallas team. The Mavs are 15-8 ATS as a Dog this season and have covered 8 of the last nine meetings in Boston. |
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01-03-19 | St. Mary's v. San Francisco -2 | Top | 72-76 | Win | 100 | 5 h 24 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON San Francisco -2 over St Mary's - Thursday at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN2 Talk about a team flying under the radar. San Francisco comes in with a 12-2 record including a perfect 8-0 at home. Included in those games are two wins over Pac 12 teams Stanford & California. Their two losses came at the hands for Buffalo by 4 (game played in Ireland) and by 2 points @ UC Santa Barbara last Saturday. Tight losses vs very good teams. UCSB is the top team in the Big West who was 23-9 last year. Buffalo is the top team in the MAC with a 12-1 record this year including wins @ Syracuse & @ West Virginia. The Dons are a veteran team (66th nationally in experience) that is fantastic defensively (18th nationally eFG% defense). They are tough to guard as well with 4 starters averaging more than 10 PPG. The Dons return the majority of their main players (75% of last year’s minutes are back) from a team that was 22-17 and beat a then #15 ranked St Mary’s here 70-63 last season. The Gaels are down this year. They come in with a 9-6 record and lost 5 of their top 7 scorers from last year’s team. The 6 losses already this season matched their season total a year ago (30-6 record last season). They are just 2-4 this year in road/neutral games. St Mary’s is coming off a blowout win on Saturday vs a terrible San Jose State team. San Fran, as we mentioned, is coming off a rare loss which sets this one up nicely. The Dons are 8-0 this year at home and have won 17 of last 18 here at Sobrato Center. They beat a MUCH better St Mary’s team here last year so we have no doubt they can win this one as well. This number is too small in our opinion and we like San Francisco at home. |
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01-02-19 | Pistons v. Grizzlies -6 | Top | 101-94 | Loss | -110 | 4 h 58 m | Show |
ASA 10Star play on: #512 Memphis Grizzlies -6 over Detroit Pistons, 8PM ET – Let’s start with scheduling as the Pistons are playing their 3rd game in four days and the second night of a back-to-back. Detroit got beat badly in Milwaukee last night 98-121. In their last five games, three of which were against teams with a combined 41-68 SU record, the Pistons have allowed opponents to shoot over 50% from the field and shot just 41% themselves. In those last five games they’ve been beaten by an average of 10.8PPG. The Pistons have a negative point differential of -6PPG on the road this season which is 23rd in the NBA. Memphis is coming off a tough road loss in Houston and will look to rebound at home tonight. The Grizz are just 2-3 SU their last five games but it came against a tough schedule with the lone exception being Cleveland. Memphis is closing out a stretch of seven of eight games against teams with a .500 or better record. They must take advantage of a soft January schedule which includes four games in their next six that are below .500. Despite the tough schedule lately (last five) the Grizzlies are shooting over 47% and holding opponents to just 42%. The Pistons are 0-4 ATS their last four road games and in their three most recent road games they’ve been beating by an average of 21PPG. Memphis has faced a brutal schedule at home this season so their home point differential of just +2.1PPG is very misleading. They’ll get a double digit win in this one. |
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01-02-19 | Georgetown v. Butler -9 | Top | 84-76 | Loss | -105 | 3 h 8 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Butler -9 over Georgetown, Wed at 7:00 PM ET We expect a huge bounce back from the Bulldogs as they come off their worst loss since 1994. Butler traveled to Florida on Saturday, a team they had already beaten this year, and the Gators went off winning 77-43. It was the perfect storm with the motivated Gators shooting lights out at home (53%) and the normally solid shooting Bulldogs hitting just 30%. After outrebounding Florida in their other meeting this year, Butler was destroyed to the tune of 43-14 on the boards. No effort whatsoever from the Bulldogs which is not the norm for this team. Their coach Lavell Jordan and every player on this team was embarrassed following that effort on Saturday. While they are just 2-4 in games away from home (away/neutral) the Bulldogs are a perfect 7-0 at home at Hinkle Fieldhouse where they face Georgetown tonight. Hinkle provides one of the best home court advantages in college basketball and Butler has won 60 of their last 72 games here. They catch a G’Town team that has a solid 10-3 record but has played one of the easiest schedules in the nation this year ranking 313th in SOS. The Hoyas have played only 3 top 100 teams this year and they are 1-2 in those games with their lone win coming over #77 Liberty. They have also not been away from home in almost a month with their last road game coming on December 8th. On top of that the Hoyas look like they will not be at 100% for this one with leading scorer Mac McClung and starting forward Trey Mourning may both be out here. McClung, a freshman averaging 13 PPG, was out last game due to an injured ankle or at least that was the story they went with. He was not in the building for the game and there are rumors floating around that he may look to transfer. Either way, not a great situation. Mourning is still in concussion protocol. Butler shoots it very well at home (51% overall & 40% from deep) with an average margin of victory at 17 points. Facing a team that hasn’t been on the road in nearly a month & off their worst loss in 25 years, this one sets up for a potential Butler rout and we expect at least a double digit win. |
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01-01-19 | Marquette v. St. John's -1.5 | Top | 69-89 | Win | 100 | 7 h 28 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON St Johns -1.5 over Marquette, Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET Love this spot for St Johns. We went against the Red Storm on Saturday and came up one point short as they lost @ Seton Hall 76-74 as a 3-point dog. We have to admit the Johnnies played much better than we thought they would. They were 12-0 coming into the game but hadn’t played a great schedule and nearly all of their games had been at home. They were taking on a Seton Hall team that had already beaten the likes of Kentucky & Maryland (on the road). St Johns proves us wrong as they led on the road for nearly the entire game including holding a 10 point lead with just 6:00 remaining in the game. In fact the Pirates largest lead of the game was just 2 points. The way the game ended should have St Johns motivated here as they lost on a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Red Storm is now back at home where they have an average margin of victory of 18 PPG shooting nearly 50% from the field while allowing just 39%. Marquette has moved up the rankings all the way to #16 on the back of a 8 game winning streak. They have been doing their damage at home as this team has not left Milwaukee since November 23rd! They are just 1-2 in their 3 games away from home (away & neutral) and in their only true road game @ Indiana they Golden Eagles were rolled 96-73. They rely very heavily on the 3-point shot (35% of their points) which can be tough to maintain on the road, especially when you’ve played at home for over a month straight. Last year the Johnnies were favored by a similar number (-2) and won 86-78. They home team has won 6 of the last 7 meetings and there is a reason the unranked team (St Johns) is favored over the #16 team in the country. Lay the small number. |
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12-30-18 | Bulls v. Raptors -10 | Top | 89-95 | Loss | -115 | 5 h 58 m | Show |
ASA 10* Play on: #554 Toronto Raptors -10.5 over Chicago Bulls, 6PM ET - *Short analysis on NFL Sunday* - We like the setting here with the Bulls off a rare win on the road in Washington, while the Raptors are off a poor showing and loss in Orlando. Expect a reverse of fortunes for both teams here. Toronto (26-11) is arguably one of the top five teams in the NBA right now and have an average home differential of +7.6PPG which is 7th best in the league. Chicago (10-26) is arguably one of the worst teams in the NBA right now with the 6th worst road point differential of minus – 8.5PPG. When we compare the Raptors home games against similar opponents to the Bulls this season here is what we find: +16 points vs. Cavs, +10 vs. Heat, +18 vs. Wizards, +16 vs. Knicks, +21 vs. Hornets, +12 vs. Cavs. In other words, asking Toronto to win by double-digits at home against this level of competition is not a stretch. The Bulls have suffered some ugly road losses to similar teams to the Raptors this season: Lost to 76ers by 19-points, at Boston -29, at Milwaukee -19, at Houston -16, at OKC -25. Toronto was favored by this same margin in Chicago earlier this year and won by 39! Bulls just 2-7 ATS off a win this season and they’ll get dealt a beatdown today north of the border. |
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12-30-18 | Browns +7.5 v. Ravens | Top | 24-26 | Win | 100 | 6 h 33 m | Show |
ASA's 10* NFL PLAY ON Cleveland +7.5 over Baltimore, Sunday at 4:25 PM ET Aren’t you wondering why the oddsmakers have not made this line higher than it is? Shouldn’t the Ravens, who must win to get in be a TD chalk at home? The oddsmakers reluctance to move this to minus -7 tells us enough as they can’t afford to put it on a key number and get pounded by the sharps. The Browns with Baker Mayfield continue to play well with a 5-1 SU record their last six games. A win here gives the Browns their first winning season since 2007 which is a big deal for Cleveland. Cleveland dominated the Bengals last week in a 8-point win but the Browns outgained Cincy by nearly 300 yards. The Browns offense is averaging more than 7YPPL in 4 of their last six games and have averaged over 8YPPL twice. The Ravens win and get in but winning by this margin is tough to ask. Baltimore is 5-1 SU with Lamar Jackson at QB and they’ve done it with a dominating ground game averaging 219YPG their last six. The Browns though have a solid rush defense that has been much better of late. In the past three weeks the Browns have faced the Panthers and Bronco’s rush offenses that rank in the top 11 of the league in rushing yards per game. The Browns held the Panthers to just 96 yards rushing and Denver to 32. The Ravens were just favored by -8.5 points at home over Tampa who is far worse that the Browns at this point. Make the smart play here and grab the points. |
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12-30-18 | Raiders v. Chiefs -14 | Top | 3-35 | Win | 100 | 6 h 31 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Kansas City -14 over Oakland, Sunday at 4:25 PM ET The Chiefs need this game to lock up the AFC West. A loss could send them all the way down to the wildcard. We expect them to put up huge numbers offensively against a Raider defense that ranks dead last in the NFL in YPP allowed at 6.2. These two met 4 weeks ago and KC put up 40 points and Mahomes had a huge day with 4 TD passes. KC was up 17 in the 4th quarter in that game and the Oakland offense rallied and put up 33 points for the game. While we anticipate similar numbers from KC here (40+ points) we do not think Oakland will play nearly as well on offense. It’s a bad spot for the Raiders coming off a huge Monday night win over Denver in what might have been the final game ever in Oakland. Now on a short week in a meaningless game on the road we look for the Raiders to just go through the motions as they play out the final game of the season. The Raiders had a similar situation a few weeks ago when they upset Pittsburgh at home only to go on the road the next week and lose 30-16 to the lowly Bengals. The Oakland offense has been OK at home this year but on the road they’ve done next to nothing. They have not topped 23 points on the road this season and they are averaging just 15 PPG away from home this season. Their last 4 road losses have all come by at least 2 TD’s and two of those losses were Cincinnati & San Fran, two of the worst teams in the league. They have been held to 17 or less in 4 of their 7 road games. That won’t come close to getting it done here against the potent and motivated Chiefs. This one will get ugly. |
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12-30-18 | Dolphins v. Bills -5 | Top | 17-42 | Win | 100 | 2 h 7 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Buffalo -5 over Miami, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET This line opened Buffalo -3 now up to -4.5 and even -5 at spots which we feel is justified. Miami was eliminated from playoffs last week as they couldn’t beat a bad Jax team at home losing 17-7 so we don’t expect much of an effort here. We do feel Buffalo will be motivated here off a loss in New England and playing with revenge against the Dolphins from a loss a few weeks back. In that earlier meeting in Miami the Fins won 21-17 as -3.5 point favorites but were outgained 415 yards to 175 yards by the Bills and were outplayed in nearly every facet of the game. Miami was a “fake” 7-7 heading into last week as they had been outgained in 9 straight games and they are minus 100 YPG on the season (Buffalo -5 YPG for comparison). The Bills are 3-4 SU their last 7 games but have outgained those 7 opponents by combined 578 yards (+82 YPG). The Dolphins are 30th in total offense (294 YPG) while Buffalo is 2nd in total defense (298 YPG) so don’t expect Miami to have any success offensively today. Miami is just 1-6 SU on the road with all 6 losses coming by at least 10 points. Will Miami be motivated in cold weather (30 degrees) now that they are out of playoffs? We bet not! Play on the Bills minus the points. |
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12-29-18 | Spurs v. Clippers -3.5 | Top | 122-111 | Loss | -105 | 12 h 53 m | Show |
ASA play on: #548 LA Clippers -3.5 over San Antonio Spurs, 10:35PM ET – Both teams played last night but the Clippers were at home in L.A. while the Spurs were in the higher altitude of Denver. The Clippers were able to spread their minutes out in a win over the Lakers as only two starters played more than 30 minutes. The Spurs had three players over 30+ minutes in a close game with the Nuggets. San Antonio has really struggled this year when playing without rest with an 0-6 SU record. Dating back to the start of the 2017 season the Spurs have the worst record in the NBA against the spread when playing on consecutive nights with a 7-14 ATS record. The Spurs haven’t been great on the road of late either with a 2-6 SU record their last eight away and the two wins came against 15-19 Orlando and 10-26 Chicago. The Clippers are playing well right now with wins in 4 of their last five games and the lone loss was in Golden State. L.A.’s efficiency differentials are certainly trending in the right direction and they have a positive point differential of +8.6PPG their last five. Lastly, we like the value here as these same two teams met a few weeks back with the Spurs favored by 3-points at home. That should translate to the Clippers being 5 or 6-point chalks here. By the way, the Clippers were blown out in that game and haven’t forgotten. Bet the L.A. Clippers tonight. |
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12-29-18 | Oregon v. Boise State +2 | Top | 62-50 | Loss | -108 | 24 h 9 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Boise State +2 over Oregon, Saturday at 7:30 PM ET on CBS Sports Network We felt the Ducks came into this season overvalued ranking in the top 20 in most pre-season polls and undeserved in our opinion. They were a solid 23-13 a year ago but lost a number of key players and they are relying on young players this year. More so in this game as they have lost a few key contributors as of late. Starting forward Kenny Wooten was injured in their most recent game – a 10 point loss @ Baylor – and he is out. Freshman and leading scorer Bol Bol has missed 3 games and they are not sure if he can come back from a foot problem here. Even if he does, he won’t be 100%. Starter Abu Kigab is also out with an injury for this game. The Ducks will be relying here on a number of players who’ve seen very little action this year as their bench is ultra-thin due to the injuries. As we discuss our thoughts on Boise, you’ll see they are the direct opposite of Oregon. We feel the Broncos are undervalued due to their 5-7 record. This team is talented. They return 4 of their top 7 players from last year’s team that was 23-9. They also added one of the top JC transfers in the nation in RJ Williams who leads the Broncos in scoring at 15 PPG. They’ve had a tough start with 7 of their 12 games coming away from home. Four of their seven losses have come by 3 points or less and they’ve played some tough teams on the road including this Oregon team. Yes this is a rematch from a game played on December 15th. That game was in Eugene and the Ducks won 66-54 – a game that BSU shot just 35% while Oregon hit 49% of their shots. The Ducks also got some home cookin’ and made 9 more FT’s. Despite that, the game was close throughout with OU leading by single digits most of the 2nd half. The Ducks have played 2 true road games this year and lost them both. On the other side, Boise has a fantastic home court advantage at the Taco Bell Arena where they are 34-5 SU their last 39! Very rarely do we get Boise as a home dog and we love this spot. The Broncos win outright at home. |
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12-28-18 | Iowa State v. Washington State -2.5 | Top | 26-28 | Loss | -110 | 34 h 36 m | Show |
ASA PLAY ON 10* TOP Washington State (-) over Iowa State, Friday at 9 PM ET - These teams have nearly identical stats on the defensive side of the ball but the Cougars hold a large edge on offense. While the Cyclones averaged 26.8 points on only 359 yards per game this season, Washington State piled up 461.8 yards per game leading the way to producing an average of 38.3 points per game. Keep in mind that while the Cougars have had Gardner Minshew at QB all season long, Iowa State is now using a quarterback that was listed 3rd on the depth chart entering this season! The only two losses that Washington State suffered this season were by 3 points at USC in a game in which they outgained the Trojans by nearly 100 yards and then in the Apple Cup battle versus Washington that was played in snowy conditions that didn't allow Minshew to continue his strong late season run. There certainly won't be any concern with weather in this one as it is played indoors at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. This is a big edge for the team with the better offense and that is certainly the Cougars in this match-up. The Cyclones do have some injury concerns in the secondary which could impact their depth in this one and that spells trouble against a passing attack that totaled at least 319 passing yards in every single game this season other than the "snow game" in their season finale. Iowa State is 0-3 ATS this season in non-conference games. The Cougars are 8-3 SU and ATS (including 4-1 SU and ATS this season) in games with a point spread in a range of +3 to -3. With the line move on this game also working in favor of the Cougars this is a fantastic value spot. In our opinion, this is the best team Washington State head coach Mike Leach has had during his time with the Cougars and we like them to bounce back after losing their final regular season game. Certainly it is the best defense Leach has had and we have a feeling the Cyclones will struggle to score points in this game and the Cougars pull away in the 2nd half for a double digit win. Washington State is the play. |
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12-28-18 | Nets v. Hornets -4.5 | Top | 87-100 | Win | 100 | 3 h 39 m | Show |
ASA play on: #512 Charlotte Hornets -4.5 over Brooklyn Nets, 7PM ET – We are not big ‘revenge’ bettors when it comes to the NBA and even though that applies here, it’s not our motivation for betting Charlotte. No, our reason for betting the Hornets is line value. In Brooklyn the other night the Nets were favored by -1.5 points. That means the Hornets should be 7 or 8 here. Because Brooklyn is on a 9-1 SU run their last ten games it has forced the oddsmakers to over-correct here. The Nets have a very respectable road differential of -.6PPG with an 8-8 record but only two of their eight road wins have come against teams with winning records. Charlotte is 12-7 SU at home this year with a +5.1PPG point differential with their last two home wins coming by double-digits. Charlotte has a significantly better efficiency defense and is slightly better in offensive efficiency ratings. The Hornets are 7-3 SU at home when coming off a loss this year and they’ll get a win tonight by more than the suggested number. We won’t blame Brooklyn if they look past the team they just beat with Milwaukee on deck tomorrow night. Lay the points. |
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12-27-18 | Lakers +4.5 v. Kings | Top | 116-117 | Win | 100 | 8 h 21 m | Show |
ASA play on: L.A. Lakers +4 @ Sacramento Kings, 10PM ET – If you’ve been an ASA follower then you know we love to play on teams the immediate game following an injury to a super star. There are two key factors for this thought process. One, the line gets over-corrected because of public perception on the loss of a marquee player. These same two teams met in early November on this same court and the Lakers were favored by -5.5 points and won by 15. Now without LeBron the Lakers are getting +3.5 points. That’s tremendous value! Two, typically after losing a star player the other guys on the team take their games to another level to prove a point and they have an increased role. L.A. has a lot more weapons on this roster than I gave them credit for early in the season. Kuzma is going to be a special player in the NBA someday and continues to grow. Ball has proven he’s a solid player in this league despite not being a great shooter. They have decent depth now with Hart, Chandler, Stephenson and Zubac not to mention McGee who could be back for this game after a bought with the flu. The Laker have the much better defense in this match up with the 10th ranked defensive efficiency unit compared to Sacramento’s 22nd ranked. In terms of offensive efficiency, the Kings hold a slight edge with the 15th ranked unit compared to the Lakers 17th ranked. Sacramento is 9-7 SU at home this season but are just one of 9 teams in the entire NBA that has a negative home differential (-2.4PPG). The Lakers on the other hand have a positive road differential of +1.2PPG which is 8th best. The Kings have struggled when playing on back-to-back nights having lost 5 straight to the spread in that role, and the average loss margin has been double-digits. Without LeBron in the lineup this game loses a lot of its luster for the Kings who will take L.A. for granted. That’s perfect for us! The Lakers win this road game without LBJ. |
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12-26-18 | Wolves -4 v. Bulls | Top | 119-94 | Win | 100 | 3 h 14 m | Show |
#579 Minnesota Timberwolves -4 @ Chicago Bulls, 8PM ET – Let’s just say this, laying points with teams in Chicago isn’t an intimidating thing as they have the WORST point differential in the league at minus -8.5PPG. Chicago’s home record is 5-12 SU this season but those wins came against teams with a combined 67-98 SU record, and only one has an above .500 record. Now you can look and say the Wolves are 3-13 SU on the road this season but all thirteen of those losses came against Western Conference opponents. Two of their road wins came against similar teams to the Bulls from the East (Brooklyn and Cleveland). The Bulls are the least efficient offensive team in the NBA at just 1.018 points per possession, Minny is 16th. Chicago is the 22nd ranked defensive efficiency unit allowing 1.104PPP while the Wolves are 10th at 1.062PPP. It’s clear the Wolves have played the much tougher schedule (12th) while the Bulls have played a soft schedule (21st) yet the T-Wolves have much better efficiency stats. This game won’t be close. Minnesota’s 6-1 ATS record versus the Bulls grows to 7-1 after tonight. |
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12-23-18 | Chiefs v. Seahawks +2.5 | Top | 31-38 | Win | 100 | 25 h 36 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Seattle +2.5 over Kansas City, Sunday at 8:20 PM ET As we stated a few weeks ago when we took Baltimore plus the points vs this KC team, we think the Chiefs are trending down late in the season. After a red hot start, they are just 2-2 their last 4 games and their wins are not overly impressive beating a bad Oakland team 40-33 and then holding on to beat Baltimore at home 27-24 in OT. After covering their first 7 games of the season, the Chiefs are now just 1-5-1 ATS their last 7 games. Seattle is coming off an OT loss at San Fran (we were on the Niners) and they are not quite locked into the playoffs. They are currently in the first wildcard spot and a win here would put them in for sure. Seattle has been very solid at home with their only 2 losses coming at the hands of the Rams (by 2 points) when LA was playing at the top of their game and the Chargers, a game the Seahawks were at the goal line in the final minute with a chance to tie. As a home dog this team is simply a big time money maker with an 11-1-1 ATS record in that situation. Not only that the Seahawks have won 9 of those games outright! On top of that, since 2003 they are also a perfect 5-0 ATS as a home dog in prime time (Sunday Night or Monday Night). Want more? With Russell Wilson as the starting QB the Seahawks are 13-2 SU at home in prime time games. Now to the match up which favors Seattle in our opinion. They are the #1 team in the NFL rushing the ball for 154 YPG while the KC defense cannot stop the run ranking 26th in YPG allowed on the ground and dead last in YPC allowed. That opens up the passing game for Russell Wilson who’s often overlooked but having a fantastic season. While the Chiefs offense is still very potent, the loss of RB Kareem Hunt is a big blow. The last 2 games they’ve rushed for just 68 & 90 yards and their YPP production dropped off dramatically (5.5 & 5.3). KC is trending down yet still favored on the road in a very tough venue vs a very good team. We like Seattle to win this game at home so we’ll take the points. |
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12-22-18 | Buffalo v. Troy +1 | Top | 32-42 | Win | 100 | 27 h 51 m | Show |
#226 ASA CFB 10* TOP PLAY ON Troy (+) over Buffalo, Saturday at 7:00 PM ET – DOLLAR GENERAL BOWL The wrong team is favored here in our opinion. We have these teams rated dead even and this is basically a home game for Troy. This game is being played in Mobile, AL which is 165 miiles from the Troy campus. When the Trojans played here two years ago they beat Ohio (from the MAC) 28-23. They brought 30,000+ fans to the game and a large contingent is expected again on Saturday. The Trojans were 2nd best team in the Sun Belt all season long right behind Appalachian State who already won their bowl game 45-13 despite losing their head coach and much of their coaching staff at the end of the regular season. Our 3rd rated team in the Sun Belt was Georgia Southern who already beat Eastern Michigan from the MAC (same as Buffalo) in their bowl game. Troy beat all of the bowl teams in the Sun Belt with the exception of App State who played host to the Trojans in the final game of the regular season and won 21-10. This team also beat Nebraska on the road earlier in the season. The MAC is again struggling in the bowl season (EMU lost, NIU lost, Toledo lost, Ohio won as of this writing) and the league is just 1-11 SU their last 12 bowl games. Buffalo lost to Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship game blowing a 29-10 lead losing 30-29. We think they’ll have a tough time bouncing back from that disappointment. On top of that, the team that beat them, Northern Illinois, was already crushed in their bowl game by UAB. Troy has a decent sized defensive edge here. They have been very good at stopping the run allowing just 3.3 YPC this season. It’s not as if the Sun Belt is a bad rushing conference either as this Troy defense faced 5 of the top 31 rush offenses this season. The Bulls rely heavily on their running game (42 carries per game) and Troy has the ability to shut that down. On the other side of the ball Buffalo allows nearly a full YPC more than Troy. The Trojans should control the trenches here. This is Buffalo’s first bowl game since 2013 while Troy is playing their third straight bowl game (won their bowl game each of the last 2 seasons). Troy has a veteran coach in Neal Brown that has led his team to a 30-19 ATS record over his tenure at the school. This Troy team has won 30 of their last 38 games going back to the start of the 2015 season. This program has a winning tradition while Buffalo is just starting to build theirs with their first winning season since 2013. Troy wins this one. |
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12-22-18 | Ohio State -6 v. UCLA | Top | 80-66 | Win | 100 | 2 h 26 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Ohio State -6 over UCLA, Saturday at 3:00 PM ET on CBS UCLA comes in with just a 7-4 record and vs top 100 teams they are just 1-4 (Ohio State ranked 25 in Ken Pom). That’s understandable as this is a very young team that is finding their way right now and should be better as the year progresses. The Bruins start 2 freshmen and 2 more are key contributors off the bench. They are 0-3 in road/neutral games and are coming off getting waxed @ Cincinnati on Thursday. (lost by 29 points). The Buckeyes beat that same Cincinnati team on the road by 8 this season. Now 2 days later the Bruins are still on the road in Chicago to play a very solid Ohio State team. Not ideal for a young team over the Xmas break. OSU has a big advantage today playing in the United Center as they’ve already faced Illinois at this venue a few weeks ago. Ohio State won that game by 10 points. The Buckeyes are a fantastic defensive team ranking 22nd nationally in defensive efficiency and 10th in eFG% defense. Add that to the fact that the United Center is a very tough venue for shooting, especially when you haven’t played here, and we expect UCLA to struggle offensively. On top of that, UCLA doesn’t get to the line a ton (17% of their points) and when they do they only make 61% which is one of the worst FT percentages in the nation. Compare that to Ohio State that does get to the line a lot with 24% of their points coming from the strip (23rd nationally) and when they do get there they make 74%. Ohio State made 47% of their shots and 23 FT’s here two weeks ago. If they can come anywhere close to those type of offensive numbers, we think this is an easy win for the Buckeyes. |
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12-20-18 | Ohio v. Purdue -16.5 | Top | 67-95 | Win | 100 | 6 h 28 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Purdue (-16.5) over Ohio, Thursday at 7:00 PM ET The Boilers need a big win in the worst way and we think they get it tonight. They come into this game with just a 6-5 record but they’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the nation (4th rated strength of schedule). Purdue has already played 8 top 100 teams on the year and their losses have come at the hands of Michigan (4th in Ken Pom ratings), Virginia Tech (10), Florida State (16), Texas (30), and Notre Dame (54). All of those losses, with the exception of their game @ Michigan, were close and games that were undecided in the final minutes (losses by 1, 4, 6, and 8 points). This team could easily have a much better record. In their games vs opponents ranked outside the top 55, the Boilers are undefeated with their wins coming by 9, 21, 22, 33, and 38 points. Their other win came by 2 points vs Maryland who is currently rated 26th in the Ken Pom ratings. Thursday they face an Ohio team that is rated 156th and has played a grand total of ONE team ranked in the top 100. That was a game vs 71st ranked Xavier and the Musketeers rolled them by 21 points. The Bobcats also lost to Loyola Marymount (108th) by 9 and South Florida (191st) by 27. They are playing their 2nd straight road game after squeaking by a 3-8 Detroit team 63-61 as 7-point favorites. The Boilers have struggled defensively this year vs a slew of good offensive teams, however they should get healthy on that end of the court in this game. Ohio is not a good shooting team and they are terrible from beyond the arc making just 29% (311th nationally). Purdue head coach Matt Painter has really stressed they must start improving on defense so an all out effort is expected here. Offensively Purdue should put up big numbers as they are averaging 80 PPG at home (4-0 record). This is a get well game for Boilermakers at home and we smell a rout. |
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12-19-18 | Cavs v. Hornets -13 | Top | 99-110 | Loss | -109 | 5 h 41 m | Show |
ASA play on: Charlotte Hornets -13 over Cleveland Cavaliers, 7PM ET – Scheduling has a lot to do with this one as the Cavs played last night in Indiana and are playing their 3rd game in four nights, 4th in six days. The Cavaliers are thin to begin with as several key players are out including K-Love and Tristan Thompson. Charlotte meanwhile is fresh having been off since the 15th. The Hornets are also coming off two straight losses, both at home so they’ll be focused here. The Cavs are 3-11 SU on the road this year with the 3rd worse average differential of minus -11.7PPG. Charlotte is 10-7 SU at home on the season with a plus differential of +4.4PPG. We also have a bit of revenge on our side here too as the last meeting on Nov 13th was a Cavs blowout win at home 113-89. Earlier in November the Hornets beat the Cavaliers at home 126-94. The Cavs are 3-5 SU on the road their last eight games and the five losses all came by double-digits. Charlotte will get a huge win at home tonight and catch Cleveland in a letdown situation after their upset last night in Indiana. |
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12-18-18 | USC -8 v. Santa Clara | Top | 92-102 | Loss | -107 | 8 h 36 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON USC -8 over Santa Clara, Tuesday at 10 PM ET Not much is being said about this talented USC team and that is in part because of their 5-5 record. However, they have played one of the toughest schedules in the nation losing to the likes of Texas Tech, Vandy, Oklahoma, Nevada, and TCU. Those 5 teams have a combined 45-4 record so nothing to be ashamed of for the Trojans. When they’ve played lower tier competition, similar to Santa Clara, they Trojans have dominated. Their 5 wins have all come by double digits. USC comes into this game having played 3 straight games against top 30 teams and lost all 3 so they are hungry for a win here. USC takes a huge step down in competition tonight facing a Santa Clara team that is 5-6 despite playing the 8th easiest schedule in the nation thus far. All of the Broncos 5 wins have come against teams currently rated 313th or lower and considering there are only 351 teams, you can imagine how poor some of those teams are. They did dominate two of those games vs Miss Valley State (ranked 350th) and Sonoma State (not ranked) but their other 3 wins vs that poor competition came by 7, 8, and 11 points. Not overly impressive. All but one of their 6 losses have come by double digits and their lone close loss was a 68-66 setback at home to Idaho State (ranked 250th). Santa Clara is one of the youngest teams in the nation with 4 underclassmen starting, including 2 freshmen. Not only that, 3 of their key reserves are also freshmen. USC, on the other hand, starts 4 upperclassmen and 6 of their top 8 players were key members of last year’s 24-12 team. The Trojans rolled over Santa Clara last year by a final score of 82-59 and they were in a similar spot losing 3 in a row entering that game all vs very good competition. USC led that one throughout and they bring back players that scored 51 points in that game while Santa Clara returns only 1 player that played significant minutes in that game. USC is the much better team here and they are backed into a corner in a must win spot. They should roll in this one. |
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12-17-18 | Saints v. Panthers +7 | Top | 12-9 | Win | 100 | 23 h 49 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Carolina +7 over New Orleans, Monday at 8:15 PM ET The Panthers home vs road dichotomy is quite drastic. They are just 1-6 on the road losing by an average score of 27-20. At home, however, Carolina is 5-1 winning by an average score of 31-23. Their lone loss here at home was a 30-27 OT setback at the hands of the Seahawks. Much has been made of Carolina’s free fall as they have lost 5 straight games but keep in mind it has been a brutal stretch with 4 of those 5 games on the road. Now they are backed into a corner and in a must win spot. Because Minnesota won on Sunday, the Vikings are currently sitting in the final wildcard spot and the Panthers must win here to remain a half game out if the wildcard. A loss here pretty much ends their playoff hopes. Despite their 5 game losing streak, the Cats have actually outgained 4 of those 5 opponents and going back further they’ve outgained 8 of their last 9 opponents. This is the first time Carolina has been an underdog since early November. In that game they were +3.5 @ Pittsburgh and now they’re getting nearly a full TD at home vs the Saints who come in overvalued in our opinion. New Orleans is 11-2 and they’ve already clinched the division. However, their offense has taken a noticeable step back over the last 3 weeks. Last week they beat Tampa 28-14, however their offense only averaged 4.8 YPP vs a defense that ranks 31st in that category allowing 6.7 YPP. Over the last 3 games the Saints have averaged 4.8, 3.6, and 5.7 YPP which is way down from their season average of 6.1 YPP. Two of those games were against Tampa & Atlanta, two of the worst defenses in the NFL. The Saints have been outgained in 3 of their last 5 road games topping only Tampa & Cincy in total yardage. Drew Brees has started to slow down as well after a sizzling start to the season. After recording a QB Rating of 110 or higher in 9 of his first 11 games, Brees has put up a QB Rating of just 71 & 90 his last two games. Despite the difference in their records, these two have very similar overall YPG differential stats on the season with the Saints at +40 YPG (+0.1 YPP) and Carolina is +26 YPG (+0.2 YPP). The dog has covered 7 of the last 8 in this NFC South rivalry and we call for another here. We give Carolina a great shot and winning this one so we’ll take the points. |
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12-17-18 | Arizona State v. Vanderbilt +1 | Top | 65-81 | Win | 100 | 21 h 35 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Vanderbilt +1 over Arizona State, Monday at 7:00 PM ET This is a very tough scheduling situation for a very young ASU team. The Devils played their first true road game on Saturday @ Georgia and now are again on the road @ Vandy just 48 hours later. ASU expended a lot of physical and emotional energy on Saturday coming from 18 points down to beat Georgia 76-74. The Sun Devils took their first lead of the game with under 3:00 minutes remaining. They only had 7 players log double digit minutes and the starters all played at least 26 minutes with 3 of them playing 33+ minutes. It’s going to be tough for this team, with 4 underclassmen in the starting line up, to come back at a peak level after that effort. Not only that, Arizona State has a HUGE home game on Saturday as they play host to Kansas. Coming off a big win and with that game on deck this young team might be glancing ahead. They are playing a very good Vanderbilt team tonight who’s rested having not played since December 5th. While we’re not a huge fan of 10+ days off continuity wise, we feel it will be a big advantage here for the Commodores facing a team on short rest. Vandy has shot very well at home this year hitting 51% of their shots while allowing opponents to make only 39%. They did lost their freshman point guard Darius Garland in late November, they’ve had nearly a full month and 3 games to adjust and they’ve done just that with their most recent game a 28 point win over Middle Tennessee State. These two met last year @ ASU and the Devils rolled to a 76-64 win so Vandy has had that to think about on their 10 days off leading up to this rematch. ASU has only one starter back from that game as this team has quite a different look from last season. We think Vanderbilt will surprise people and we have them tabbed as one of the top teams in the SEC. The situation heavily favors the Commodores and only have to win at home, they are the play. |
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12-16-18 | Kings +5.5 v. Mavs | Top | 120-113 | Win | 101 | 7 h 43 m | Show |
ASA 10* play on: # 523 Sacramento Kings +5.5 over Dallas Mavericks, 7PM ET - *Short analysis on football Sunday* The Kings are quietly going about a very solid season and exceeding preseason expectations. At 15-13 SU the Kings have the 9th best record in the West as of this writing. Dallas has also played well with a 15-12 SU record and have become more of a public team with Luka Doncic. Sacramento has an 8-7 SU road record with a positive point differential of +1.1PPG. They are just one of ten teams in the league with a positive road margin. Dallas was just a -4.5-point favorite at home a few nights ago against a Magic team that isn’t nearly as good as this Sacramento team. The Mavs have played three weak teams their last three games and have inflated numbers because of it. In their last five games the Kings have a +/- differential of +6.8PPG and have done it with 50% shooting as a team. The Mavs are -.2PPG their last five games and have allowed foes to hit 45% from the field. That’s a recipe for an underdog upset with the Kings. Sacto has covered 5 of the last six on this court. |
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12-16-18 | Seahawks v. 49ers +4 | Top | 23-26 | Win | 100 | 5 h 6 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON San Francisco +4 over Seattle, Sunday at 4:00 PM ET We’ll back the ugly home dog here playing with short revenge against a team that has essentially locked up their spot in the playoffs. These two teams just met 2 weeks ago in Seattle and the Hawks won handily 43-16 as a 10-point chalk. But the final score doesn’t tell it all as the Niners racked up 452 total yards of offense and outgained the Seahawks by 121 total yards. The 49ers had some costly turnovers at key times including a 98-yard INT TD late in the game along with a 90+ yard kickoff return to set up an easy score for Seattle. The 49ers bounced back off that loss with a solid win over Denver who was in a must win situation last week. San Fran outgained the Broncos by 115 yards and have now outgained 4 of their last five opponents. Seattle is coming off a huge home win over Minnesota but did it with just 274 total yards and 60 yards passing. That game was just 6-0 late in the game too. Seattle has been outgained by 4 of their last six opponents and it catches up to them today. The Seahawks defense hasn’t been the “Legion of Boom” this season as they allow 6.3 yards per play which is 26th in the league. San Francisco’s defense allows just 5.4YPPL which ranks 11th best in the NFL. You’ll be surprised to know that the 49ers even have the better offense in this matchup with a unit that averages 5.7YPPL compared to Seattle’s which averages 5.6YPPL. Seattle takes this week off in preparation for their game next week against the high-profile Chiefs. San Fran will be highly motivated here, playing with revenge and will treat this like a playoff game. Underdog wins outright! |
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12-16-18 | Cowboys v. Colts -3 | Top | 0-23 | Win | 100 | 2 h 3 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Indianapolis -3 over Dallas, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET We love this spot for the Colts. Indy is coming off a very solid performance beating Houston on the road last week. That was a Texans team that had won 9 straight games coming into last week. Andrew Luck was fantastic with 399 yards passing against a very good Houston defense. The Colts are in a must win spot at home here as they currently sit behind Baltimore for the final wildcard spot. They have the same record as the Ravens at 7-6 but Indy is out right now because they lose the tie breaker. Dallas is coming off 3 straight huge home games beating Washington, New Orleans, and then Philly in OT last week. Their big division win over the Eagles pretty much locked up the division for Dallas (99% chance to win division) so they may have a bit of a letdown here. In fact, NFL teams coming off an SU & ATS overtime win have been terrible investments with a 13-30 ATS record the last 4 seasons. The Cowboys are also just 2-4 on the road this year and they were actually outgained in their 2 road wins. Dallas relies heavily on their running game to set up their passing game as Dak Prescott is not a QB that can carry the load by himself in our opinion. Not much is said about the Colts defense, but they are very solid, especially against the run. They rank 8th in the NFL in YPG allowed on the ground and 6th in YPC allowed. If they can slow the Dallas running game, the Cowboy offense is in trouble. If Prescott is asked to win this game, we don’t see it happening. We’ll take Andrew Luck in that spot every day of the week. Indy’s head coach Frank Reich was with the Eagles last year so he knows Dallas very well. So does the Colt’s defensive coordinator who was the Dallas LB coach last season. The Colts are an undervalued team in our opinion and they catch Dallas in a great spot for a letdown. We’ll lay the field goal |
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12-16-18 | Lions v. Bills -2.5 | Top | 13-14 | Loss | -119 | 2 h 2 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Buffalo -2.5 over Detroit, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET Which team allows the fewest YPG in the NFL? Baltimore? Maybe Chicago? Nope. The Bills are now the #1 defense in the NFL allowing just 290 YPG on 4.8 YPP. That will be a huge problem for the Detroit offense today which has been terrible to say the least. The Lions offense is averaging only 16 PPG over their last 7. They were on the road last week at beat Arizona 17-3 with Detroit putting up only 218 total yards and actually getting outgained by the Cards who have the worst offense in the NFL averaging only 242 YPG. Over the last 6 games this Detroit offense has averaged 4, 4.8, 5.2, 4.8 4.2, and 3 yards per play. That’s simply terrible and they will have big problems again today against this staunch Buffalo defense. The Bills are off a home loss to the Jets, however they ran 18 more plays and outgained NY by 120 yards. Three turnovers were the key in that game. The Bills are 0-2 the last 2 weeks and but have outgained those 2 opponents by a combined 360 yards! They have outgained 4 of their last 5 opponents overall with 3 of those coming by at least 120 yards. This team is undervalued right now because of that. QB Josh Allen has put up 407 yards passing and 236 yards rushing the last 2 games! The overall offensive numbers for Buffalo this year are not great but they are absolutely trending up on that side of the ball. While they average just 292 YPG, they are outperforming that by a long shot as of late averaging almost 400 YPG over their last 4 games. The last time they were held under 300 was against Chicago over a month ago and the Bills actually outgained the Bears in that game. Buffalo is still playing hard and this is a big home game for them. Detroit is on the road for the 2nd straight week, off a deceiving win last week, nothing to play for, and they have division rivals on deck (Vikings &Packers to close out the season). It’s supposed to be cold in Buffalo today (35 degrees) with snow a possibility. The road dome team will want nothing to do with this game today. Lay the small number as Buffalo wins this one going away. |
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12-15-18 | Baylor v. Arizona -6.5 | Top | 58-49 | Loss | -109 | 24 h 58 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Arizona -6.5 over Baylor, Saturday at 11:00 PM ET on ESPN2 We’ve been looking for a good spot to fade this Baylor team and this is it. The Bears are nowhere near the team they have been the past few seasons. They lost a number of key players off last year’s pretty average 19-15 team and they are step down from that squad this season. The Bears are just 5-3 despite playing the 325th rated strength of schedule. They have played one true road game (lost @ Wichita State) and haven’t played a game period since December 1st. That’s 2 full weeks without any game action which is an absolute negative for Baylor in our opinion. They have faced only one top 100 team this year (lost to Ole Miss on a neutral court) and many of their wins vs poor competition are not impressive. The Bears lost at home to Texas Southern (ranked 224th in Ken Pom ratings), beat South Dakota (ranked 174th) by 6, beat George Mason (ranked 162nd) by 11, and beat Prairie View A&M (ranked 274th) by just 11. Not an overly impressive resume for Baylor. Arizona will be the best team they’ve played this season. The Cats have had 6 days off (better than 14) since losing a tight game @ Alabama on Sunday (lost 76-73). Unlike Baylor, the Wildcats have played one of the tougher schedules so far this season (ranked 56th SOS). They are just 7-3, however their losses (besides Bama) have come at the hands of Gonzaga (ranked 6th in Ken Pom) and Auburn (ranked 9th). They have also beaten two top 100 teams (UConn on the road & Iowa State on neutral court). Arizona is 5-0 SU at home this year and rarely lose here at the McKale Center where they are 40-2 SU their last 42 games. They have shot very well at home this year (49%) and they are lights out from the FT line hitting almost 77% as a team (27th nationally). They should get plenty of free opportunities here as Baylor fouls and average of 21 times per game which is 295th nationally. The Bears are a poor shooting team from deep hitting only 30% from beyond the arc and they make only 67% of their FT’s. This should be a game Zona controls from start to finish and wins by double digits. |
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12-15-18 | Clippers +6.5 v. Thunder | Top | 104-110 | Win | 100 | 10 h 32 m | Show |
ASA 10* play on: #513 L.A. Clippers +6.5 over Oklahoma City Thunder, 9PM ET – Nobody or their brothers are betting the Clippers today but us and we’re totally fine with that. Scheduling wise, the situation clearly favors the Clippers as the Thunder are coming off a game last night in the higher altitude of Denver and playing their 3rd in four nights. OKC has some impressive numbers but they’ve played an EXTREMELY soft schedule of late that features the Bulls, Nets, Pistons, Hawks and Cavs in their last eight games. The Clippers are mired in a funk, but we expect them to snap out of it today. L.A. is coming a blowout loss in San Antonio on Thursday, so they have rest and motivation heading into tonight. The Clippers have not been an underdog of this size all season and that includes a game here earlier this season when they were +3. Grab the points with the Clippers who can win this outright. |
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12-15-18 | Middle Tennessee State +7 v. Appalachian State | Top | 13-45 | Loss | -110 | 32 h 15 m | Show |
ASA 10* Top Play ON Middle Tennessee State (+) over Appalachian State, Saturday at 9:00 PM ET - We don’t expect App State to be completely focused or prepared for this one. Their head coach, Scott Satterfield, took the head coaching job @ Louisville and took both coordinators with him. On top of that, their interim coach, Mark Ivey, who many of the players hoped would get the job was just eliminated from consideration. The new head coach, just named on Thursday, is an outsider from NC State so the emotional make up of the Mountaineers may not be at its best for this one. That won’t be a problem for MTSU. They are a senior laden team that really want this win. Starting QB Brent Stockstill is a 4-year starter that has over 12,000 passing yards and 105 TD passes! His dad, Rick, is the head coach at MTSU and you can guarantee this team is 100% focused on getting a win to close out this season. The Blue Raiders are coming off a disappointing loss in the Conference USA Championship game losing 27-25 vs UAB. We expect them to bounce back with a big performance here. MTSU has played the tougher schedule (79th nationally) facing 3 SEC teams and vs the 7 bowl teams they played, the Raiders were +39 YPG. App State has one of the easiest strength of schedule (112th nationally) and they were just +26 YPG in the 5 bowl teams they faced this season. MTSU will want to throw the ball here with their talented & experienced QB, it may look like they will have problems against an App State defense that has impressive numbers vs the pass. However, those numbers are as deceiving as they come. That’s because Mountaineers have played one of the easiest passing schedules in the country. The Sun Belt has a number of run heavy teams and that shows up in the defensive stats of Appalachian State. They have faced a grand total of ONE team ranked in the top 75 in passing this year and four of their opponents ranked lower than 100. We expect Stockstill to be able to move the ball through the air in this one. App State relies very heavily on the run (42 carries per game) and the MTSU defense has been solid stopping the run this year allowing 4.1 YPC. If you take out their 3 games vs SEC opponents the Raider defense has very solid numbers allowing just 3.69 YPC. Middle Tennessee comes into this game with an 8-5 record with 3 of those setbacks vs SEC teams (all bowl teams). Their other two losses came by 2 points in the Conference USA Championship game and 3 points. We expect a close game here and with MTSU having the motivational edge, we give them a solid shot at the outright upset. Take the points. |
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12-13-18 | Lakers v. Rockets -5 | Top | 111-126 | Win | 100 | 5 h 48 m | Show |
ASA play on: #560 Houston Rockets -5.5 over LA Lakers, 8PM ET – Every game LeBron’s involved in there is value on the other side. With public money and tickets streaming in on L.A. the oddsmakers should be moving the number on this game but they aren’t. That tells me they like it where it is. These same two teams met in Los Angeles earlier this year and the Rockets were favored by 3.5 points on the road. Now they are laying a few more points at home. Houston and L.A. got into a riff that game when Rondo and CP3 got into a spat (pun intended). The records of these two teams are very misleading as the 17-10 Lakers have played the 25th easiest schedule in the NBA this season. They are just 3-3 SU their last six on the road. The 12-14 Rockets have played the 3rd toughest schedule and have a 6-1 SU home streak going with wins over Portland, Golden State and Indiana who are all better than the Lakers. Houston has covered 13 of the last eighteen meetings and they’ll get this home win by 10 or more. |
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12-11-18 | Georgia Southern v. UCF -9.5 | Top | 88-95 | Loss | -109 | 5 h 54 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Central Florida -9.5 over Georgia Southern, Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET This is a bad match up for Georgia Southern. The Eagles are a bad 3-point shooting team (26% ranks them 334th nationally) that needs to be able to score inside the arc to have a chance. That will be a struggle tonight as UCF defends inside the arc as well as anyone in the country allowing just 40% which is 5th best nationally. Part of that is due to their length and shot blocking ability. The Knights are one of the tallest teams in the nation with 7’6 Tacko Fall manning the middle. Their block shot rate is almost 15% which ranks them in the top 25 nationally. They’ll be facing a GSU team that doesn’t have anyone in their rotation taller than 6’8. UCF has a HUGE edge defensively in this game ranking 13th nationally in defensive efficiency and 12th in the country in eFG% defense. Georgia Southern ranks 163rd and 223rd respectively in those 2 categories. The Knights are playing their 2nd straight home game while GSU is on the road for the 2nd time in 4 days after they upset Mercer on the road on Saturday making nearly 40% of their 3’s which as we stated above was an outlier. The Eagles have played only one team ranked in the top 100 this year and that was @ Arizona where they lost 100-70. For comparison’s sake, UCF is actually rated as a stronger team right now than Arizona ranking 44th nationally while the Wildcats sit at 48th. GSU wants to play fast and they’ll have trouble doing that here as UCF is one of the slowest paced teams in the nation. Look for UCF to slow this one down and frustrated an Eagle team that thrives one getting easy baskets. They won’t be able to do that tonight and we see Central Florida pulling away in the 2nd half for an easy win. The Knights have been a big time money maker at home going 37-16 ATS their last 53 games here. Add another spread win to the ledger tonight. Take UCF. |
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12-08-18 | Creighton v. Nebraska -7.5 | Top | 75-94 | Win | 100 | 6 h 33 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Nebraska -7.5 over Creighton, Saturday at 6:00 PM ET The Huskers have the best team they’ve had in a long time and if they are ever going to knock off their little brother, today is the day. The Huskers have lost 7 straight years vs the Blue Jays and this is perhaps their most anticipated home game of the season. They’ve been waiting for this one and we expect the Huskers to be at the top of their game as they attempt to win their 17th straight home game dating back to last year. Nebraska should have even more incentive as they are coming off a loss @ Minnesota earlier this week. It was a game they led by 10 with just over 8:00 minutes remaining only to see the Gophers outscore them 27-10 down the stretch. The Nebraska defense was poor in that game allowing Minny to hit 52% of their shots. However, that is a rarity with this team as they have been outstanding defensively this year ranking 4th nationally in eFG% defense (11th nationally defending the 3 & 9th nationally defending inside the arc). After that poor effort, we can expect a high level performance defensively on Saturday. This is Creighton’s first true road game of the season and we like fading teams on the road that rely heavily on the 3-point shot. The Blue Jays are the definition of that as over 40% of their points come from deep (16th nationally). Hot shooting often doesn’t travel well and this Blue Jay team cannot rely on their defense to keep them in the game if they aren’t on from deep. They rank just 250th nationally in eFG% defense and they will struggle slowing down a very talented Nebraska offense in this game. In their meeting last year, the Huskers led at half @ Creighton and the Blue Jays only led by 3 with under 1:00 minute remaining in what turned out to be a 75-65 win. Nebraska returns 52 of their 65 points scored in that game while this young Creighton team (301st nationally in experience) returns just 23 of their 75 points. The Huskers continue to be undervalued in our opinion with a 6-2 ATS record this year and a 24-6-1 spread mark dating back to last year. They are 21-1 here since the start of last season with their only loss coming by 1-point last season vs Kansas. This is the game they really want and we have a feeling that Nebraska will roll in this one. |
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12-08-18 | Houston v. Oklahoma State -2.5 | Top | 63-53 | Loss | -105 | 4 h 32 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Oklahoma State -2.5 over Houston, Saturday at 4:00 PM ET Houston comes into this game with an undefeated record, however they have played the 2nd easiest schedule in the nation thus far. The Cougars have played 6 home games and just 1 road game this season and they have faced only one team ranked inside the top 70. Five of their seven opponents are currently ranked 240th or lower. This is a tough spot for Houston as after this game they return home to face LSU next week which is a huge revenge game for them. They lost by 3 points @ LSU and missed two 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds in an attempt to send the game to OT. Okie State, on the other hand, has played one of the toughest schedules in the nation thus far. They are just 4-4 but have played only 2 home games this year. The Cowboys are coming off back to back losses @ Minnesota & @ Tulsa and really need a win here, their first home game since November 18th. Despite playing all but 2 of their games away from home, OSU has shot the ball very well ranking 26th nationally in eFG% (56%) and 10th nationally in 3-point FG% (43%). Houston relies heavily on the 3 point shot (39% of their points – 35th nationally) which can be tough to lean on when playing away from home. We think Houston comes in a bit flat while OSU is backed into a corner at home. With this line sitting at OSU -1, simply pick the winner here and we feel that will be the Cowboys. |
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12-06-18 | Jaguars +6 v. Titans | Top | 9-30 | Loss | -115 | 4 h 28 m | Show |
ASA 10* NFL PLAY ON Jacksonville +6 over Tennessee, Thursday at 8:20 PM ET These two met earlier this year and the Jags were favored by 10 at home. Now they are a 5.5 or 6 point underdog which means this game has swung more than 2 TD’s from the first meeting which is too much. The Titans did win that first match up by a final score of 9-6. The Jaguars seem to get an emotional boost last week when they replaced Bortles with Kessler at QB. They beat a red hot Indy team that had won 5 straight games averaging 35 PPG over that span. The Jax defense held the Colts scoreless on just 3.9 YPP. Now they face a Tennessee offense that ranks near the bottom of the NFL in YPG, YPP, and scoring (18 PPG). Now the Titans are being asked to win by nearly a TD against a defense that shut them down to 233 yards on 4.1 YPP in the first meeting. That’s going to be very tough in our opinion. The Jags offense isn’t great obviously but we think the insertion of Kessler at QB can’t be any worse than Bortles. He threw for 150 yards last week but more importantly didn’t turn the ball over and let his defense win the game for him. That’s the recipe for success again tonight. Jacksonville will get a boost with their top RB Fournette back this week after serving his one game suspension in last week’s win. Despite their records, Jacksonville is +20 YPG with their 4-8 record while Tennessee is -30 YPG and sit at .500 (6-6). Four of Tennessee’s six wins have come by 4 points or less and tonight will be no different. If the Titans win, we expect a close game and we’ll give the Jaguars a decent shot to win the game outright. |
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12-06-18 | Maryland v. Purdue -6.5 | Top | 60-62 | Loss | -110 | 21 h 29 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Purdue -6.5 over Maryland, Thursday at 7:00 PM ET Purdue will be extra hungry for a win after losing 2 straight and 3 of their last 4. The Boilers 3 losses this year have come against top tier opponents all ranked in the top 17 according to Ken Pom. They lost by 6 to Va Tech (ranked 10) on a neutral court, lost by 1 @ Florida State (ranked 17), and were just beaten bad @ Michigan (ranked 5). Now back home after getting walloped by the Wolverines we expect an all out effort from the Boilers. They are 3-0 at home this year and Purdue has won 26 of their last 27 games at Mackey Arena. Not only do the Boilers win at home, most of the time they win handily with 17 of their last 26 home wins coming by double digits. Tonight they take on a very young Maryland team that ranks 350th in experience out of 351 teams. Of the Terps top 9 players in terms of minutes played, 5 are freshmen. They have played just one road game the entire season and that was way back on November 9th. Not only that, their opponent in that game was Navy so the game was @ Navy which is just 30 miles away from the Maryland campus. The young Terps won that game but let’s keep in mind Navy is currently ranked 321st (out of 351) and has just two wins this year vs Coppin State & Bryant. We think this Maryland team has some promise this year, however this is a terrible spot for a team that has played 6 straight home games. Most of their key contributors have never experience a venue like Mackey Arena and the Boilers are backed into a corner. Purdue was favored by 14 here last year in this match up and now they are laying half that number vs a Maryland team that overturned much of their roster. Lay it with Purdue. |
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12-04-18 | Notre Dame v. Oklahoma -3 | Top | 80-85 | Win | 100 | 20 h 10 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Oklahoma -3 over Notre Dame, Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET The Irish come into this game with a 6-1 record but they have played one of the easiest schedules in the nation thus far. Their strength of schedule ranks 320th nationally and they have yet to leave their home arena. The Sooners, on the other hand, will be more than ready for this setting as they have already played 2 true road games AND 3 neutral site games this season. They have also played the MUCH tougher schedule ranking 36th in SOS. Okie is 6-1 as well, but they have already played 4 top 100 teams and their lone loss was to #13 Wisconsin on a neutral site. The Sooners have been very good defensively ranking 28th nationally in defensive efficiency and 26th in eFG% defense. They are fantastic defending inside the arc allowing opponents to shoot just 37.7% (3rd nationally) and they do not send teams to the line as just 20% of their opponents points have come from the charity stripe (3rd best in the nation). That’s going to be a huge problem for a Notre Dame team that has relied heavily on getting to the line with 24% of their points coming from the stripe (39th nationally). No home cooking here for the Irish along with a team that doesn’t foul and defends outstanding inside the arc means they’ll have to hit their 3’s to have a shot. The problem is, they are making just 31% of their shots from beyond the arc this year (238th nationally) and those shaky numbers have all come at home. Now they must try and find the range in a tough shooting venue, Madison Square Garden. Oklahoma is a veteran team with 4 upperclassmen in the starting lineup and they are well prepared for this spot. We think the Irish, with 3 new starters, will take some time to gel this year and we don’t expect that to happen in their first game away from home this season. Lay the small number with Oklahoma. |
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12-03-18 | Rutgers +13 v. Wisconsin | Top | 64-69 | Win | 100 | 23 h 7 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Rutgers +13 over Wisconsin, Monday at 8:00 PM ET This is a tough spot for Wisconsin. They are coming off a huge road win on Friday night @ Iowa and we have a feeling it will be tough for them to play at a peak level physically and emotionally in this game. Rutgers is off a home loss to Michigan State on Friday night (we were on MSU) but we have to say we’ve been impressed with the Scarlet Knights early in the season. That was a rough spot for them as they had just beaten a solid Miami FL on the road a few days earlier and were catching the Spartans off a tight loss @ Louisville. We thought MSU would respond well and they did but Rutgers hung in until the end losing by 11 as an 8-point dog. These are two very slow paced teams and the total is set in the 125 range so a low scoring game is expected. With a lower number of possessions, that will make it very tough for Wisconsin to win this one going away. On top of that, Rutgers plays outstanding defense so nothing will be easy here for the Badgers. The Knights are allowing just 59 PPG on only 38% shooting by their opponents. They rank 19th nationally in defensive efficiency. This team is also very solid on the boards and were outrebounded for the first time this year on Friday night vs Michigan State (only by 5). Third year head coach Steve Pikiell has this team headed in the right direction. They’ve played Wisconsin very tough the last few years winning at home by 4 last year and losing in OT here at the Kohl Center 2 seasons ago. The Badgers have a huge game on deck with state rival Marquette so this is a true sandwich type game for Wisconsin. UW is very solid this year and they’ll win this game, we just don’t see them pulling way for a decisive victory. Rutgers plus the points here. |
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12-02-18 | Chargers v. Steelers -3 | Top | 33-30 | Loss | -120 | 30 h 21 m | Show |
ASA NFL 10* PLAY ON Pittsburgh-3 over LA Chargers, Sunday at 8:20 PM ET - NFL SUNDAY NIGHT GAME OF THE YEAR We faded Pittsburgh last week @ Denver and picked up a win with the Broncos. The Steelers were in a terrible spot playing their 3rd road game in 4 weeks and their second of back to back on the road. On top of that they had to come from 16 points down late in their previous game @ Jacksonville to pick up a late win. With all that, the Steelers actually played much better than we thought they would under those circumstances. They outgained a solid Denver team by over 200 yards but turnovers were the key in that one. Pitt fumbled at the Denver 1-yard line, fumbled at the Denver 20-yard line, threw an interception at midfield, AND threw a pick in the endzone in the final seconds as they were going in for the tying score. Those mistakes prevented them from winning their 7th straight game. We expect Pittsburgh to play very well at home off that loss. They are a perfect 6-0 ATS their last 6 games following an outright loss and 30-15 ATS long term in that situation. Despite that loss the Steelers are at the top of their game right now. They have outgained 7 straight opponents by a combined 1,100 yards or by an average of 157 YPG. Since losing at home to Baltimore in late September the Steelers have won 3 straight home games by margins of 24, 15, and 31 points. The Chargers are 4-1 on the road, however 3 of those 4 wins have come against the Bills, Browns, and Raiders. Their lone solid road win was @ Seattle and in fact the Seahawks, who are 6-5, are the only team currently above .500 that the Chargers have beaten this year. In fact, the only other two teams the Chargers have played this year that are currently above .500 are the Rams & Chiefs and they lost both of those games by double digits. LA will also most likely be without one of the key offensive weapons as RB Melvin Gordon injured his knee last week and is doubtful here. Chargers not 100% and traveling east will be a tough spot. The Steelers have played really well at home late in the season with a 43-14 SU record with Roethlisberger under center. We expect Pitt take out their frustrations from last week here and roll over the Chargers. |
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12-01-18 | Stanford v. California +3.5 | Top | 23-13 | Loss | -110 | 26 h 8 m | Show |
#334 ASA 10* TOP PLAY ON California (+) over Stanford, Saturday at 3 PM ET - Stanford has dominated this series in recent years and that has resulted in some extra attention from the betting markets this week. The Cardinal have risen to as high as a 3 1/2 point favorite as of mid-day Friday and we feel we're getting excellent home dog value here. California has been the much better defense this season in comparison with Stanford. Although the Cardinal passing attack ranks the edge over the Golden Bears, the Cal pass defense is allowing nearly 100 passing yards less per game in comparison with the Stanford pass D. Though the Cardinal are off back to back wins, those victories came against UCLA and Oregon State! Prior to these B2B wins, Stanford had lost 4 of its 5 prior games and now the Cardinal take on a Cal team that has won 4 of its last 5 SU and gone 4-0-1 ATS in the process! The Bears opportunistic ways have been a recurring theme as Cal has forced a total of 13 turnovers the past 5 weeks. By comparison, Stanford has forced a total of only 3 turnovers in their last 4 games. As an underdog of 3.5 to 10 points, California is 38-22 ATS (including 7-3 ATS in recent seasons). Stanford, when off a win over Pac-12 foe, has gone 5-10-2 ATS including 0-3-1 ATS this season. Grab the points with the undervalued home dog in the annual "Big Game" between these Pac-12 rivals Saturday. |
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11-30-18 | Michigan State -8 v. Rutgers | Top | 78-67 | Win | 100 | 24 h 54 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Michigan State -8 over Rutgers, Friday at 6:00 PM ET After back to back impressive wins over UCLA by 20 and Texas by 10, the Spartans were upended in OT on Tuesday night @ Louisville. MSU (-4.5) led with under 2:00 minutes remaining in the game but blew it and lost in OT. Sparty dominated most of the key stats hitting 47% of their shots to just 39% for Louisville along with destroying the Cards on the boards 45 to 28. So how did they lose? The officials had a big say in that as they sent Louisville to the charity stripe 40 times and they outscored MSU by 16 points at the line. Expect the Spartans to bounce back and play very well here after that loss. They catch Rutgers coming off an upset road win @ Miami 57-54 on Wednesday. That means the Scarlet Knights only have 48 hours before they tip off in this one while MSU has a full extra day. It was a big win for the Knights but overall their schedule has been ultra light facing just 2 teams ranked inside the top 160 this year. One was a win over Miami, the other a 20 point home loss to St Johns. MSU, on the other hand, has already faced the likes of Kansas, UCLA, Louisville, and Texas this season. Rutgers offense is stagnant at best ranking 270th in offensive efficiency and they’ve been held to 65 points or less in 4 straight games. Facing an MSU defense that allows 37% from the field and ranks 18th in defensive efficiency we expect another poor performance from Rutgers offensively. Sparty, on the other hand, has scored at least 78 points in every game this season. Rutgers is going to have a tough time keeping up in this game. The Spartans are 6-0 in this series with 5 of those 6 wins coming by double digits. MSU off a loss is a solid play here. |
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11-29-18 | Warriors +9 v. Raptors | Top | 128-131 | Win | 100 | 4 h 2 m | Show |
ASA 10* play on: #501 Golden State +9 over Toronto Raptors, 8PM ET - Yeah, anytime you get the World Champs plus points it’s worth an immediate look. Granted, the Warriors are without Steph Curry and Draymond Green but they still have a cast of players that make them one of the best in the league. The Warriors are one of just nine teams in the NBA with a positive road differential at +1.9PPG. Sure, they have lost 5 road contests this season but those L’s came against the Spurs, Mavs, Rockets, Clippers and Denver. Toronto is good. Very good and they have a home point differential of +9.5PPG which is 4th best in the NBA BUT that has come against a schedule that is 84-106 SU overall. When the Warriors were at full strength last year in the Finals they were favored in Cleveland and now they are catching nearly double-digits in Toronto. These two teams are nearly identical in offensive efficiency but the Raptors do hold an advantage when it comes to DEFF but Golden State has played the tougher schedule. Don’t be fooled by the Raptors last three home wins which came against 7-13 Miami, 8-13 Washington and 7-16 Knicks. This is a whole different level of team in Golden State who can easily win this outright. Our last point is this, the Raptors were favored by 12 and 10 points against the Heat and Wizards and they are laying a similar number here? This will be close! |
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11-28-18 | Wizards v. Pelicans -6 | Top | 104-125 | Win | 100 | 2 h 19 m | Show |
ASA 10* play on: #716 New Orleans Pelicans -6 over Washington Wizards, 8PM ET - Several factors favor the Pelicans here including revenge as these same two teams squared off in Washington on Saturday with the Wiz winning by 10. A big key to that win though was the absence of Anthony Davis for the Pelicans. It’s extremely hard to replace his 27PPG and 12.8RPG as he’s clearly one of the elite players in the entire NBA. Davis and the Pels have lost 4 straight games, 3 on the road and most recently at home to the Celtics, so expect a concentrated effort by the Pelicans at home tonight. New Orleans is 8-2 SU at home this season with an average point differential of +4.9PPG while 4 of their last five home wins have been decided by double-digits. Washington has been horrendous on the road this year with a 2-7 SU record and an average differential of minus -12.1PPG which is 3rd worst in the NBA. What makes matters worse for the Wizards is that only three of those 9 road games were at playoff teams from a year ago. In their road games against comparable opponents the Wiz have been blown out this season and with their chemistry at an all time low, we don’t expect a great effort here. |
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11-27-18 | NC State v. Wisconsin -8 | Top | 75-79 | Loss | -110 | 26 h 28 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON Wisconsin -8 over NC State, Tuesday at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN2 NC State comes into Madison with a perfect 6-0 record, however to say they have taken it easy in their early season schedule would be putting gin mildly. This team has played the EASIEST schedule in Division 1 college basketball thus far (SOS ranked 353rd). They have played all 6 games at home and their opponents have been Mount St Mary’s, Maryland Eastern Shore, UNC Ashville, Maine, St Peter’s, and Mercer. Four of those six opponents are ranked below 300 and the best team they’ve played, Mercer, is ranked 175th. That game was on Saturday and went to the wire with NC State holding on for a 78-74 win. Wisconsin will be much more prepared for this caliber of opponent. They have already beaten Xavier (on the road), Oklahoma (neutral site), Stanford (neutral site) with their lone loss coming by 7 points at the hands of #3 Virginia on a neutral court. Despite their tough schedule the Badger’s wins have all been fairly convincing with their closest coming by 9 points @ Xavier. They topped Oklahoma by 20 & Stanford by 16. Wisconsin’s defense has been outstanding ranking 7th in nationally in adjusted efficiency. They have allowed less than 60 points in 4 of their 6 games. They’ll make it very tough on an NC State offense that has put up lots of points (90 PPG) but hasn’t played a defense ranked inside the top 171 in efficiency. Offensively the Badgers have shot the ball very well from deep (42% from beyond the arc) and with the top post presence in the country inside in Ethan Happ, they are tough to defend. They rank 19th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency. NC State has not faced an offense ranked higher than 180 and 4 of the 6 offenses they’ve faced are ranked 336th or lower which means the bottom 17 in all of college basketball. UW has been home from their Bahamas tourney since Friday night so they’ve had plenty of time to rest and get ready for this one. As we mentioned the Wolfpack are playing their first road game of the season and they are a putrid 7-20 ATS their last 27 away from home. The trend continues on Tuesday and the Badgers roll up a double digit win at home. |
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11-25-18 | Steelers v. Broncos +3 | Top | 17-24 | Win | 100 | 6 h 11 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Denver +3 over Pittsburgh, Sunday at 4:25 PM ET - AFC GAME OF THE MONTH Bad spot for the Steelers playing their 3rd road game in 4 weeks and coming off a come from behind win last week. They trailed 16-0 @ Jacksonville late in the 3rd quarter and pulled a dramatic comeback scoring in the final seconds to win 20-16. That was a huge double revenge game for them after losing @ Jacksonville in the regular season last year and then losing at home to the Jags in the playoffs. Now they have to take another long trip west which will be tough off a win they really wanted. Denver has some momentum coming off an upset win @ LA Chargers last week. Despite their overall record of 4-6, the Broncos have outgained their opponents on a YPP basis and have played one of the toughest schedules in the NFL already having faced KC (twice), LA Chargers, LA Rams, Houston, Baltimore, and Seattle. They don’t have a great home record (2-3 in Denver) but their losses have come by 4 points to KC, 3 points to Rams, and 2 points to Houston. The Broncos have been a fantastic home underdog over the long haul with a 30-16 ATS record since 1980. On top of that, Pitt has had very little success as a road favorite on the west coast going just 2-12 ATS when favored on the road vs AFC West opponents. These two teams have met 6 times since 2007 with the home team winning 5 of those games. We see that happening again with Denver pulling the upset. |
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11-25-18 | Seahawks v. Panthers -3 | Top | 30-27 | Loss | -101 | 3 h 45 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Carolina -3 over Seattle, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET - NFC GAME OF THE WEEK We like the value here with Carolina at home coming off 2 road losses. The Panthers need this win as they’ve dropped to 6-4 after losing @ Pittsburgh & @ Detroit. Laying only a FG is definite value in our opinion. These two both just played @ Detroit with in the last few weeks and while Seattle was +3 in Detroit, the Panthers were -4. Seattle’s most recent two road games they were +10 @ Rams and +3 @ Detroit as mentioned above. That tells us Carolina should definitely be laying a bigger number here but off 2 losses it’s lower than it should be. The Panthers have outgained 5 of their last 6 opponents and they are much better at home than they have been on the road this year. They are 5-0 at home this year averaging 32 PPG while averaging only 20 PPG on the road. Four of their five home wins have come by at least 8 points. Cam Newton has been much better at home as well completing 67% of his passes with 8 TD’s and just 2 interceptions. Seattle will be on the road for the 4th time in 6 games and their road wins have come against lower tier NFL teams (Arizona, Oakland, and Detroit). When they’ve had to play better teams away from home, they’ve lost. These two have met 5 times since the start of the 2014 season with the home team covering 4 of those. We expect another home team win and cover on Sunday. |
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11-24-18 | Colorado -4.5 v. Air Force | Top | 93-56 | Win | 100 | 4 h 25 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Colorado -4.5 over Air Force, Saturday at 6:00 PM ET The Buffs are coming off a 70-64 road loss @ San Diego on Tuesday (we were on San Diego -4) and have had a few days to recoup for this trip. It’s definitely not a tough travel spot for CU as Air Force is just 97 miles away. In their loss @ USD on Tuesday, the Buffs played fairly well against an experienced team that had 20 wins a year ago. CU led by 1 late in the game but were unable to hold on. Turnovers and rebounding were a problem in that game as we thought they might be. However, today they play an Air Force team that was just 12-19 last year and has started this season 2-3. The Falcons are not a great rebounding team (245th nationally in offensive rebounding) and they do not create turnovers (17% forced TO rate which is 252nd nationally) so those aspects shouldn’t be a problem today for Colorado. AF has not played a team ranked in the top 150 yet this season and even so they have 3 losses (vs High Points, UMBC, and Texas State). Despite their easy schedule to date, they’ve turned the ball over at an alarming rate (26.5% which is 347th nationally) and they are not an efficient offense (272nd nationally). Despite their loss @ San Diego, Colorado coach Tad Boyle was very pleased with his team’s defense as they allowed the Toreros to make just 37% of their shots. They should be able to shut down this struggling AF offense who is averaging just 63 PPG vs teams not named Johnson & Wales (yes they played that team and that is one of AF’s win). Colorado won this meeting by 12 last and has won 8 straight in this series (all but 1 by at least 7 points). Colorado gets the cover on the road here. |
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11-24-18 | Minnesota v. Wisconsin -11.5 | Top | 37-15 | Loss | -110 | 17 h 46 m | Show |
#170 ASA 10* TOP PLAY ON Wisconsin (-) over Minnesota, Saturday at 3:30 PM ET - We really like this spot for Wisconsin. They are coming off a rejuvenating, come from behind win @ Purdue last week and it looks like QB Jack Coan finally found his stride. It was his 3rd start and in his first 2 the play calling was very conservative. We liked the way the game was called offensively much better last week as the passing game became a threat. That passing game should be wide open this week vs the Gophers as Wisconsin’s running game should be very effective. The Badgers lead the Big Ten in rushing and 4th nationally at 277 YPG. UW gashed Purdue for well over 300 yards rushing last week which opened up the passing game. Same scenario this week. They are facing a Minnesota defense that has allowed over 300 YPG rushing on the road this year including 430 yards by Illinois in their most recent road tilt. The Gophs are the youngest team in the nation (53% of their roster are freshmen) and because of that they’ve been solid at home but terrible on the road. They are 0-4 in road games allowing 45 PPG. Minnesota had a great shot at their 6th win last week at home vs a Northwestern team that had already clinched the Big Ten West and had nothing to play for. Even with that, the Cats won by 10. We have a strong feeling that Minnesota knows that was their chance to get to bowl eligible and will have a tough time in this game. Wisconsin has won this meeting 14 straight seasons and the coaches and players are stressing this week they do not want to be the team to blow that streak. The last 8 Badger wins in this series have come by double digits and in their home finale they will be sky high. Another double digit win for Wisconsin and this one could get ugly if they get up early which we think they will. |
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11-23-18 | Northern Iowa v. Old Dominion -6.5 | Top | 65-72 | Win | 100 | 22 h 52 m | Show |
ASA 10* CBB PLAY ON Old Dominion -6.5 over Northern Iowa, Friday at 7:00 PM ET These two just played on Monday so we get a quick revenge spot for ODU. They faced off in St Thomas Virgin Islands just 5 days ago and UNI pulled off the 54-53 win as a 2.5 point underdog. The Monarchs had a nightmare offensive performance in that game making only 32% of their shots including 7 of 24 from beyond the arc. ODU controlled the boards with 13 offensive rebounds (just 2 for UNI) and because that they attempted 61 shots to just 49 for the Panthers. Because they shot so poorly it didn’t matter. However, now they are at home for the first time since November 6th and we expect a much better offensive game from the Monarchs. They should control the boards again and this team those extra opportunities will turn into points. We also don’t expect Northern Iowa to make 11 of their 25 shots from beyond the arc (44%) as they did in that first game. All of that and UNI still only won by a single point. ODU has struggled shooting but they’ve been on the road for all but one game. Their defense has been a constant allowing only one of their five opponents to top 56 points. This team returns 4 of their top 7 players from a team that was 25-7 a year ago. They’ve won 15 of their last 17 home games and will be extra motivated here in this quick revenge spot. Northern Iowa played in the Virgin Islands on Friday, Saturday, and Monday just as ODU did, however they are back on the road again in a tough scheduling spot. They have also won just ONCE in their last 13 true road games. Lay it as Old Dominion rolls. |
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11-22-18 | Bears v. Lions +3.5 | Top | 23-16 | Loss | -110 | 23 h 57 m | Show |
ASA NFL 10* PLAY ON Detroit +3..5 over Chicago, Thursday at 12:30 PM ET Brutal spot here for Chicago. They were flexed into the Sunday night game against division rival Minnesota and now must play a Thursday morning game on the road. Thursday road teams are 2-9 SU this year because of the tough travel and short week and this game is even magnified more for Chicago based the late Sunday start and the A.M. Thursday start. The Bears might be without QB Trubisky in this game as he injured his throwing shoulder vs Minnesota. If he doesn’t play it will be Chase Daniel at QB. We would probably rather have Trubisky play with a bum shoulder as he’s struggled this year on the road anyway. His home numbers are far superior to his road numbers (16 TD’s at home and just 4 on the road. Chicago has had an easy road slate facing Buffalo, Arizona, Miami, and Green Bay and they are just 2-2. They barely beat Arizona on the road and their big win @ Buffalo was very deceiving as they only had 190 total yards but the Bills were a turnover machine in that game. Detroit has been solid at home beating the Patriots, Packers, and Panthers here. All 3 of those teams have beaten Chicago this year for what it’s worth. After struggling on the road earlier this month Detroit has some momentum coming off their Sunday win here vs Carolina. They also should be extra motivated after losing @ Chicago just 2 weeks ago. That was just the 2nd time in the last 11 meetings that the Bears were able to beat Detroit. So terrible spot for Chicago, coming off huge home win over Minnesota, now with a 1.5 game lead in division, we think they struggle here and Detroit gets the win. |
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11-20-18 | Colorado v. San Diego -4 | Top | 64-70 | Win | 100 | 6 h 25 m | Show |
ASA CBB 10* PLAY ON San Diego -4 over Colorado, Tuesday at 10:00 PM ET on ESPNU This is a huge prime time game for USD on a stage they normally don’t get. This is a home game vs a Pac 12 team and the game is on ESPNU. Those factors alone should bring a top notch effort and performance from the Toreros. That is obviously not the only reason we like San Diego here. First of all they are a very experienced team with 3 seniors and 1 junior in the starting lineup. All 4 were key performers on last year’s 20 win team. The Toreros are the 6th most experienced team in the nation so not only the starters but all rotation players as well have been together for a number of years. They come into this game with a 3-1 record and their only loss coming by just 3 points @ Washington, who was picked by some to win the Pac 12 this year and no worse than 3rd in that league by most experts. It was a game that San Diego led by 9 in the second half when leading scorer Isaiah Pineiro (20 PPG) got into foul trouble and had to sit out 10+ minutes giving the Huskies an opportunity to make a run. While USD is playing their 5th game of the season, Colorado has only played twice this year vs weak competition. Their most recent game they were favored by 17 vs Nebraska Omaha at home and struggled to win by just 4 points. The Buffs are on the road for the first time this year and they have not been a money maker away from home going just 18-40-1 ATS their last 59 road games. They were just 1-10 SU in true road games last season. The Buffs also must replace 3 of their top 6 scorers from a year ago. San Diego beat Colorado on the road last year 69-59 and basically bring back the same team so we expect a similar outcome tonight. |
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11-19-18 | Thunder -2.5 v. Kings | Top | 113-117 | Loss | -101 | 6 h 58 m | Show |
ASA play on: #517 Oklahoma City Thunder -2.5 @ Sacramento Kings, 10:00 PM ET - We like the situation, the number and everything else that goes into for a play on the Thunder tonight. The Sacramento Kings are one of the four to five worst teams in the NBA and not much better than Phoenix. The reason we bring that up is the fact that the Thunder just played in Phoenix and were favored by -5 points. The Kings also recently faced Minnesota at home and were a +2-point underdog and the Thunder are better than the dysfunctional T’Wolves. The big advantage the Thunder have here is defensively. OKC is the 3rd most efficient defense in the NBA while the Kings are 21st worst. The Thunder also hold an advantage when it come to offensive efficiency. After losing four straight games to start the season, the Thunder have quietly won 10 of their last eleven games. They also have the 6th best margin of victory in the NBA at plus +5.4PPG. Conversely, the Kings are 8-8 SU on the season with a negative differential of minus -2.6PPG. Yes, the Thunder have the Warriors on deck but they won’t look past a Kings team that embarrassed them earlier this season 131-120. With or without Westbrook we take the road team here by double-digits. |
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11-18-18 | Vikings +2.5 v. Bears | Top | 20-25 | Loss | -101 | 6 h 54 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Minnesota +2.5 over Chicago, Sunday at 8:20 PM ET The Bears have turned things around in Chicago and have the local fan base excited for the first time in years. The Vikings were the team to beat in the NFC North this year but got off to a rocky 1-2-1 start to the season so everyone wrote them off. But now the Vikings have righted the Ship so to speak with a 4-1 SU run their last five games. The only loss in that stretch was to the Saints who are the best team in football right now. In the loss to the Saints though the Vikings out-played, out-gained the Saints by over 150 total yards but two huge turnovers turned the tide in that game. On the road this season the Vikings have just one loss at the LA Rams and a tie in Green Bay. Chicago is a public team right now and the line reflects it. They have won three straight games but look who they’ve beaten. Detroit, Buffalo and the Jets who have a combined 9-20 SU record on the season and might be the three worst teams in the NFL. These teams have nearly identical offensive yards per play numbers and overall statistics but the Vikings have played a tougher schedule to this point. Consider this, the Bears were favored by 3-points at home in late September against Tampa Bay and now are laying the same in a huge NFC North showdown against a much better Minnesota team. Last year here the Vikings were favored by -3.5 points. Easy call with the Dog! |
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11-17-18 | Wisconsin v. Purdue -4 | Top | 47-44 | Loss | -105 | 21 h 47 m | Show |
#326 ASA 10* TOP PLAY ON Purdue (-) over Wisconsin, Saturday at 3:30 PM ET - This one sets up very nicely for the Boilers. They are playing their final home game and need this win to become bowl eligible (currently a 5-5 record). If they don’t get this game they have to go on the road next week to arch rival Indiana and try to get a win in order to qualify for the post-season. Purdue has been up one week, down the next for a full month now. They throttled Ohio State 49-20 here then followed that up with a stinker @ Michigan State the next week. They came back home after that loss and beat a very good Iowa team and then got creamed @ Minnesota. Now back at home after that embarrassing performance (their worst of the season) we would look for a very good game out of the Boilers. This team has beaten 3 straight ranked teams at home (BC, Ohio State, and Iowa) and now they face a Wisconsin team that is absolutely trending downward. The Badgers are already bowl eligible, they are coming off a huge game @ Penn State (a 22-10 loss), and they have their biggest rivalry game vs Minnesota next Saturday. We expect back up QB Jack Coan to be under center again this week although that has not been finalized and probably won’t be until gametime. Starter Alex Hornibrook is in concussion protocol and didn’t play last Saturday after suffering his 2nd concussion in 3 weeks vs Rutgers. We anticipate the UW coaching staff to be ultra conservative with Hornibrook moving forward due to his 2 concussions and the fact they are bowl eligible but out of the Big Ten West race. If either play, we still like Purdue. Coan simply doesn’t have enough experience and they have been very conservative offensively because of that. Even down 12 in the fourth quarter last week the play calling was not wide open to say the least. In the two games that Coan has started the Badgers have scored 17 & 10 points. He has thrown for 158 yards and 60 yards in those two games. That makes the offense one-dimensional and the Purdue defense will load the box to stop the run. It’s a Purdue defense that was gashed on the ground by Minnesota last week in their letdown spot but had been playing quite well vs the run leading into that game. If you take out last week’s debacle @ Minnesota, the Boilermaker rush defense is allowing 132 YPG in league play which would be good for 4th best. The weak spot of Purdue’s defense is their pass defense allowing 278 YPG however Wisconsin is not a team that will be able to take advantage of that. The Badger defense is WAY down compared to previous years. They are very young on the back end and their top run stuffer, Olive Sagapolo, is out. After allowing less than 100 YPG rushing in each of the last 3 season, the Badger stop unit is giving up 175 YPG on the ground this season. Purdue’s offense is balanced and potent and they put points on the board (4th in the Big Ten averaging 32 PPG – conference games). They look even more impressive when playing at home as they’ve scored 37, 30, 49, and 38 points their last 4 at Ross Ade Stadium. The Wisconsin defense isn’t playing well enough to stop Purdue and their offense isn’t playing well enough to keep up. Add in the motivation factors discussed above and Purdue rolls in this one. |
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11-15-18 | Packers v. Seahawks -3 | Top | 24-27 | Push | 0 | 5 h 3 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Seattle -3 over Green Bay, Thursday at 8:20 PM ET This is a REALLY tough spot for the Packers. It’s their third road game in the last four week and long travel on a short week. Not only have they been on the road a lot as of late, it’s been long travel. They went to the west coast vs Rams, then east coast vs Patriots the next week, then home vs Miami, how west coast against on a short week. That is as tough a schedule as you could map out. Seattle is at home where they are playing just their 4th game this season. They are 1-2 here at home but their losses were both close vs Rams and Chargers, two of the best teams in the NFL. Seattle played toe to toe with the Rams on the road last week losing 36-31. Seattle ran for 273 yards vs the Rams and LOST! Speaking of that we expect Seattle to dominate the rushing game tonight as they lead the league in rushing at 152 YPG while GB allows 121 YPG (22nd in NFL). That should open things up for Russell Wilson and the passing game. Wilson has had a fantastic year completing 66% of his passes for an average of 7.96 yards per pass and 21 TD’s. It could be argued Wilson is having a better year than Aaron Rodgers who’s completing just 60% of his passes for 7.32 yards per pass and 17 TD’s. On the road, where GB is 0-4, Rodgers has completed under 60% of his passes with a QB rating of 98 (Wilson has rating of 110 this season). Because of the short week travel situation, road teams can struggle on Thursday nights. They are just 2-8 SU this year. GB is in an even more drastic travel spot because of previous weeks. Seattle has a solid defense and should be able to move the ball very well as discussed above. The Pack will hang around for awhile but we like Seattle to wear them down and win this one by a TD or more. |
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11-11-18 | Dolphins v. Packers -10 | Top | 12-31 | Win | 100 | 27 h 24 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Green Bay -10 over Miami, Sunday at 4:25 PM ET This is an absolute must win for the Packers. They now sit with a 3-4-1 record after losses @ Rams and @ Patriots. They take the road again the next two weeks going to Seattle and Minnesota so a loss here might just end their playoff hopes. The last two weeks Green Bay played quite well on the road vs two of the best teams & best offenses in the NFL. They lost @ Rams 29-27 and @ Pats 31-17. The New England game was closer than the final as GB actually had the ball deep in Patriot territory with the game tied at 17-17 when an Aaron Jones fumble changed the entire game. Now after facing two of the most prolific offenses in the NFL, we look for the Packer defense to play much better against an anemic Miami offense. The Fins rank 28th in the NFL in total offense averaging only 315 YPG. Last week in their 13-6 win at home vs the Jets, the Dolphins tallied only 168 TOTAL yards and just 7 first downs. They did not score an offensive TD. With journeyman back up Brock Osweiler still under center we think they’ll struggle again this week vs a Packer defense that is under rated in our opinion. The rank middle of the pack in most key categories which is better than most would think. Aaron Rodgers should have a field day against a Miami defense that ranks near the bottom of the NFL in pass defense, sack percentage, and sacks per game. Prior to last week’s game vs the hapless Jets offense, this Dolphin defense had allowed 38, 27, 28, 32, and 42 points their previous 5 games. The Fins are 5-4 but have a negative point differential and have been outgained 7 of their last 8 games. All of Miami’s wins have come by a single score while their losses have come by 10, 11, 19, and 31 points. Miami has been a terrible road team winning just 1 of their last 9 road games with losses coming by 40, 31, 24, 19, 18, 16, 10, and 8 points. The high temp in Green Bay Sunday will be in the low 30’s which is not ideal for a warm weather team. We think the Packers roll over Miami on Sunday winning by 2+ TD’s. |
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11-11-18 | Lions +7.5 v. Bears | Top | 22-34 | Loss | -135 | 24 h 58 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Detroit +7.5 over Chicago, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET - NFC NORTH GAME OF THE MONTH Bears won @ hapless Buffalo last week 41-9 and a simple glance at the score did not tell the whole story. Chicago had 190 TOTAL yards! That’s it. They scored 41 points with less than 200 yards of total offense. Two defensive TD’s by Chicago in that game and 4 Buffalo turnovers made the difference. The Bills actually outgained Chicago by 75 yards. Detroit comes in a bit desperate after losing 24-9 @ Minnesota last week. The Vikings were extra motivated in that one after outplaying the Saints on the stat sheet a week earlier but still losing at home. The Detroit defense played well holding Minnesota to just 285 total yards and a defensive TD by the Vikes made this one look worse than it was. This has been a tight series with 10 of the last 12 meetings decided by single digits. The Lions have actually won 9 of the last 10 meetings and this is the first time Chicago has been favored in this series since 2012. Detroit is 3-5 on the season however their 3 wins (Packers, Patriots, Dolphins) have all come against teams that beat Chicago this year. On the flip side the Bears are 5-3 but 4 of their wins have come against the lower end of the NFL (Arizona, Buffalo, NY Jets, Tampa). Their lone solid win was @ home vs Seattle but that was way back in mid September. Detroit was +4.5 @ Minnesota last week and now they’re getting a full TD @ Chicago? Matt Stafford is getting a full TD from Mitch Trubisky? We’ll take it. |
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11-10-18 | Florida State +17 v. Notre Dame | Top | 13-42 | Loss | -115 | 31 h 45 m | Show |
ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Florida State (+) over Notre Dame, Saturday at 7:30 PM ET: Game #215 |
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11-08-18 | Bucks v. Warriors -5.5 | Top | 134-111 | Loss | -108 | 6 h 17 m | Show |
Play on: #708 Golden State Warriors -5.5 over Milwaukee Bucks, 10:30PM ET – Yes, we love and respect what the Bucks have done this year and feel they are a legitimate contender in the East BUT only Boston (because of their depth) has the slightest chance to beat Golden State this year in the Finals. Milwaukee has gotten off to a great start but recently have lost their last two road games at Boston and at Portland. They had played a pretty soft schedule prior to that with road wins over Charlotte and Minnesota. Golden State is well, Golden State and this is a statement game for them at home against the upstart Bucks and Giannis. The Warriors are incredibly deep and won’t miss a beat without Draymond Green tonight. GST has the 2nd best home differential in the NBA this year at +15.5PPG which is slightly higher than their last four year average of +13.4PPG. Let’s consider these numbers. The Warriors were favored by -11.5 and -12.5 in two home games of the Finals last year against the Cavs. Last regular season they were favored by -4 points against this same Bucks team and were resting Curry and Thompson! In regular season games last season against the three other best teams in the East the Warriors were 11-point chalks against Boston, -12.5 versus Toronto and -13.5 against Philly. The value on this is just too good to pass up. Play the Warriors who are 11-4 ATS at home when favored by 6 or less points since 2014. |
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11-04-18 | Texans v. Broncos | Top | 19-17 | Loss | -115 | 28 h 50 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Denver (pick-em) over Houston, Sunday at 4:00 PMET - AFC GAME OF THE MONTH Hmmm? We have a Houston team that has won 5 straight games vs a Denver team that has lost 4 of their last 5 yet the Broncos are favored. Denver is coming off a 30-23 loss last week @ KC but they outplayed the red hot Chiefs in that game. The Broncos outgained the Chiefs by 70+ yards in the game and outrushed them 189 to 49. They’ve played KC to the wire twice this year losing by 4 and 7 points. Denver is 3-5 on the year but 4 of those losses came to KC (twice), LA Rams, and @ Baltimore. The Broncos are much better than their record and are now backed into a corner in a must win spot at home. Houston is on a nice run but their wins have come against Miami, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Dallas and Indy with two of those games going to OT. The home team should have a big edge in the trenches here as Houston’s offensive line rates as one of the worst in the NFL (23rd in efficiency by Football Outsiders). They will be facing a Denver defensive front that averages 3 sacks per game (5th in the NFL) with a sack percentage of 8% (also 5th in the NFL). That will be a problem for a banged up Deshaun Watson who’s already been hit more than any other QB in the league. By contrast, Denver’s offensive line ranks 4th in the NFL in efficiency and #1 in the league in run blocking. That’s a good reason why the Broncos average 134 YPG on the ground. The Broncos have played the MUCH tougher schedule to date (6th most difficult compared to Houston’s 32nd ranked strength of schedule) and despite their records (Denver is 3-5 & Houston is 5-3) we feel the Broncos are the better team, in a must win spot, and at home. Football Outsiders efficiency ratings agree with us as they have Denver ranked as the 7th best team in the NFL and Houston ranked 12th. Lay the small number with Denver. |
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11-04-18 | Bucs +7 v. Panthers | Top | 28-42 | Loss | -130 | 25 h 33 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON Tampa Bay +7 over Carolina, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET - NFC SOUTH GAME OF THE MONTH We expect Tampa to play much better now that they’ve decided on Ryan Fitzpatrick as their starting QB. Why they went away from him when Jameis Winston came back in a mystery to us. Fitzpatrick has his teammates trust and confidence and he just happens to be the highest rated QB in the league at 119.3. Yes higher than Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Mahomes, and Goff. Now we’re not saying Fitzpatrick is better than those signal callers but he is having a very good season. Last week he entered the game late @ Cincinnati late in the 3rd quarter with his team down 34-16. He rallied the Bucs to a 34-34 tie but lost on a last second FG. The team looked rejuvenated with him under center and we expect them to play very well this weekend. Carolina is off a 36-21 home win over Baltimore. They played very well but were an underdog in that game. Now they are laying nearly a full TD and we simply don’t trust Cam Newton in this role. This has been a tightly contested series with 3 of the last 4 meetings decided by a FG or less. The dog has covered 4 straight in this NFC South battle and 3 of Tampa’s 4 losses have come by 5 points or fewer. The Bucs are better than their 3-4 record as they are actually outgaining their opponents by 52 YPG (Carolina is just +15 YPG on the season). With Fitzpatrick back at the helm, this team will score points. We don’t see the Panthers being able to pull away in this game and we give the Bucs a solid shot at the upset. Take the points. |
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11-03-18 | Penn State v. Michigan -12 | Top | 7-42 | Win | 100 | 27 h 60 m | Show |
ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Michigan Wolverines (-) over Penn State Nittany Lions, Saturday at 3:45 PM ET: Game #406 |
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10-28-18 | 49ers -1 v. Cardinals | Top | 15-18 | Loss | -115 | 24 h 5 m | Show |
ASA 10* PLAY ON San Francisco -1 over Arizona, Sunday at 4:25 PM ET - NFC WEST GAME OF THE YEAR We thought the Niners might be in trouble when starting QB Garopollo went down. They’ve actually played pretty well with CJ Beathard at QB. He’s thrown for over 1,000 yards and 7 TD’s in his 4 starts. Three of those starts were against the Chargers, Packers, and Rams so a tough schedule to say the least. They held 4th quarter leads in their games @ Chargers and @ Packers but were unable to hold on vs those prolific offenses. Beathard’s only other other start was against this Cardinal team. Arizona upset San Fran 28-18 in that game a few weeks ago but the Niner absolutely dominated the stats. In that game the 49ers were +227 yards, +23 first downs, and had a 40:00 to 20:00 minute time of possession edge and lost by 10! That’s because they had 5 turnovers in the game while Arizona had zippo. San Fran has been waiting for this rematch and we don’t see any way the Cards can keep up offensively. We anticipate San Francisco putting up big numbers again (this time on the scoreboard as well) vs an Arizona defense that ranks dead last in the NFL vs the run and has allowed 72 points in their last 2 games. Meanwhile the Cardinal offense has been putrid. The rank last in the NFL in most key offensive categories and they have only topped 17 points once this entire year. They have also not gained more than 268 yards in any game this season. They are getting outgained by an average of 162 YPG on the season. That’s bad folks. While San Fran is playing hard and playing pretty well vs top notch competition as of late, the Cardinals seem to be in a bit of disarray. They fired their offensive coordinator this week and their top DB wants to be traded. We see things coming apart at the seams a bit for this team. The Niners are well coached under Kyle Shanahan and his players respect him. We think they roll into Arizona and pick up an easy in on Sunday. |
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