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Date | Match Up | Rating | Score | Result | Profit | Lead Time | Analysis |
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03-13-21 | North Texas v. Western Kentucky +1.5 | Top | 61-57 | Loss | -107 | 21 h 39 m | Show |
#628 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Western Kentucky +1.5 over North Texas, Saturday at 9 PM ET - These 2 were supposed to face off twice this year but both games were canceled. Their most recent meeting was last March and while that was a year ago, the result should bring some extra motivation to a very talented WKY team. It was a game at North Texas as the 2 were battling for the CUSA title. Western KY led by 6 late and UNT rallied to send the game to OT where they won and clinched the conference regular season title. Now the Hilltoppers have a chance to exact revenge and win the CUSA tourney title on Saturday night. WKY is playing their best basketball of the season right now. They’ve won 11 of their last 13 games with their only losses coming @ Houston (6th ranked in the nation on KenPom) and a 2-point loss vs Old Dominion, a game WKY led by 13 in the 2nd half. They are 5-4 this season vs Q1 & Q2 teams, the top competition they’ve faced this year. That includes a win @ Alabama and a near upset of West Virginia. This team is ultra talented led by future NBA big man Charles Bassey (21 PPG & 8 RPG). UNT is at a bit of a disadvantage here. They will be playing their 4th game in 4 days. WKY is playing their 3rd game. The Mean Green were not playing their best basketball heading into this tournament losing their final 3 regular season games. While the Hilltoppers had a winning record vs the best teams they played (Q1 & Q2) North Texas was 3-6 vs those opponents. Many of their offensive and defensive numbers are very similar in conference play but WKY should have a solid advantage in 2 areas. They are the better rebounding team (and fresher having played one less game) and they should get to the line more often here as they are #1 in CUSA in that category and UNT fouls a lot. If the Hilltoppers do get to the line a lot as we suspect, they should salt this one away as they rank 12th nationally making nearly 80% of their FT’s. Prior to their OT loss last March vs North Texas, the Hilltoppers controlled this series winning 11 straight. Western gets the win and cover and moves on to the Big Dance. |
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03-12-21 | Connecticut +1 v. Creighton | Top | 56-59 | Loss | -109 | 9 h 50 m | Show |
#849 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Connecticut +1 over Creighton, Friday at 9 PM ET - We’ve said this before leading up to the conference tournaments, we have UConn ranked as the top team in the Big East. They should be favored in this game according to our power ratings. Their top player, and best player in the Big East, James Bouknight missed 8 games in the middle of the season and the Huskies were 4-4 during his absence. With him in the line up they are 11-2 with their only losses coming by 8 @ Villanova and by 2 points in OT vs this Creighton team. They shot just 36% and made only 26% of their 3’s and still took the Blue Jays to OT. We like them to get their revenge today. The Huskies are playing lights out right now winning 6 of 7 since Bouknight rejoined the lineup. All 6 of those wins were by double digits including a 34 point win yesterday vs DePaul. Creighton is also coming off a big win over Butler yesterday and also beat the Bulldogs to close out the regular season. Prior to that game they had lost back to back games vs Villanova & Xavier. The Jays are a very good shooting team but UConn is the #1 defense in the Big East (efficiency & eFG%) and held Creighton to 42% shooting in their 2 games this season. While Creighton won both, one was without Bouknight, and they way UConn’s offense is playing right now is far better than they were playing at the time these teams met. The Huskies covered both of those games and they are a remarkable 16-4-1 ATS on the season. Definitely an undervalued commodity and we like Connecticut to win this game outright. |
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03-12-21 | Ohio State v. Purdue UNDER 143 | Top | 87-78 | Loss | -121 | 14 h 6 m | Show |
#813/814 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 143 Points – Ohio State vs Purdue, Friday at 2 PM ET - OSU played Minnesota yesterday in what appeared to be a high scoring game with the Buckeyes winning 79-75. It went over the total of 145. However, a closer look reveals that if not for a flurry of points late, this would have been a lower scoring affair. With just over 1:00 minute remaining in the game, the 2 teams had 135 total points which means they scored 19 points in the final minute. The 2 teams had just 66 points at half. The Buckeyes, minus the last few minutes of the game, played outstanding defense. That had been their Achilles heal during their 4 game losing streak to end the season but remember 3 of those 4 teams they faced (Michigan, Illinois, & Iowa) all rank in the top 8 nationally in offensive efficiency. Head coach Chris Holtmann really stressed defensive intensity to his team entering the Big 10 tourney and they responded. The Gophs shot just 36% and had only 58 points with under 2:00 minutes remaining. The Buckeyes offense played very well but they were facing a Minnesota defense that ranks dead last in the Big 10 in defensive efficiency. It should be much different on Friday with the Buckeyes facing a Purdue defense that ranks 3rd in the Big 10 in defensive efficiency and eFG% allowed. The Boilers also prefer a much slower pace (273rd nationally) compared to Minnesota so there will be fewer possessions in this game. The 2 met twice this season with Purdue winning both 67-60 and 67-65. Defense ruled the day in those 2 meetings with the teams combining to shoot 43% in each game. These 2 rivals know each other very well and when they get together it’s usually a low scoring, grinder type game. In fact, over the last 12 meetings, these 2 have topped 140 total points only twice. This one goes UNDER the total. |
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03-11-21 | Texas Tech v. Texas OVER 134.5 | Top | 66-67 | Loss | -110 | 14 h 34 m | Show |
#715/716 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Over 134.5 Points – Texas vs Texas Tech, Thursday at 9:30 PM ET - These 2 played less than 2 weeks ago and the total for that game was set at 134.5. The final score was Tech 68 / Texas 59 for a total of 127 points. Despite that game going under, this total is set higher than the first meeting and we agree. If you take a close look at that game, the teams combined to shoot only 39% from the field and made only 11 of their 37 three point attempts for just 29%. Even with those poor shooting numbers, these teams nearly got to 130 which is only a few possessions short of tonight’s total. Both of these offenses are solid ranking 3rd and 4th in Big 12 offensive efficiency and for the season Texas averages 75 PPG & Tech puts up 73 PPG. They are also both very good three point shooting teams ranking 3rd and 4th in the league in that area as well. As you can see these offenses are much better than their showing a few weeks ago and we expect the numbers to be much better in this game. The one thing they did do in that game which helps a potential OVER is they got to the FT line with 38 made freebies in 53 attempts. Both teams foul often and their opponents put up over 21% of their points from the FT line which ranks each in the top 50 in highest percentage of points allowed from the stripe. So we look for a bunch of FT attempts again on Thursday evening and it they can improve their field goal shooting, which we expect they will, this one should get into the 140’s. Take the OVER here. |
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03-11-21 | Miami-FL v. Georgia Tech -9 | 66-70 | Loss | -110 | 16 h 23 m | Show | |
#682 ASA PLAY ON 8* Georgia Tech -9 over Miami FL, Thursday at 2:30 PM ET - The Canes are coming off back to back upset win as they topped Pitt as a 3.5 point dog on Tuesday and Clemson as an 8 point dog yesterday. Now they are playing their 3rd straight game vs a Georgia Tech team that is playing their first game of the ACC tourney. That’s a huge advantage for the Jackets especially considering Miami’s lack of depth. The Canes have 6, count em’, 6 scholarship players on their roster right now. That obviously means their starters have logged nearly all of the minutes the last 2 days and that would be the case as they have played 351 of the 400 available minutes. That makes it really tough here coming back for the 3rd straight day in an early day game. The Canes have played WAY above their heads on offense their last 3 games. This is a team that ranks 14th in the ACC (15 team league) in offensive efficiency and eFG%. They also rank 330th nationally hitting only 29% of their 3-pointers. In their last 3 games they’ve averaged 1.14 PPP, 1.13 PPP, and 1.08 PPP from a team that averages just 0.94 PPP in ACC play. With dead legs on Thursday, we have to guess those numbers push back toward or even below their season average. Georgia Tech has had 6 days off and comes in on a 6 game winning streak. They were 11-6 in ACC play with their only losses coming vs Virginia (twice), FSU, Duke, Louisville, and Clemson. Against the bottom 4 teams in the ACC, of which Miami is one, the Jackets were 4-0 winning by an average of 15 PPG. They faces the Canes just a few weeks ago and destroyed them 87-60 on the road. Miami attempted 21 FT’s and GT attempted 4 and the Yellow Jackets still won by nearly 30. We like Tech to roll to a double digit win here. |
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03-11-21 | Syracuse v. Virginia -5 | 69-72 | Loss | -108 | 14 h 59 m | Show | |
ASA play on 8* Virginia -5 over Syracuse, Thursday 12 PM ET - We will get on the Cavaliers here in this early day ACC game on Thursday. Tony Bennett has a fantastic zone offensive scheme which showed in the first meeting of the season between these two teams when Virginia won in a blowout by 23-points. The Cavs found the voids in the Cuse zone defense and made 45% or 14 of 31 3-point attempts. Not only did they make shots on the perimeter, but they also did it on the interior by making 29 of 59 field goal attempts. Virginia is the 13th most efficient offense in all of college basketball and have the 12th best 3-point shooting team in the nation led by Sam Hauser. UVA is also one of the best defensive teams in the country allowing .923-points per possession which showed in the first meeting with Syracuse when the Cavs held the Cuse to just .823PPP. Even though this game is on a neutral floor, Syracuse has also struggled on the road this year with a 2-7 SU record, with their best win coming at NC State. If we examine the Syracuse offensive efficiency numbers, we see 7 of their 13 worst OEFF numbers came when they were away from home. We should also point out the Cuse 7 worst defensive efficiency showing this season were on the road where they allowed more than 1.105PPP in every game. Virginia had an average margin of victory this season of +8.4PPG and we’re betting the margin here is even greater than that. |
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03-11-21 | Georgetown +9 v. Villanova | 72-71 | Win | 100 | 14 h 56 m | Show | |
#693 ASA PLAY ON 8* Georgetown +9 over Villanova, Thursday at 12 Noon ET - This is just a bad line in our opinion. Nova has been overvalued all year and now without their best player Collin Gillespie in the lineup they should not be laying nearly double digits in this game. The Cats have been terrible away from home down the stretch. They’ve lost 4 straight road games with 3 of those losses coming by double digits. Three of those losses came against teams ranked in the lower half of the Big East (Butler, St Johns, and Providence). The Hoyas played very well down the stretch. After rolling Marquette 68-49 yesterday, they’ve now won 6 of their last 8 games with their only 2 losses during that stretch coming at the hands of UConn who we have rated as the best team in the conference right now. G’Town crushed Marquette despite making only 4 of 21 from beyond the arc. Three point shooting is their strength as they are #1 in that category in conference play. Now that they have played one game here at MSG, we like their chances to improve greatly from deep facing a Villanova defense that ranks 9th in the Big East and 243rd nationally defending the arc. The Wildcats won both match ups this year by 10 and 13 points but they were at full strength (Gillespie had 30 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists in those 2 wins) and their largest lead in either contest was 13. We like Georgetown’s confidence right now and we just don’t see Nova pulling away in this game with their recent struggles away from home. Take the points. |
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03-10-21 | Air Force +12.5 v. UNLV | 52-80 | Loss | -116 | 17 h 12 m | Show | |
#621 ASA PLAY ON 8* Air Force +12.5 over UNLV, Wednesday at 4:30 PM ET - This is too many points in what we expect will be a low scoring game (total as of this writing is 129). These 2 met twice this year and both games involved very few possessions (93 & 95 possessions) and nothing will change. Air Force is one of the slowest tempo teams in the country (352nd out of 357) and UNLV prefers to play slow as well ranking 9th in the MWC in pace. UNLV played host to both meetings this season and won by 5 & 10 points. The largest lead the Rebels had in either game was 14. The Falcons have had some extra time off as well to get ready for this one having last played on March 1st. UNLV played on the 3rd and the 6th of March and are now playing again on the 10th. The Rebs struggle offensively and often don’t even get into the 70’s which will make it tough to cover a number like this. They’ve been held under 70 points in 11 of their last 12 games including both games vs Air Force as we mentioned above. The Falcons rank 4th in the MWC in eFG% and facing a UNLV defense that is last in the league at defending the arc, Air Force made 24 of their 53 attempts from deep (45%) in their 2 games vs the Rebs this season. That’s a recipe for staying in this game and making it very difficult for UNLV to cover. If you throw out their games vs the very top tier teams in the MWC (CSU, Boise, Utah St, and San Diego St), Air Force has been competitive. They only have 3 double digit losses in their other 12 games vs the rest of the league. UNLV has been favored by 12 or more points only 5 times this entire season. They are 1-4 ATS in those games. We look for this game to be played in the 60’s and the points are very valuable in that situation. We like Air Force. |
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03-09-21 | Southern Miss v. Rice -4.5 | Top | 52-61 | Win | 100 | 12 h 1 m | Show |
#826 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Rice -4.5 over Southern Miss, Tuesday at 8 PM ET - Rice had the #1 strength of schedule rating in Conference USA play, played one less game, and still finished with 2 more wins than Southern Miss. The Owls were 6-10 overall in league play (13-12 overall on the season) and in their final 10 conference games, they played 8 of those games vs CUSA’s top tier teams (Western KY, UAB, Louisiana Tech, and North Texas). So they had a very difficult schedule from mid January on to get them ready for this tourney. The 2 games during that stretch that were not vs the top teams in the league were vs this Southern Miss team. Rice beat USM in both games by 26 & 8 points and the Owls dominated trailing for a grand total of 50 seconds in the 2 games combined! Rice controlled the boards with a +19 rebounding edge in the 2 games combined and they made 14 more 3-pointers. We don’t see that changing this time around as the Owls are 2nd best 3-point shooting team in CUSA and USM scores fewer points from beyond the arc than any team in the league. On top of all that, Rice played that series without one of their top players, Chris Mullins, who averages 11 PPG, 4 RPG, and 3 APG. He’s since come back and is at full strength. Southern Miss has only 8 wins on the season and they are just 4-13 in CUSA play. Seven of their eight wins have come vs teams ranked 295th or lower. The Golden Eagles struggle to score as they have reached 70 points just twice in their last 12 games while ranking 303rd nationally in offensive efficiency. Since Southern Miss head coach Ladner took over at the beginning of last season, they have a 9-26 record in CUSA play. Rice gets the win & cover on Tuesday night. |
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03-08-21 | North Dakota State -3 v. South Dakota | Top | 79-75 | Win | 100 | 11 h 39 m | Show |
#789 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* North Dakota State -3 over South Dakota, Monday at 9:45 PM ET - This line opened at NDSU -1.5 and was way off according to our power ratings. Not surprisingly, minutes after it opened it moved up to -3 and we still like the value on the Bison. We have this set at -5 in favor of North Dakota State. These 2 must met to close out the regular season and split their games, both @ South Dakota. We were on South Dakota in the first game it what we thought was a great spot to grab them at home. They rewarded us with an 80-71 win, however they lost their 1st team All Conference performer, AJ Plitzuweit, toward the end of that game to a season ending knee injury. Plitzuweit averaged 19 PPG, 5 RPG, and shot 43% from beyond the arc. Huge loss to say the least. The following day South Dakota again played host to NDSU and lost by 12. The Bison were favored by 2.5 in that game on the road and now only 3 on a neutral. You can see why we like the value here. North Dakota State played what looked like a close game yesterday beating UMKC by 4. However, they led by 16 at half and by 22 in the 2nd half so the game was never really in doubt. South Dakota beat a bad Western Illinois team in their Summit League tourney opener but an already thin team before losing Plitzuweit, their starters all logged 30+ minutes and not one reserve played more than 9 minutes. One thing we took away from the 2 games these 2 played at the end of the season was the Jackrabbits can’t hang on the boards. The Bison were +21 rebounds in their 2 meetings combined which isn’t surprising as they are the #1 offensive & defensive rebounding team in the Summit. They are also the best defensive team ranking #1 in eFG% allowed and 3-point percentage allowed. That will be a problem for South Dakota who relies heavily on the 3 and just lost their best shooter. The way the first game played out, the Bison were down late and committed a bunch of fouls to send SD to the line in an attempt to come back. South Dakota, a very good FT shooting team, was +18 made FT’s in that game. In the rematch when the points from the stripe evened out, NDSU won by double digits. The Bison foul fewer than any team in the league so that is not what normally happens in their games. We expect the Bison to be ahead for most of this game an if they need to salt this game away with FT’s late, they make 76% from the line. We’ll lay the small number here and take North Dakota State. |
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03-07-21 | Appalachian State v. Coastal Carolina -4 | Top | 64-61 | Loss | -112 | 11 h 40 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Coastal Carolina -4 over Appalachian State, 9PM ET - App State will have to deal with fatigue here as they are playing their 3rd game in three days AND are coming off an OT game yesterday. In yesterday’s win over Texas State, App State had four starters log over 38-minutes and have five players that saw 32 or more minutes of action. Coastal on the other hand is off a blowout win over Troy yesterday and were able to spread the minutes out through eleven players. Coastal Carolina has the best player on the floor in this game with DeVante Jones who is averaging 20.2PPG, 7.2 RPG and 3.2APG. These two teams are near even in offensive efficiency ratings with Coastal averaging 1.024-points per possession, while Appalachian State averages 1.037PPP. The big separator here is defense. Coastal is the 2nd best defense in the Sun Belt allowing just .946PPP compared to App State who ranks 10th allowing 1.026PPP. The Chanticleers have the 29th best EFG% defense in the nation, limiting opponents to just 46.2%. They also rank top 55 overall in both 2pt percentage and 3pt percentage defense. The Mountaineers on the other hand are 217th in EFG% defense and rank 179th or worse in both 2pt and 3pt percentage defense. Off their big upset win yesterday we expect App State to regress here and predict a double-digit win by Coastal Carolina |
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03-07-21 | Memphis v. Houston -9.5 | Top | 64-67 | Loss | -115 | 18 h 46 m | Show |
#732 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Houston -9.5 over Memphis, Sunday at 12:00 PM ET - This is a battle for 2nd place in the AAC as Wichita State already clinched the regular season title with a win over South Florida on Saturday. Houston has the most wins in the league at 13 but Wichita only played 13 games and went 11-2 so they are locked into the top seed. This is a battle for 2nd place. Despite battling for 2nd place, Houston is by far the best team in this conference. Most metrics have them ranked in the top 10 in the nation while Wichita is a bubble team at best. Memphis isn’t even really a serious bubble team right now. Most have them sitting as 10-15 spots outside the final bid. The Tigers have played just 3 games since an 18 day Covid break which started early in February. While they are 3-0 in those games, 2 of the wins came vs South Florida & Tulane, two of the three lowest rated teams in the AAC. Their lone decent win since they came back was a 6-point win over Cincinnati but the Bearcats played that game without one of the top players (DeJulius) and one of the top reserves (Harvey). The Tigers are great defensively. The problem here is, Houston is every bit as good defensively and MUCH better on offense. The Cougars are 1 of only 4 teams in the nation that rank in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency per Ken Pom. The others are Gonzaga, Michigan, and Illinois. Houston is absolutely dominant at home. This will be their 4th straight home game and their home finale and they’ve won their previous 3 by a combined 108 points! That includes a 38 point win over Cincinnati (and the Bearcats were healthy) and a 24 point win over Western Kentucky who is one of the top teams on Conference USA. The Cougs are 14-0 at home (6-1 ATS in AAC play at home) with an average final score of 82-54. They’ve only had one win all season long by less than 10 points and that was a 7-point win over Wichita in a game Houston led by 14 with 5 minutes remaining. The Cougars will be very motivated in their final home game and out to prove they are the best team in the league and deserved the #1 seed. Houston wins and covers again at home. |
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03-06-21 | Xavier v. Marquette -1.5 | Top | 59-66 | Win | 100 | 15 h 42 m | Show |
#670 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Marquette -1.5 over Xavier, Saturday at 9 PM ET - Marquette had a poor stretch from late January into February but they pulled out of their funk and their playing perhaps their best basketball of the season to close it out. The Golden Eagles were dealt an extremely tough scheduling situation to close out the year as they are coming off SIX straight road games. This is their home finale and their first game at home in a full month. They went 3-3 over that 6 game road stretch including wins over North Carolina (by double digits) and over Butler who has been playing great at home including wins over Villanova & Creighton, the 2 top teams in the league. They’ve now won 3 of their last 4 (all on the road as we mentioned) and now have big time momentum coming home. Xavier is heading in the opposite direction losing 4 of their 6 games since coming back from a 2 week Covid break which started in early February. They are just 1-4 SU this season on the road in conference play. XU has shot just 42% since their return from their hiatus and they’ve failed to top 68 points in 3 of their last 4 games. They are the worst 3-point shooting team in the Big East hitting only 29% on the season which makes it tough to win on the road. The Musketeers beat Marquette at home by 3 on a 3-pointer at the buzzer earlier this season. Just a little more fuel for the Golden Eagles. The favorite has covered 6 of the last 7 in this series and we love the momentum Marquette brings into this one as they finally get to play a home game. |
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03-06-21 | Nebraska-Omaha v. South Dakota State -14.5 | 71-84 | Loss | -110 | 13 h 30 m | Show | |
#710 ASA PLAY ON 8* South Dakota State -14.5 over Nebraska Omaha, Saturday at 6:45 PM ET - Both of these teams love to play fast (Omaha 62 nationally in pace / South Dakota St 50th nationally in pace) and that plays right into SDSU’s strength. They are a fantastic offensive team that averages 80 PPG but is fully capable of pushing into the 90’s in this game. That’s because we expect a LOT of possessions and Omaha’s defense is bad. They rank 9th in the Summit in defensive efficiency and they rank 317th nationally in scoring defense giving up 78 PPG. These 2 haven’t played this year but if we look at how the Jackrabbits did offensively vs the lower tier defensive teams in the league, this could get ugly. They faced North Dakota & Western Illinois each twice in conference play and they averaged 88 PPG in those games. Those 2 teams, along with Omaha are the worst defenses in the Summit. SDSU ranks #1 in the conference in offensive efficiency, 2-point FG%, and 3-point FG%. They rank 2nd nationally making over 40% of their 3-pointers and Omaha ranks 336th defensively guarding the arc. We have no doubt they’ll have a huge offensive game. The problem for Omaha is they’ll get plenty of possessions but they are a poor offensive team. That simply gives SDSU more of a chance to pull away to a larger lead. Omaha ranks 315th nationally on offensive efficiency and 308th in eFG%. South Dakota State’s defense ranks 4th in the Summit in efficiency and when facing the other top 3 defenses (UMKC, North Dakota State, and South Dakota), the Mavericks topped 70 points just once in 6 games. To make matters worse, UNO played their final 6 games without their leading scorer Marlin Ruffin and it looks like he’ll miss this game as well. This team won only 3 conference games this season and 2 of them were against Denver who finished 1-13 in the league. We don’t think the Mavs can keep up in this game and unless they make have to get into the upper 70’s or even 80 just to cover this. Lay the points. |
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03-06-21 | Villanova v. Providence +5 | 52-54 | Win | 100 | 8 h 20 m | Show | |
#630 ASA PLAY ON 8* Providence +5 over Villanova, Saturday at 2:30 PM ET - Nova won the Big East regular season title earlier this week beating Creighton at home. They will be the #1 seed in the upcoming conference tourney regardless of what happens in this game. The biggest news coming out of their win over Creighton was the fact they lost PG Gillespie for the rest of the season to a knee injury. That is devastating for the Wildcats as he is their best player and their floor leader. Gillespie averages 14 PPG and 5 assists per game and this will severely limit their depth as they were very thin in that regard to begin with. The Cats rank 328th nationally in bench minutes and often go with a 7 man rotation with an 8th playing very sparingly. They’ll need players to step up to fill their bench minuets that haven’t played much this season. On top of that, Villanova has been shaky on the road down the stretch. They have lost 3 straight on the road, all by double digits vs St Johns, Creighton, and Butler. Their defense as a whole has been way down this year ranking 11th (last) in the Big East in eFG% defense. On the road it’s been worse allowing opponents to hit 48% of their shots overall and 40% of their 3’s. Their last 2 roadies the Cats defense allowed 1.11 PPP vs Butler (who averages 0.95 PPP in conference play) and 1.34 PPP vs Creighton (who averages 1.08 PPP in the Big East). Providence has had their ups & downs with an 8-10 conference record but they do have some solid home wins over Xavier, UConn, Marquette, and Seton Hall. They average 75 PPG at home and have one of the top offensive players in the league in David Duke. Defensively the Friars match up well in this game as they are the #2 three point defense in the Big East and Nova relies heavily on scoring from behind the arc. Now without Gillespie, their most consistent 3-point shooter who has taken more 3’s than anyone else on the Cats, this will be a tough game for Villanova. Providence will bring it in the home finale while Nova has nothing to play for. Take the points. |
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03-05-21 | Valparaiso +7.5 v. Missouri State | Top | 55-66 | Loss | -110 | 14 h 5 m | Show |
#873 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Valparaiso +7.5 over Missouri State, Friday at 9 PM ET - Valpo is playing their best basketball over the last month or so. They are 7-11 on the season in MVC play but 7-8 SU their last 15. Four of those eight wins have been tight games with Valpo losing by 7 or less. We’re getting some value her because the Crusaders lost both games vs Mizzou State by 13 & 10 points way back in early January with Valparaiso wasn’t playing well. They were 3.5 point underdogs in those game and now getting 8 = value in our opinion. Down the stretch this team beat Drake (2nd rated team in the MVC), lost by 2 vs Loyola Chicago (top game in the conference) and beat Indiana State (4th ranked team in the league). The Crusaders are now 5-1 ATS their last 6 games vs teams with above .500 SU records. Missouri State has won 7 of their last 8 games but they played the worst teams in the Missouri Valley down the stretch. Valpo has had a number if players in the rotation miss games this season but they are at full strength now and they are better than their 7-11 conference record. Defensively they’ve been solid over the last month allowing only 2 of their last 9 opponents to get to 70 points. The Crusaders were 4-1 ATS this year as dogs of 7 or more in conference play and we like this one to go to the wire. Take Valparaiso and the points. |
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03-05-21 | Evansville v. Indiana State UNDER 135 | Top | 43-53 | Win | 100 | 19 h 54 m | Show |
#869/870 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 135 Points – Evansville vs Indiana State, Friday at 3 PM ET - We love the value here on the UNDER. These 2 met twice in mid February and the totals set on those 2 games was 123.5 and 127. Both went OVER the total so now we are getting Friday’s opener at 135 which is a full 11.5 points higher than their first meeting. Were the oddsmakers that far off with their initial totals for those meetings? No. The teams went crazy offensively in those games which pushed both over the total. The first meeting ended with ISU winning 76-70. The 2 teams combined to take only 93 shots in that game but made 53 of those shots which was 57%. They also combined to make 41% of their 3-pointers. In the rematch the 2 teams attempted 104 total shots and made 60 of those for 58%. The also made 44% of their 3-pointers in that game. For comparison’s sake, for the season these teams make 43.7% and 44.3% of their shots (38% and 33% from beyond the arc) so both hit WAY above their averages in those 2 games. They were both very slow paced games as we can see by the total shots and that’s not surprising as Evansville ranks 355th (out of 357 teams) in tempo while Indiana State ranks 219th. The Sycamores are very solid defensively ranking in the top 100 in defensive efficiency (4th in the MVC) and while Evansville is not a great defensive team, ISU still performed well above their offensive expectations (based on facing Evansville’s defense) in the first meetings. 135 may not seem like a high total, but keep in mind ISU has had 9 of their last 10 totals set at 137.5 or less and Evansville has had only one total ALL SEASON set higher than 135. Now we are at a neutral site in St Louis and it’s tourney time. One and done. We expect both defenses to perform much better this time around and another very slow paced game with limited shot attempts is on tap. Unless they both go off the charts again offensively, this one should stay UNDER the total. |
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03-04-21 | Oklahoma State +11.5 v. Baylor | Top | 70-81 | Win | 100 | 12 h 18 m | Show |
#727 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Oklahoma State +11.5 over Baylor, Thursday at 7 PM ET - This is a really tough spot for a Baylor team that frankly isn’t playing to the dominant level they were earlier in the season. The Bears just beat West Virginia in OT on Tuesday night to clinch their first regular season Big 12 Title in 71 years! Now with their Big 12 tournament seeding set at #1, they have to play 48 hours later vs an Oklahoma State team that is playing their best basketball of the season. Baylor has played 3 games since returning from a 21 day covid break and as we mentioned, they haven’t been all that great. They rallied from 17 down to beat a bad Iowa State team (0-16 in the conference) by 5, lost by 13 @ Kansas, and then beat WVU in OT on Tuesday. They’ve hit only 43% of their shots over that 3 game stretch and they’ve been out rebounded in 2 of those games. Far from dominating. Okie State has won 8 of their last 10 including a sweep of a very good Oklahoma team their last 2 games. They’ve been impressive on the road with a 7-3 record including wins @ Oklahoma, @ Texas Tech, and @ Marquette. The Cowboys 3 road losses in Big 12 play have come by an average of 6 PPG. These two met in January when Baylor was destroying pretty much everyone and the Bears topped OSU by 15. The Cowboys played that game without their star freshman Cade Cunningham (20 PPG & 6 RPG) who might just be the #1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft. They were also without starter Rondel Walker who averages 9 PPG & 3 RPG. Prior to OSU losing earlier this year and obviously not at 100%, this was a tight series with the 4 match ups the last 2 seasons decided by 3, 4, 7, and 8 points. If this was Baylor’s final home game and Senior night, we might be reluctant to fade them even though this is a bad scheduling situation. However, they host Texas Tech this weekend for their home finale. We think OSU can give Baylor a big time scare here and taking the generous points is the play. |
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03-03-21 | Creighton v. Villanova -4 | Top | 60-72 | Win | 100 | 14 h 55 m | Show |
#686 ASA TOP PLAY 10* ON Villanova -4 over Creighton, Wednesday at 8 PM ET - This is a huge home game for Nova as a win pretty much clinches the Big East regular season title. It’s also their final home game so they are set to send off 2 of the better players in program history with a win. Starting PG Gillespie (1200 career points) and starting F Samuels are both seniors potentially playing their final game at home. Speaking of home, the Cats have been great in their own arena this year with a perfect 8-0 record and an average margin of victory of +16. Going back even further, Nova has won 63 of their last 70 home games and they have won 6 of their last 7 @ home vs the Jays. However, they did lose last year at home vs Creighton so they should have a little extra for this one. On top of that, the Wildcats traveled to Creighton on Feb 13th as a 2-point favorite and lost 86-70. The Blue Jays shot nearly 60% in that game and averaged a ridiculous 1.34 PPP. It was a terrible defensive performance and the Cats bounced back a few days later to beat a very good UConn team here at home. Speaking of bouncing back, Villanova had 3 losses on the season entering last weekend and they rebounded to win their following game after each of those. They laid an egg on Sunday @ Butler losing by 12 for their 4th loss of the season and we expect a huge effort in this one. They shot just 2 of 27 from three point range in that loss (7%) one of their worst performances in the Jay Wright era. Now they are back at home where they make 40% of their 3’s and average 81 PPG. Villanova was favored by 2 @ Creighton and now they are laying just 4 at home, off a loss, on Senior night. Like this spot for the Wildcats. |
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03-03-21 | St. Joe's v. La Salle OVER 151 | Top | 72-66 | Loss | -110 | 16 h 6 m | Show |
#701/702 ASA CBB TOP PLAY ON 10* Over 151 Points – LaSalle vs St Josephs, Wednesday at 11 AM ET - We expect this one to be a shootout. These 2 A10 foes faced each other on February 20th and the final score was St Joes 91 – LaSalle 82 in OT. At the end of the regulation the score was 77-77 so they totaled 154 prior to OT. Neither team was all that efficient in that game with St Joes averaging 1.01 PPP and LaSalle putting up 0.97 PPP, both below their season averages. These are the 2 fastest paced teams in the conference so as expected, we had a LOT of shot attempts in that first meeting. St Joes made 33 of their 68 shot attempts and LaSalle hit 31 of their 79 shot attempts. As you can see they only made 43% of their shots and combined to make just 24% of their 3’s yet these 2 still hit 154 in regulation. On top of that, they only hit 63% of their FT’s in the game. These are the 2 worst defensive efficiency teams in the conference and it shows on the court. The Explorers have allowed at least 73 points in 14 of their 16 conference games this season. The Hawks have allowed at least 80 points in 9 of their 12 A10 games. These 2 defenses rank 260th and 342nd in points allowed nationally this season. St Joes offense has really stepped it up over the last 3 games after getting star G Daly back in the line up after he missed 10 straight games. They have scored 97, 91, and 76 points in their 3 games since he came back and he is averaging 25 PPG in those 3. LaSalle was missing G Sanders, on of their top 3-point shooters, in their first meeting vs St Joes and he is now back and healthy. Both of these teams have the offense to get into the 80’s and higher and in a fast paced game with no defense, we like the OVER. |
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03-02-21 | Wisconsin v. Purdue -1.5 | Top | 69-73 | Win | 100 | 15 h 3 m | Show |
#644 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Purdue -1.5 over Wisconsin, Tuesday at 9 PM ET - The Badgers are not living up to expectations this year and they are flat out playing poorly right now. They are just 5-6 SU their last 11 games and their wins during that stretch have come against Nebraska, Northwestern (twice), Maryland, and Penn State. Against the top 6 teams in the Big 10 they are 0-6 SU this season. They haven’t faced Purdue yet, but the Boilers fall into the top 6 category ranking 6th in the league. Offensively UW has been really struggling as they have not gotten to 70 points in a full month. During that stretch they are shooting just 35% as a team. On the road this season the Badgers are hitting just 39% of their shots overall and only 30% from beyond the arc. Purdue has been very tough at home with a 9-1 record and their only loss coming to Michigan, the top team in the conference. How has Wisconsin done when traveling to Purdue? Terrible to put it lightly. The Badgers are 4-41 SU all time at Mackey Arena and their last with there came in 2014, the year Wisconsin went to the Final 4. While the Badgers are struggling, Purdue is playing much better having won 9 of their last 12 games. On offense they have had problems making 3-pointers, however the Boilers are much better at home in this area hitting 35% from deep and the Wisconsin defense has allowed their last 4 opponents to combine to shoot 46% from beyond the arc. Last year Purdue was favored by 4 in this match up at home and won 70-51. Now we’re getting them at a lower number vs a Wisconsin team that is headed in the wrong direction. Purdue wins and covers this one. |
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03-01-21 | Rutgers -7 v. Nebraska | Top | 51-72 | Loss | -110 | 12 h 29 m | Show |
#841 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Rutgers -7 over Nebraska, Monday at 7 PM ET - This is a huge game for the NCAA bubble team Rutgers. They are 9-9 in Big 10 play and cannot afford a loss at last place Nebraska. The Scarlet Knights are in a much better situation for this match up as they have had off since their win over Indiana last Wednesday. Nebraska, on the other hand, continues their brutal scheduling with their 5th game in 10 days. Since returning from their Covid break in early February, this will be the Huskers 12th game in 24 days. Nebraska has just 2 wins in their last 16 games including a win over Minnesota on Saturday here at home. That was a 4 point win over a Gopher team that is trending downward losing 8 of their last 10 games and they played on Saturday without starting guard Kalscheur and starting center Robbins who were out with injury. The Huskers shot WAY above their season averages hitting 55% for the game (they average 41% on the season) and 53% from 3-point range (they average 33% for the season) and were still leading by only 1 point with under 20 seconds remaining the game. This is a bad match up for Nebraska. They struggle big time on offense ranking 14th (dead last) in the Big 10 in offensive efficiency. Rutgers defense has been exceptional all season ranking 14th nationally in defensive efficiency. The Knights defense also creates a lot of turnovers ranking 2nd in the conference while Rutgers has been careless with the ball all season long coughing it up almost 20% of the time which is last in the Big 10. Lastly, the Nebraska defense excels at guarding the arc and that’s about it. However, Rutgers relies very little on the 3 point shot with only 28% of their points coming from deep. When these 2 met in Lincoln last year, Rutgers was favored by 5 points and won by 17. We see another double digit win for the Scarlet Knights so we’re laying the points. |
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02-28-21 | Nevada +8 v. Utah State | Top | 66-87 | Loss | -110 | 12 h 4 m | Show |
#815 ASA TOP PLAY ON Nevada +8 over Utah State, Sunday at 7 PM ET - These 2 played on Friday night here in Logan, Utah and the Aggies came away with a 75-72 win. It was a bad spot for Nevada as they were coming off a 19 day Covid layoff and we expected them to be rusty. They were as USU built a 16-point halftime lead and the Wolfpack made only 8 field goals in the first 20 minutes. They fell down by as many as 21 points but we were impressed with Nevada’s resolve. They battled back and nearly pulled off the win. Head coach Steve Alford admitted his team looked rusty for the first 25 minutes of the game but looked much more like themselves in the final 15 minutes. That’s a big positive heading into this game. Before their long layoff this Nevada team was very good. They won 6 of their 8 games before their hiatus including topping Boise State twice and the Broncos were in 1st place heading into this weekend before dropping 2 very tight games vs San Diego State, the highest rated team in the MWC. They are 9-6 in league play and all 6 of their losses have come by margins of 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, and 7 points. Utah State has faced the top 5 teams in the league a combined 7 times. They are 4-3 SU & 3-4 ATS in those games and they are just 4-5 SU & 3-6 ATS vs top 100 teams (Nevada falls into that category). Their starting PG Worster (10 PPG & 4 APG) has now missed 3 straight games and he is questionable at best again on Sunday. On Friday Nevada shot just 34% from inside the arc and attempted only 14 FT’s. On the season in MWC play they average 52% inside the arc and they get to the FT line more than any other team with 22% of their points coming from the line (they make 77% of those FT’s). Even with that (they were also -7 made FTs) they came back and took this Utah State team to the wire. With their momentum in the final 15 minutes on Friday, we think the Wolfpack will play much better on Sunday. They have covered 16 of their 21 games this year and we expect another tight one here. Take the points. |
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02-27-21 | UCLA v. Colorado -6 | 61-70 | Win | 100 | 15 h 4 m | Show | |
#768 ASA PLAY ON 8* Colorado -6 over UCLA, Saturday at 10 PM ET - It’s always a tough Pac 12 road trip to play Utah & Colorado back to back just 2 days apart. Two high altitude home courts which can wear on teams having to make that Thursday / Saturday trip. UCLA is in that spot today. They topped Utah on Thursday night and now must attempt to take down @ Colorado team that excels at home. The Buffs are 9-1 at home this season and their only loss here was vs Utah in late January, a game Colorado led by 20 with just over 8:00 minutes remaining and fell apart. The Buffs have won 30 of their last 34 home games and one of those losses was last year vs this UCLA team. Colorado was a 10-point favorite in that game (now laying just 6 this year – line value) and it was their home finale so you can bet they remember that. On top of that, the Buffs lost a tight game @ UCLA earlier this season getting nipped 65-62. Double revenge for a team that is very, very tough to beat at home. Colorado has a +19 PPG differential at home this season while hitting almost 50% of their shots and allowing just 39%. They are coming off a home game in which they dominated USC 80-62. We have Colorado power rated as the best team in the Pac 12 and USC a close 2nd. UCLA sits in first place in the Pac 12 but we have them rated as the 4th best team in the league and they have only played 3 road games this year vs the top 6 teams in the Pac 12 and they are 1-2 SU in those games. In all of their road games this year, the Bruins are getting outscored 68-69 and they’ve allowed opponents to hit almost 40% from 3 which could be a problem as Colorado ranks 3rd in the Pac 12 from deep. If this game is decided by FT’s, we love our chances with CU ranking #1 in the NATION hitting 82% of their freebies. Great spot here for Colorado and we’ll lay it. |
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02-27-21 | North Dakota State v. South Dakota -1 | Top | 71-80 | Win | 100 | 10 h 54 m | Show |
#682 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* South Dakota -1 over North Dakota State, Saturday at 4:30 PM ET - This is just the 2nd home game this month for South Dakota. That was their most recent game and a win one week ago vs Nebraska Omaha and prior to that the Coyotes had lost 3 of 4 but those games were all on the road (4 straight road games). At home this year they are perfect in Summit League play and their only home loss this season was vs Drake, who is a top 25 type team when fully healthy. Their last home loss in conference play was last season vs this North Dakota State team (lost by 3) so some extra motivation for the Coyotes here. In fact, they have won 15 of their last 16 conference home games with that only loss coming vs NDSU. The Bison sit a half game behind South Dakota in 2nd place in the Summit but their road resume has been shaky at best. They are 3-6 SU on the road this year and their conference games on the road (6 of them) have been vs UMKC twice (ranked 215th and split the 2 games), North Dakota twice (ranked 299th and split the 2 games), and Western Illinois (ranked 305th). They have not played any of the top teams in the league on the road this season. On top of that, the Bison haven’t played a road game in a full month! Every game they’ve played in February has been at home. South Dakota averages 84 PPG, 54% shooting, and 45% from 3-point range at home. They also make 81% of their FT’s in conference play which is best in the league. They are tough to stop here at the Sanford Sports Complex. North Dakota State struggles on offense at times and they are averaging only 66 PPG on the road this season. We think they’ll have a hard time scoring enough to stay in this one. With the line set where it is, we basically just need South Dakota to win this game at home. We’ll take our chances with that. |
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02-27-21 | Oregon v. California +9.5 | 74-63 | Loss | -108 | 9 h 16 m | Show | |
#676 ASA PLAY ON 8* California +9.5 over Oregon, Saturday at 4 PM ET - Cal has been extremely competitive at home this season and we this is a tough spot for Oregon. The Bears have just a 3-16 record in conference play but their home point differential in Pac 12 play is just minus 3.7 PPG. They beat the highest rated team in the conference here topping Colorado by 9 points. The 2nd best team in the league, USC, the Bears took to the wire at home losing by 8 in a game they trailed by 2 with less than 2:00 minutes remaining. They took the 4th rated team in the league to the end as well at home losing by 4. In other words, this team has shown they can play with the top teams in the conference here and can beat them (Colorado). Oregon is in a rough spot here. They are playing their 3 straight road game since Monday. The Ducks lost @ USC by 14 on Monday, squeaked by Stanford by 3 on Thursday, and now face Cal on the road less than 48 hours later. The Ducks win over Stanford on Thursday 71-68 was an impressive, tight win on the surface, however the Cardinal played that game with their top player, Oscar da Silva, who is one of the top players in the conference. Don’t be surprised if Oregon is a bit flat here facing a team they already beat by 13 at home this year and a home game vs Arizona on deck Monday. The Ducks are 5-2 on the road in Pac 12 play but those wins have come by 2, 3, 3, 6, and 11 points. Cal has lost only 1 game at home this season by more than 11 points. It’s also the Bears final home game and we expect a huge effort here. Don’t be at all surprised if this game goes to the wire. |
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02-26-21 | Nevada v. Utah State -7.5 | Top | 72-75 | Loss | -108 | 14 h 4 m | Show |
#880 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Utah State -7.5 over Nevada, Friday at 9 PM ET - Utah State finally gets to play at home. They have played 5 straight road games with their most recent home game coming back on January 21st. They’ve had a huge home court advantage over the years winning 37 of their last 41 games in Logan and they are one of the few teams in the MWC that is allowing fans so that helps as well. The Aggies had a 13 day break from Feb 4 thru Feb 17 so they were a bit rusty last week in their back to back games @ Boise State, the 1st place team in the conference. Even with that, this Aggie team played quite well taking the Broncos to the wire in each losing by 9 (it was a 1-point game with 4:30 remaining) and losing by 4. USU led both games at halftime but shot just 7 of 30 from 3-point range in the 2 games combined and they were -16 made FT’s. Despite that, they nearly pulled off wins vs 14-3 (in MWC play) Boise State. Now back at home in must win mode we expect them to play very well. They are catching Nevada in a bad spot. The Wolfpack are just back from a Covid hiatus and haven’t played in 20 days. They have a solid 9-5 MWC record but they are 0-4 SU on the road in conference play. That’s right, only 4 of their 14 conference games have been true road games. We expect Nevada to struggle on offense after their long layoff and it doesn’t help they are playing the top defense in the Mountain West. Utah State ranks #1 in defensive efficiency, 3-point % defense, 2-point % defense, and blocked shots. It’ll be tough for a Nevada team that shoots just 42% on the road (31% from 3) to get any offensive rhythm in this game. USU has already proven they can beat the best in the league here at home as they swept the top rated team San Diego State. The host has covered 8 of the last 9 in this series and we like Utah State to win this by double digits. |
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02-25-21 | Ohio State v. Michigan State OVER 145 | Top | 67-71 | Loss | -115 | 15 h 37 m | Show |
#765/766 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Over 145 Points – Ohio State @ Michigan State, Thursday at 9 PM ET - These two met a few weeks ago and they combined to score 141 points with OSU winning 79-62. The 2 teams combined to shoot only 38% in that game including just 26% from beyond the arc and they still topped 140. We look for a much better offensive performance from both teams on Thursday. The Spartans season only offensive efficiency numbers are not overly impressive but over the last few games this teams seems to be coming together on that end of the court. They combined to shoot 51% while scoring 78 and 81 points in their last 2 games vs Indiana (37th nationally in defensive efficiency) and Illinois (15th nationally in defensive efficiency). In their first game vs OSU the Spartans were just coming back from a long Covid break and struggled scoring just 0.89 PPP which was well below their season average of 1.08 PPP. If the Buckeyes have a weakness, it’s on defense where they rank 7th in the Big Ten in defensive efficiency and 9th in eFG% defense. We think MSU continues to play well on offense in this game. OSU’s offense has been fantastic all season. They rank 3rd nationally in offensive efficiency and in the top 60 in eFG%, 3-point FG%, 2-point FG%, and FT%. They just put up 87 points over the weekend on Michigan who is the #1 defense in the Big Ten (MSU ranks 8th in that category). They have scored at least 73 points in 8 straight games and they have topped 80 in half of those games (4). Both teams get to the FT line a lot (3rd and 4th in Big Ten in % of points from the line) and in the first meeting they combined to attempt 60 freebies. If they simply shoot better from the field in this one, this easily gets into the 150’s. Ohio state has gone OVER the total in 6 of their last 7 games (one push during that stretch) while MSU, with their offense now coming together, has gone OVER 3 straight games. With the spread at OSU -4, the projected scored is 76-72. We like both teams to top their projected numbers and this one goes OVER the total. |
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02-24-21 | Seton Hall -7.5 v. Butler | Top | 52-61 | Loss | -110 | 12 h 14 m | Show |
#683 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Seton Hall -7.5 over Butler, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - We’re getting one of the top teams in the Big East here coming off a loss. Seton Hall lost at Georgetown 81-75 on Saturday. The Hoyas host lights out hitting 50% of their shot overall and 62% of their 3-pointers. Even with that fantastic offensive effort by Georgetown, the Pirates were in the game all the way and lost by just 6. Prior to that loss Seton Hall had won 6 of their previous 8 road games with their lone road losses during this stretch coming by 2 points @ Villanova , the top team in the Big East, and @ Creighton, the 2nd rated team in the conference. Butler, since coming back from their month long Covid break, is just 1-3 with their only win coming by 2 points in OT. The Bulldogs are just 3-3 their last 6 home games with 2 of those wins coming in OT. Butler has played 10 home games this year and they’ve actually been outscored in those games. Butler just lost by double digits vs Xavier and the Bulldogs were without 3 of their top players in that game. The 3 players that were out vs Xavier (Nze, Thompson, and Hodges) combine to average 30 PPG and 17 RPG on the season. They are all questionable again for this game. Butler’s offense already struggles with those guys at full strength as they rank 10th in the Big East in offensive efficiency and 10th in eFG%. They have averaged just 57 PPG over their last 3 games and if those guys are out or not at 100%, this team is in trouble on offense. Seton Hall has a big edge on offense (ranks 23rd nationally in offensive efficiency) and if this one comes down to FT’s, the Pirates hit 77% of their freebies in Big East play while Butler makes only 63% from the line. The road team has covered 5 straight in this series and we like Seton Hall to roll in this game. |
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02-23-21 | Connecticut -4 v. Georgetown | Top | 70-57 | Win | 100 | 15 h 52 m | Show |
#635 ASA CBB TOP PLAY ON 10* Connecticut -4 over Georgetown, Tuesday at 9 PM ET - We like the value we’re getting with UConn in this game. The Huskies are just 7-6 in Big East play but they are much better than their record. That’s because their top player, James Bouknight, one of the top NBA prospects in the Big East, is now back in the lineup after missing 8 games. He’s been back for 2 games, played 60 minutes, scored 40 points, and 14 rebounds. With Bouknight in the lineup, the Huskies have a 6-2 record with their only losses to Creighton in OT and Villanova by 8 on Saturday. With him out of the lineup, UConn has a record of 4-4. We’re getting the Huskies off a tough loss @ Villanova on Saturday in a game where they made only 36% of their shots, 26% of their 3-pointers, and were -6 made FT’s and still only lost by 8 on the road vs the top team in the conference. We expect a strong performance off that loss. Georgetown is on the opposite end of the spectrum coming into this game. They are off a huge 81-75 home win over Seton Hall as a 4.5 point underdog. The Hoyas shot the lights out in that win hitting 50% of their shots overall and a ridiculous 62% of their 3-pointers and the game was still nip and tuck the entire 2nd half. We have a feeling the won’t shoot like that in this game vs a UConn team that ranks #1 in the Big East in defensive efficiency. Plus this game is being played at Capital One Arena in Washington DC, home of the Wizards, and this will be G’Towns first game here this season so home court advantage, if there was any, is out the window. At home this season the Hoyas were +4.5 vs Seton Hall over the weekend, +4.5 vs Marquette, +4.5 vs Providence, and +7.5 vs Creighton. Based on those numbers, we’re getting value with UConn who we have rated as the 3rd best team in the Big East when fully healthy. We like UConn to win and cover here. |
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02-22-21 | Oregon v. USC -3.5 | Top | 58-72 | Win | 100 | 14 h 2 m | Show |
#870 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* USC -3.5 over Oregon, Monday at 9 PM ET - We like the line value AND the situation for USC here. They were just favored by 6 at home vs Arizona, a team we have power rated almost dead even with Oregon, but now they are laying just 3.5. The Trojans are coming off a home loss, just their 4th loss of the season (now 18-4 record, vs the Wildcats. It wasn’t a huge surprise as Arizona was coming off back to back losses and it was a huge game for the talented Wildcats. USC shot just 42% in the game (they average 47% at home) and averaged just 1.03 PPP and their season average is 1.14 PPG so it was an underwhelming performance from the Trojans. At home USC has won 28 of their last 32 games and their average home margin of victory is +13 this season. The Trojans were on a huge roll winning 13 of their previous 14 coming into Saturday’s game vs Arizona. Oregon is coming of back to back huge home wins over Colorado & Utah. Both games went to the wire with the Ducks winning by 4 & 3 points. Now this is a tough spot for the Ducks as they are playing their 5th game in 12 days. USC has been a great bounce back team covering 9 of their last 11 games following an outright loss. Their 6 home wins in Pac 12 play have come by margins of 17, 18, 13, 8, 26, and 18 points. The Ducks have 4 conference road wins, but three of those have coming vs Utah, Arizona State, and Washington, all who have losing records in the Pac 12 (and losing overall records). The Trojans have the BEST defense in the Pac 12 in terms of defensive efficiency and eFG% allowed. Over the weekend they allowed Arizona to hit 1.16 PPP which was their worst defensive effort by far this season in Pac 12 play. Expect USC to play very well on defense tonight vs Oregon and we like the Trojans to pick up the win and cover. |
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02-21-21 | Michigan v. Ohio State +2 | Top | 92-87 | Loss | -112 | 7 h 41 m | Show |
#798 ASA PLAY ON Ohio State +2 over Michigan, Sunday at 1 PM ET - We had this one power rated to OSU -3 so we feel there is some value with the Buckeyes. Michigan is 10-1 in the Big 10 and on top of the conference but they are still getting back into a groove after a long 3 week layoff. Since they’ve come back they’ve only played 2 games beating Wisconsin on the road and Rutgers at home. Their win @ Wisconsin may look like a big win but the Badgers have really been struggling over the last few weeks and UW actually led for much of that game including by 14 at half. The Wolverines other game was a 7 point home win over Rutgers. Their offense wasn’t great in either game as they combined to make only 43% of their shots in their first 2 games back from the Covid break, well below their season average of 49%. In their first 2 games they’ve underperformed both offensively and defensively on a points per possession basis when comparing to their overall conference stats on the season. The Wolverines road schedule to date has been one of the easiest in the Big 10 as they have not faced any of the top 4 rated teams in the conference on the road yet this season. Until Sunday. Ohio State is playing as well as any team in the country right now. They have won 7 straight and 10 of their last 11 with their only loss during that stretch coming vs Purdue by just 2 points. That was a game the Buckeyes shot just 37%, played without their starting PG, and still led by 5 with under 2:00 remaining. OSU hasn’t had any long Covid interruptions and they are in a groove right now. They are 12-4 in the conference and 8 of those wins have come by double digits. If they want any shot at a Big 10 title, they have to win this home game vs first place Michigan. They are catching the Wolverines at a perfect time as they are still trying to get their legs back under them after their break. The host has covered 8 of the last 10 in this rivalry and where the line sits now at -1, all we need OSU to do is win this game. We think they will. |
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02-20-21 | Mississippi State v. Ole Miss UNDER 127.5 | 66-56 | Win | 100 | 11 h 19 m | Show | |
#723/724 ASA PLAY ON 8* Under 127.5 Points – Mississippi State @ Mississippi, Saturday at 6 PM ET - These are two very good defenses and not so much on offense. They are also very slow paced teams which will lead to very few possessions in this game. They met earlier this year and the final score was 64-46 in favor of Ole Miss so just 110 total points. This one sets up for a similar type final score as far as total points go. These 2 rivals both rank in the top 5 in the SEC in defensive efficiency. On the other end of the court, they rank 13th and 11th (out of 14 SEC teams) in conference offensive efficiency. They also rank 12th and 13th in pace of play in SEC games. There won’t be many shots in this game and unless they shoot very well, this one doesn’t get into the 130’s. Neither team shoots many 3-pointers as they rank 13th & 14th in the SEC in percentage of points coming from deep. On top of that both teams are better at defending inside the arc which matched up perfectly with each offense. Versus the slower paced teams in the league, these two teams have been involved in grinder for the most part. Against the 3 other slower paced teams (Miss St, Tenn, and Texas A&M) the Rebels have averaged just 107 total PPG. For Mississippi State vs those teams they have averaged just 109.5 PPG. Defenses dominate here and this goes UNDER the number. |
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02-20-21 | Seton Hall v. Georgetown OVER 141 | Top | 75-81 | Win | 100 | 11 h 44 m | Show |
#709/710 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* OVER 141 Points – Seton Hall @ Georgetown, Saturday at 5:30 PM ET - We expect BOTH of these teams to get into the 70’s so it’s OVER the total for us. When these 2 met earlier this year they total 145 points with the Hall winning 78-67. They got to the mid 140’s yet neither team shot all that great as they combined to make just 39% of their shots. They both fell well below their points per possession numbers on the year with Seton Hall averaging 1.05 PPP in the first meeting (they average 1.14 on the season) and G’Town averaging just 0.91 PPP in that meeting (averaging 1.06 PPP on the season). The pace was quick in the first meeting as they combined to attempt 132 total shots (70 for the Hall & 62 for the Hoyas). Both teams are excellent FT shooting teams (75%) and they made 26 of their 31 FT’s in the first meeting. Historically these 2 Big East rivals have gotten to at least 140 in 6 of their last 7 meetings. The Hoyas have allowed 8 of their 11 Big East opponents to get to at least 70 points. In their most recent game vs Butler, who is the slowest team in the conference and 10th in offensive efficiency, the combined for 141 points. Seton Hall has had some low scoring games in Big East play but when they’ve faced one of the top 4 highest tempo teams in the league (G’Town in 3rd) the Pirates have totaled 145, 145, 141, 153, and 166 total points. We like OVER in this one. |
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02-20-21 | VMI v. The Citadel +3.5 | 74-75 | Win | 100 | 6 h 13 m | Show | |
#618 ASA PLAY ON 8* Citadel +3.5 over VMI, Saturday at 1 PM ET - VMI is coming off a huge home upset over ETSU and we will fade them here on the road. VMI is just 1-9 SU on the road this year and they are favored in this game? Ridiculous. They have won only 4 of their last 36 true road games and they have no business being favored in this game. VMI was favored by just 3.5 at HOME in their other meeting this year and won by only 7 despite shooting 52% overall for the game and 87 % from the line making 26 FTs. Citadel, despite their 4-9 overall SOCON record, as a 4-3 record on home in conference play including wins over ETSU & Wofford and a tight 6 point loss vs Furman (the 3 of the 4 best teams in the conference). We really like this match up for Citadel at home as VMI relies HEAVILY on the 3-point shot and Citadel ranks 2nd in the conference at defending the 3 allowing only 32% on league games. Citadel has also has some bad luck so to speak with opponents hitting nearly 80% of their FT’s in conference play which is the highest in the SOCON. VMI has been a road favorite just 4 times since the start of the 2015 season and they lost 2 of those games outright. We like Citadel to win this one outright. Take the points. |
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02-19-21 | Toledo v. Buffalo -2 | Top | 80-70 | Loss | -101 | 14 h 55 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Buffalo -2 over Toledo, 9 PM ET - Raise your hand if you also think it’s “fishy” that Buffalo is favored in this game against a Toledo team that is 12-3 in conference action? The Rockets have been favored in 11 straight games and 18 of twenty-three this season and are now a dog to 9-6 Buffalo? When we examine conference games only we find the Rockets have the best offensive efficiency numbers in the league at 1.187PPP but Buffalo has the best defensive efficiency allowing just .929PPP. The Bulls offense isn’t as good as the Rockets, but they are 4th in offensive efficiency and will have an advantage over Toledo’s 6th ranked DEFF unit. Most of the other key statistical advantages Toledo would normally have over other teams are nullified by Buffalo’s defensive statistics. The biggest advantage the Bulls have is that they are the best offensive rebound team in the MAC compared to a Toledo defense that is LAST in the league in defensive rebounding. Buffalo is 29-9 SU their last 38 at home with an average margin of victory of +13PPG. The Bulls are playing extremely confident right now and will be primed for a game against the top team in the MAC here. |
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02-18-21 | Rutgers v. Michigan UNDER 136.5 | Top | 64-71 | Win | 100 | 16 h 32 m | Show |
#763/764 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 136.5 Points – Rutgers @ Michigan, Thursday at 9 PM ET - Michigan just came back from a 3 week Covid stoppage and looked a bit rusty on offense. They shot just 41% in a 67-59 win @ Wisconsin over the weekend. The offense may take awhile to come around after the long break but we know the constant here will be their defense. They rank #1 in defensive efficiency in the Big 10 and #8 nationally. After holding the Badgers to 59 points on Saturday, they have now held half of their Big 10 opponents (5) to less than 60 points. That’s not great news for a Rutgers offense that is middle of the pack in offensive efficiency (7th in the Big 10) and averages only 65 PPG on the road this season. Rutgers defense is much better than their offense. They rank 12th nationally in defensive efficiency so we have 2 top 12 defenses in this game. Both teams rank in the bottom half of the league in tempo so we don’t expect an up and down game here. Neither team relies heavily on the 3-point shot with both ranking outside the top 200 with 29% (Michigan) and 26% (Rutgers) of their points coming from deep. That tells us the 3-point attempts will be limited here which favors the UNDER. On top of that, neither team gets to the FT line very often as they rank 13th & 12th in the conference in percentage of points coming from the stripe. So it looks like a lot of 2-point attempts in this game. Rutgers has gone UNDER the total in 4 of their last 5 games and Michigan has stayed below the total in 5 of their last 6. These 2 teams have met 8 times since Rutgers joined the Big 10 and only 2 of those games have topped 132 points. We like the UNDER here. |
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02-18-21 | Jacksonville State v. Belmont OVER 147.5 | 59-63 | Loss | -109 | 14 h 28 m | Show | |
#751/752 ASA play on 8* Over 147.5 Jacksonville State @ Belmont, 8 PM ET - These two teams have favored playing Over this season with a combined 23-17-1 Over record on the season. When these two teams last met back in January, they left their defenses in the locker rooms and proceeded to score 189 total points. That seems to be a recurring trend when these two teams meet as they scored 185 total points last February and have totaled more points than this total in 4 of the last five meetings. Belmont is the 9th highest scoring team in college basketball at 83.3PPG and have the 5th best shooting offense in the nation at 51.3%. The Bruins also have a top 60 3-point percentage in the country. Jacksonville doesn’t have those offensive numbers, but they do have some very good statistics as they average 75PPG and shoot 45.8% from the field which both rank top 102 in college hoops. The Gamecocks played Murray State earlier this year and the Racers have similar offensive/defensive efficiency stats as Belmont, but they are the slowest paced team in the conference and Belmont is the fastest. In Jacksonville State’s game against a slow Murray State they combined for 167 total points. Belmont faced an Austin Peay team a few weeks back who has similar numbers to Jacksonville State in terms of pace, OEFF and DEFF and that game finished with 157 total points. This game has all the makings of a shootout with 158+ points. |
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02-17-21 | Wyoming -6 v. New Mexico | Top | 83-74 | Win | 100 | 13 h 60 m | Show |
#705 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Wyoming -6 over New Mexico, Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET - This was supposed to be a home game for the Lobos but because of the state of New Mexico’s Covid related restrictions, they are not able to play at home this season. Thus, they’ve been on the road for ALL of their 16 games this season. Their “home” games thus far have been played in Lubbock, TX, St George, UT, and now tonight’s game will be in Colorado Springs. Not surprisingly, the Lobos are 1-11 in conference play during their disrupted season. They have not played a game since January 30th and they had to completely cancel their series with San Diego State a few weeks ago because they had just 5 scholarship players available to play due to injuries and players recently opting out of the remainder of the season. Head coach Weir mentioned his team just started practicing again a few days ago and a number of walkons who were not traveling with the team earlier this year are now with the team and could be in the rotation. The Lobos hopped on a bus on Tuesday morning to make the long 6 hour trip to Air Force for their “home” game. We have a feeling this team has cashed it for the season in a situation that is as tough as any in the country. Offensively they have been terrible this season. They rank dead last in the MWC in efficiency, eFG%, 3-point FG%, 2-point FG% and FT%. Not a huge surprise with all of the adversity and distractions they’ve faced. Wyoming is just 4-8 in MWC play but they’ve played a very tough slate already facing San Diego State, Nevada, Colorado State, and Boise State (4 of the top 5 teams in the conference) all twice this season. While New Mexico has been terrible on offense, the Cowboys are averaging 75 PPG (Lobos average 63 PPG) and they rank in the top 90 nationally in both offensive efficiency and eFG%. Wyoming is coming in on a 4 game losing streak losing 2 vs San Diego State and Colorado State and now they take a HUGE step down in competition. While this is a “home” game for the Lobos, they have yet to play in Colorado Springs this season while Wyoming has played here twice already this year losing by 3 to Air Force and then following that up with a 19 point win the next night. We can’t imagine New Mexico even wants to be here with all that has gone on in their program and we look for Wyoming to roll in this game. |
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02-17-21 | NC State v. Pittsburgh -3.5 | 74-73 | Loss | -105 | 10 h 47 m | Show | |
#664 ASA PLAY ON 8* Pittsburgh -3.5 over NC State, Wednesday at 4:30 PM ET - Love this spot for Pitt. They’ve lost 5 of their last 6 but they’ve been playing much better as of late. Their last 3 games were an 11-point home win vs Va Tech (3rd place team in the ACC), a tight 7-point loss @ UVA (1st place team in the ACC) and a 6-point loss @ Georgia Tech (6-1 at home in ACC play). They catch NC State coming off a huge in-state rivalry game vs Duke on Saturday. The Wolfpack were 3-point home dogs in that game vs the Devils and they got whooped by 16 at home vs a team that has been struggling. We expect NC State to struggle here coming off a huge home game in which they laid an egg. The Pack is just 1-5 SU on the road this year with their only win coming vs Boston College, the lowest rated team in the ACC. State lost their best player, Devon Daniels (17 PPG / 5 RPG), at the end of January to a season ending injury. Since his loss, NCSU is 1-4 SU with their lone win coming vs BC. Now they may also be without starting guard Beverly who was injured in their home loss vs Duke last weekend. NC State steps in with the worst eFG% defense in the conference and the 2nd worst in defensive efficiency and we expect them to struggle vs a underrated Pitt offense that averages 75 PPG at home. This is a huge home game for the 9-7 Pitt Panthers as them make a final push for the NCAA tourney. Lay the small number here. |
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02-16-21 | Xavier v. St. John's OVER 155 | 84-93 | Win | 100 | 13 h 28 m | Show | |
#633/634 ASA PLAY ON 8* Over 155 Points – Xavier @ St Johns, Tuesday at 8:30 PM ET - These two met earlier this year and with the total set at 155 the two combined for only 129 points. However, taking a look at how that game played out we see that the two offenses performed way below their averages. They combined to take 131 shots (which is a LOT of shot attempts) and they made just 48 for a shooting percentage of 36%. Even worse, they attempted 30 three pointers and made 5 which is just 16%. On top of that the two combined to make only 29 of their 49 FT attempts (59%). It was just a terrible outing from both offenses and they STIILL got to 129 points. We expect a high number of shot attempts from each team again as these are the 2 fastest paced teams in the Big East. The Johnnies average 65 shot attempts per game (6th nationally) and Xavier puts up 61 attempts per game (57th nationally). In their last 3 games Xavier faced UConn, Butler, and Providence (3 of the 4 slowest paced teams in the Big East) and in 2 of those games they combined to scored 149 & 152 points. Last weekend’s game was very telling when they faced UConn who is the slowest paced team in the league and the #1 defense team in the Big East and the final was 80-72 in favor of the Huskies. St Johns has had a number of high scoring games vs faster paced teams. If we throw out their first meeting with Xavier which we discussed above, the Johnnies games vs the other top 3 fastest paced team in the conference (DePaul, Georgetown, and Creighton) have resulted in combined totals of 149, 176, 170, 177, and 191. These two teams have combined to play 35 games this season and 23 of them have gone OVER the total. We’ll call for another OVER on Tuesday. |
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02-16-21 | Nebraska v. Maryland UNDER 135.5 | 50-64 | Win | 100 | 12 h 3 m | Show | |
#631/632 ASA PLAY ON 8* Under 135.5 Points – Nebraska @ Maryland, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - The Terps continue to be a big time UNDER team. They have slowed their games down to a snails pace (13th in the Big 10 in tempo) limiting possessions and now going UNDER the total in 5 of their last 6 games. Their only OVER during that stretch was vs Ohio State a game that was on pace to stay UNDER the entire game and eclipsed the total by just 1 point when the 2 teams combined to score 15 points in the final 2:00 minutes of the game. Their 5 other games during that 6 game stretch have stayed UNDER by a combined 94 points or 19 points per game! Nebraska has won only 1 game in the Big 10 this year which was a 62-61 win @ Penn State on Saturday. While their offense ranks dead last in the conference in efficiency, their defense has been fairly solid ranking 7th. Since coming back from nearly a month long covid break, the Husker defense has allowed only 1 team to top 66 points in their last 5 games. They held a potent Illinois attack to just 66 (in regulation), allowed just 61 vs Wisconsin and 61 vs Penn State. The problem has been the offense averaging only 58 PPG over their last 5 games. Maryland’s offense ranks 12th in efficiency so in this game we have 2 of the 3 worst offenses in the Big 10. On top of that, neither of these teams get to the FT line very often and when they do Nebraska hits 60% in conference play while Maryland makes 68%. The Terps have gotten to 70 points just once in their last 7 games and Nebraska hasn’t topped 66 in their last 5. This one stays UNDER this posted total. |
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02-16-21 | Dayton v. Rhode Island -3 | Top | 89-91 | Loss | -112 | 12 h 8 m | Show |
#612 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Rhode Island -3 over Dayton, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - Here we have a team that has a 9-12 overall record favored by a full 3 points over a team that has an 11-6 overall record. Hmmm… We like the home favorite here. Rhode Island is coming in off 4 straight losses and they are in desperate need of a win. It’s their home finale and we expect the Rams to play very well. The opener of that 4 games losing streak for URI was a 67-56 loss @ Dayton, tonight’s opponent. In that loss the Rams top player Fatts Russell (15 PPG) was battling an injury and played a season low 19 minutes and scored a season low 4 points. HE missed URI’s next game which was a 1-point home loss vs VCU, the A10’s 1st place team and 2nd highest rated team. The Rams also lost by 7 @ St Louis in their most recent game and were very competitive vs the top rated team in the conference. Russell was back in the line up and they are back at full strength. This team is better than their record. Prior to their 4 games losing streak this team was on a 6-3 run including a road win VCU and St Bonnies (3rd rated team in the A10). In their first meeting on January 30th, the Rams made just 38% of their shots and 23% of their 3’s with the best player banged up. The Flyers have played 5 road games this year and they are 2-3 in those contests with one win coming in OT and they other coming by 5 points vs a St Louis team that was playing their first game in over a month due to covid. After this one Dayton has three HUGE games on deck vs St Louis, St Bonnies and VCU, the 3 best teams in the conference. Having already beaten URI, we wouldn’t be surprised if they were peaking ahead at that stretch of games. Rhode Island is the better defensive team ranking 33rd nationally in efficiency and they send teams to the FT line fewer than any other team in the A10. Big home game for the Rams and we like them to get the win and cover. |
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02-15-21 | East Tennessee State v. Chattanooga UNDER 134 | Top | 51-53 | Win | 100 | 21 h 38 m | Show |
#845/846 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 134 Points – East Tennessee State @ Chattanooga, Monday at 7 PM ET - These two met on February 6th and Chattanooga pulled the upset 67-65 putting up 132 total points. It was on pace for just 120 at halftime and with 10 minutes remaining in the game these two had put up just 82 total points. They put up a whopping 50 points in the final 10 minutes of the game, including 18 points in the last 2:30 of the game. They both eclipsed their season averages in offensive PPP and even after all of that it still went UNDER the total. These are 2 slow paced teams ranking 10th (ETSU) and 8th (Chattanooga) in tempo in Southern Conference play (10 team league). ETSU has gone UNDER the total in 6 of their last 7 games and if we throw out their games vs Citadel, Samford, and VMI (3 fastest paced teams in the league) they are averaging 131 total points and they’ve topped 134 points (tonight’s total) only twice in those 9 remaining games. Chattanooga has gone UNDER in 5 of their last 7 games and they just put up 136 total points over the weekend vs the Citadel who is the fastest paced team in the league AND the worst defensive team in the conference. Now they have a rematch vs an ETSU defense that ranks 3rd in the league and just allowed 49 points to Wofford, one of the better offensive teams in the SOCON. We think this one will be a grinder with neither getting to 70 points. We like the UNDER |
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02-14-21 | Minnesota v. Maryland UNDER 138 | Top | 59-72 | Win | 100 | 12 h 43 m | Show |
#825/826 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 138 Points – Minnesota @ Maryland, Sunday at 7 PM ET - These two met on January 23rd in Minneapolis and Maryland came away with a 63-49 win (112 total points). The Terps, the 2nd slowest tempo team in the Big 10, slowed the game down as they have done for much of the season. The two teams combined to take only 91 shots and made only 13 combined 3-pointers. We see a similar situation here with a low possession game. Neither team is great offensively as they rank 8th and 12th in the league in both offensive efficiency and eFG%. The Gophers are the worst 3-point shooting team in the Big 10 and Maryland ranks 7th in that category. The Terps offense has averaged only 61 PPG over their last 9 conference games and Minnesota on the road has put up just 64 PPG this season. Maryland’s offense has not topped 1.00 PPP in 6 consecutive games. Defensively they have held their last 9 Big 10 opponents to under their offensive PPP average. The Gophers have gone UNDER the total in 8 of their last 10 games and Maryland has stayed UNDER in 4 of their last 5. We don’t see either team getting to 70 in this game and we’ll grab the UNDER. |
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02-13-21 | North Carolina +6.5 v. Virginia | 48-60 | Loss | -116 | 11 h 8 m | Show | |
#721 ASA PLAY ON 8* North Carolina +6.5 over Virginia, Saturday at 6:00 PM ET - North Carolina has played a slightly tougher schedule than Virginia overall and have been in most of their ACC road games this season with a recent win at Duke. Earlier this season the Tarheels lost by just 3-points at NC State, 5-points at Georgia Tech, 7-points at Florida State and then their worst loss of the year was 13-points recently at Clemson. If we examine North Carolina’s game against FSU, who is similar to UVA (top 2 teams in the ACC), we find the Heels were just +4-point dogs in that game and now getting +6.5 here? The Heels lost by 7 in that game vs FSU (2nd place in the ACC) but were -15 made FT’s yet were only down 1 with 2:00 minutes to play. They had a shot in that game. Virginia has been winning but many of their games have been close. The Cavs last three wins in ACC play have all come by 8-points or less. The Cavs have had 2 blowout wins in ACC play vs Clemson & Syracuse but the remainder of their 9 games were decided by an average of 5.7 points. It's hard to imagine any team could look past North Carolina but the Cavaliers have a HUGE game on deck with Florida State which may decide the ACC Title. This has been a tightly contested series with the last four games all decided by 9-points or less. UNC has had a week off to get ready for this game while UVA played a game @ Georgia Tech on Wednesday night. Take the points. |
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02-13-21 | Weber State +1 v. Montana | Top | 91-82 | Win | 100 | 10 h 49 m | Show |
#687 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Weber State +1 over Montana, Saturday at 4:30 PM ET - These two played on Thursday night and Weber State lost 80-67 as a 1-point favorite @ Montana. That loss broke a 4 game winning streak for Weber and they are ready to get back at it on Saturday. The Wildcats come into this game ranked #2 in the Big Sky Conference in offensive efficiency and #3 in defensive efficiency. You wouldn’t have noticed that on Thursday as they allowed Montana to shoot over 50% and 1.18 PPP well above their season averages of 45% and 0.98 PPP. On the other end of the court Weber’s offense (which averages 50% from the field on the season) shot just 44% (only 21% from 3-point range) and averaged just 0.99 PPP. So we have the better team (11-5 overall / 6-3 in conference) that played below their normal expectation with a chance at quick revenge vs a team that exceeded their expectation. We like this situation. Montana has been in this spot a lot recently and failed miserably. In each of their last 3 second night of back to backs vs the same opponent, they won the first night and lost the 2nd night. Those 3 losses came at the hands of Northern Arizona, Sacramento State, and Portland State, all 3 ranked well below this Weber State team. The Wildcats have been solid after a subpar performance covering their last 4 games following a loss. Montana, as we mentioned, is the opposite going 0-5 ATS the game following a SU win. We expect Weber State to win this one so we’ll lay it on the road. |
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02-13-21 | Wofford v. East Tennessee State -2.5 | 49-71 | Win | 100 | 9 h 13 m | Show | |
#678 ASA PLAY ON 8* East Tennessee State -2 over Wofford, Saturday at 4:00 PM ET - This is a must win for ETSU who sits one spot below Wofford in 3rd place in the Southern Conference. The Bucs are coming off back to back losses as favorites of -5.5 and -7.5 so we expect them to play very well after losing 2 games they did not expect to. In their most recent game, a loss @ Citadel, the Bucs attempted 73 shots and held the Bulldogs to just 57 shot attempts yet still lost. ETSU’s defense, which ranks 4th in the SOCON in efficiency, played one of their worst games of the season allowing the Citadel to hit 49% of their shots on 1.13 PPP. Offensively ETSU, who ranks #1 in the conference averaging 1.12 PPP, put up only 1.00 PPP vs the Bulldogs who have one of the worst defensive teams in the nation (345th nationally in defensive efficiency). Just a terrible game all around for the Bucs. Wofford started the SOCON season red hot winning 6 of their first 7 games. However, they are just 3-3 over their last 6. These 2 met on February 1st @ Wofford and the home team won a tight game 67-62. ETSU won the rebounding battle and the turnover battle in that game, however Wofford hit 61% of their 2-point shots and 43% of their 3’s at home. It’s going to be much tougher for Wofford to pull that off on the road facing an angry defense that played poorly on Wednesday. The Bucs have won 26 of their last 29 home games and the last time this storied program lost 3 consecutive games was back in 2018. Take ETSU to get back on track at home on Saturday. |
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02-12-21 | St Bonaventure v. VCU -3 | Top | 64-67 | Push | 0 | 12 h 36 m | Show |
#866 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* VCU -3 over St Bonaventure, Friday at 7:00 PM ET - These two met a few weeks ago with VCU traveling to St Bonnies as a 2-point underdog. Everything looked great for the Rams at halftime as they jumped out to a 15-point lead scoring 40 points in the first half. Then came the VCU collapse. After scoring 40 points in the first half, they scored only 14 points in the second half and their 15 point lead at the break turned into a 16 point loss. VCU has won 4 straight since that loss and needless to say they’ve been waiting for this rematch. A win here and the Rams jump St Bonnies moving into first place in the Atlantic 10. Their defense has been lights out since that loss allowing 43, 62, 62, and 67 points over their last 4 games. The Rams are #2 in the A10 in defensive efficiency and #1 in defensive TO rate, blocked shots, and steals. At home this season they are averaging 78 PPG and allowing just 61 PPG. St Bonnies is a very solid team but they’ve played a very easy road schedule to date. The Bonnies are 3-2 SU on the road in league play but 2 of those wins came vs Fordham (last ranked team in the conference) and Duquesne (9th ranked team in the conference). Their most recent road game was @ St Louis who didn’t play a game for nearly a month (off from Dec 23 through Jan 26) and the Billikens beat St Bonaventure 70-59. Despite their easy road slate they are averaging just 63 PPG away from home while allowing 62 PPG. The favorite has covered 5 straight in this series and last year when these two met @ VCU, the Rams rolled up a huge 91-63 win. While we don’t expect a blowout here, we do like VCU to cover this small number at home. |
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02-12-21 | Canisius v. Quinnipiac -2.5 | 74-67 | Loss | -110 | 19 h 12 m | Show | |
#840 ASA PLAY ON 8* Quinnipiac -2.5 over Canisius, Friday at 1:00 PM ET - Really tough spot for Canisius here. Because of Covid protocol they haven’t played a game since January 2nd so nearly a full month and a half (44 days to be exact). On top of that they’ve barely practiced together as a team. Just when they thought they were coming back at the end of January vs this same Quinnipiac team, another player tested positive and they had to shut down again. At that time, their head coach Witherspoon mentioned this week that they’ve had maybe 4 or 5 practices since the start of January and this 2nd pause has again disrupted their ability to practice as a full team. Quinnipiac is just 3-5 in the MAAC but they’ve been very competitive. Their 5 losses in conference play have come by 3, 3, 7, 7, and in a loss in OT. The Bobcats just split on the road with Fairfield on Sunday & Monday and while their offense has struggled at times, they might be peaking with 2 of their top 3 performances (1.16 PPP & 1.18 PPP) coming in their last 3 games. If their offense shows up at all, they should win this game. Quinnipiac can struggle on that end of the court but their defense is outstanding. They rank 3rd nationally in eFG% defense, 6th in 2 point FG% defense, and 12th in 3 point FG% defense. They are facing a Canisius team that does not shoot the ball well ranking 302nd nationally in eFG% and 3 point %. Now with no practice and a long layoff facing a fantastic defensive team, this will be a very tough game for Canisius. Staying in basketball shape without playing games for 44 days is nearly impossible. We look for Canisius to be moving a step slow in this game and run out of gas in the 2nd half. Quinnipiac wins and covers at home. |
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02-11-21 | Purdue v. Minnesota -3.5 | Top | 68-71 | Loss | -110 | 10 h 17 m | Show |
#738 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Minnesota -3.5 over Purdue, Thursday at 5 PM ET - The Gophers have one of the largest home/road dichotomies in college basketball. They are 0-6 on the road but a near perfect 12-1 at home. In their home games they have a +13 point differential and they are allowing opponents to hit just 38% of their shot attempts. All but one of their Big 10 home wins have come by double digits. The Gophs are just 2-5 their last 7 games and this is a huge game in regards to their NCAA tourney hopes. It’s pretty much a must win game for Minnesota. These 2 met a few weeks ago in West Lafayette and the Boilers were a 2.5 point favorite. They rolled to any easy 81-62 win scoring 1.29 PPP which drastically outperformed their Big 10 season average of 1.02 PPP. The Boilers were also +11 makes at the FT line and hit 53% of their three pointers. Basically everything went right for Purdue on offense but we don’t expect that to happen again on the road where they shoot just 42% and they have a -2 point differential. The Gophs have already beaten many of the Big 10’s best here at home and beating them handily. They topped Michigan here by 16, OSU by 17 and Iowa by 7. Purdue is just 3-5 SU this year on the road and we expect a huge effort from Minny in a must win game with 2 of their next 3 games coming on the road where they’ve struggled. Low line here in our opinion meaning Minnesota just has to win at home. Minny has covered 7 of their last 8 home games and we’ll lay the bucket with the Gophers. |
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02-10-21 | Rutgers v. Iowa -6.5 | Top | 66-79 | Win | 100 | 12 h 13 m | Show |
#656 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Iowa -6.5 over Rutgers, Wed at 7:30 PM ET - Great value on Iowa here. They are in a bit of a funk losing 4 of their last 5 but they are still a top notch team and we expect them to play very well at home in this one. The Hawkeyes were just favored by 5 at home last week vs Ohio State (a team we have rated in the top 5 nationally) and now they are laying only 6 (as of Tues evening) vs Rutgers (a team we have power rated 30th). Iowa was favored by 4 at Rutgers earlier this year (won 77-75) telling us this number should be higher. They were favored by 10.5 at home vs Indiana in late January and we have the Hoosiers and Rutgers rated nearly dead even. Not only that, we are getting a very good Iowa team that is now backed into a corner so to speak after a string of losses. None of those losses, with the exception of their home loss vs Indiana, were bad losses so to speak. The Hawkeyes lost @ Indiana in OT over the weekend in a game they led by 10 in the second half and still led with under 2:00 minutes remaining. The other 2 losses were at home by 4 vs a very good OSU team (Iowa led 10 in 2nd half) along with a 5 point setback at Illinois. The Scarlet Knights have won 4 straight but all 4 have come vs teams ranked in the lower half of the Big 10. On the road they’ve played only 1 team this season that currently ranks in the top 6 of the conference and that was a 12 point loss @ OSU. They thrive on getting extra possessions by turning teams over but Iowa is the #1 team in the conference at not turning the ball over. Iowa is the most efficient offensive team in the nationally averaging 1.25 PPP and hit almost 40% of their 3’s in conference play. They should get to the line a lot in this game as Rutgers tends to foul quite a bit and while the Knights rarely get to the line (last in the Big 10) when they do it’s not pretty (60% as a team). We like Iowa to get rolling offensively at home and win this one by double digits. |
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02-10-21 | Virginia v. Georgia Tech +4.5 | 57-49 | Loss | -110 | 12 h 43 m | Show | |
#670 ASA PLAY ON 8* Georgia Tech +4.5 over Virginia, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - As we stated a few weeks ago when we took Ga Tech @ Duke which turned into a half point loss for us, we think the Jackets are undervalued. They were +6.5 in that game vs the Devils and lost by 7 in a game that was tied with just over 1:00 minute remaining. The Yellow Jackets have been great at home with a perfect ACC record beating the likes of Florida State, UNC, and Clemson. The faced off against this Virginia team in late January on the road and nearly pulled off the upset losing 64-62. In that game GT led by 9 in the 2nd half and UVA’s largest lead of the game was just 4 points. IN that game the Cavs shot 48% from the field at home and still barely hung on to win. UVA is 4-1 on the road in ACC play however they’ve played a very weak conference road slate. Their wins have come vs Notre Dame, Boston College, NC State, and Clemson. The best team they’ve played on the road was Va Tech, a game they lost by 14 on January 30th. While we think UVA is solid, they’ve played the EASIEST schedule thus far in the ACC while Georgia Tech has played the most DIFFICULT schedule in conference play. While the Cavs defense is still very solid, they are not the same shut down unit they’ve been over the last few years. They allow over 41% from the field which ranks them 90th nationally. They’ve allowed over 1.00 PPP in half of their ACC games including their first match up with Ga Tech. We like the Jackets to pull the upset here and we’ll take the points as a nice cushion. |
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02-10-21 | VMI +1 v. Western Carolina | 72-74 | Loss | -105 | 12 h 39 m | Show | |
#661 ASA PLAY ON 8* VMI +1 over Western Carolina, Wed at 7 PM ET - WCU is the last place team in the Southern Conference with a 1-9 record. Their only win was at home vs the Citadel (the lowest rated team in the conference) and that was by just 2 points. Not only was WCU’s win by only 2 points, it was a game they trailed for 85% of the time and their largest lead of that game was 2 points which was the final margin. In other words, this team is very close to being 0-10 in conference play. Their losses have come by an average of 10 PPG. They faced VMI on the road just a few weeks ago and lost by 26 points. So many may be thinking revenge here. Not us. VMI has one of the top offenses in the Southern Conference and as with the first game, we don’t think WCU can keep up. VMI scored 87 points in the first meeting and if they get to at least the mid 70’s here, which we think they will, they will win. When VMI scores at least 71 points, they are 10-4 SU. They are averaging 78 PPG in conference play and should get to at least that in this game. They are facing a WCU defense that stinks. They rank 8th in the conference in defensive efficiency and they are facing a VMI offense that ranks 2nd in the league in offensive efficiency, 1st in eFG%, 2nd in three point percentage while making 77% of their FT’s in conference play. Western ranks at the bottom of the league in a number of key categories including efficiency and eFG%. VMI has scored at least 78 points in 7 of their 10 Southern conference games with 2 of those games (not scoring at least 78) coming against the #1 and #2 teams in the league in defensive efficiency. Now they face the WORST defensive team in the league in which they scored 87 in the first meeting as we mentioned. The Western Carolina offense has not scored more than 69 points in 5 of their last 7 games. We don’t think they can keep up here and with the line at basically a pick-em we like VMI. |
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02-09-21 | VCU v. Dayton +1.5 | Top | 76-67 | Loss | -106 | 10 h 57 m | Show |
#636 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Dayton +1.5 over VCU, Tuesday at 5 PM ET - These two met on January 23rd and VCU dealt the Flyers their most embarrassing loss of the season winning 66-43. It was their worst defeat in 3 seasons and after the game Dayton head coach Anthony Grant mentioned his disappointment in how his team handled adversity during that contest. Dayton had a school record low 13 points at halftime and the Flyers made only 17 shots the entire game including just 3 three pointers. That wasn’t indicative of this Dayton offense as they rank 2nd in the Atlantic 10 in both 3-point FG% and 2-point FG%. It was simply a terrible performance and a bad spot for Dayton as they were facing a VCU team that blew a 15 point halftime lead and lost by 16 to St Bonnies just a few days earlier. They were ready to play off that loss and it showed. Now we’re getting Dayton as a home dog which we think is some solid value in this spot. They are playing well having won 3 of 4 since that loss @ VCU including wins over St Louis (the highest rated team in the A10) & Rhode Island. They are also at home now where they have won 25 of their last 27 games. The Flyers are shooting 50% overall at home this year and nearly 41% from beyond the arc. VCU is coming off a huge road win last week as they beat Rhode Island 63-62. URI’s best player, Fats Russell (14 PPG), didn’t play in the game and it still went to the wire. In fact, Rhode Island led late and a 3 pointer by VCU with 5 seconds remaining gave them 1-point lead. URI then drew a foul with 1 second left but missed the front end of the bonus giving VCU the 1-point win. It looks like the Rams will be at less than full strength in this game with two of their key reserves, Curry & Clark, both injured and possibly out. You can bet Dayton will be more than ready for this rematch and we expect a much better shooting performance giving them the outright home win in this one. |
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02-08-21 | Oklahoma State v. Kansas -4.5 | Top | 66-78 | Win | 100 | 14 h 39 m | Show |
#864 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Kansas -4.5 over Oklahoma State, Monday at 9 PM ET - This situation sets up very nicely for KU at home. The Jayhawks are coming off a double digit loss on Saturday @ West Virginia. They are a bit undervalued at home here because they have lost 5 of their last 7 games, however all 5 of those losses come on the road. The fact is, Kansas is much better at home where they are 8-1 this season and 42-2 their last 44 at Allen Fieldhouse. These two met in mid January and KU was favored by 3.5 @ Okie State and now laying right around that number in this game because of their recent 2-5 run. The Jayhawks lost the first meeting 75-70 and they were -11 FT attempts in that game and they were throwing up bricks from deep hitting only 23% of their 3 pointers. Even with that Kansas still led by 3 points with just over 1:00 minute remaining in that road loss. The Cowboys are in a rough spot for a tough road game. They played host to Texas on Saturday and won a thriller in double OT. Three of their four starters logged 40+ minutes on Saturday and they were without one of the better players Moncrieffe (foot) who averages 10 PPG & 5 RPG and he is questionable again on Monday. The Longhorns took OSU to double OT on the road despite making only 20 of their 79 shots (25%) and Texas was a ridiculously poor 5 of 35 from deep (14%). OSU scores 56% of their points inside the arc in Big 12 play but Kansas is #1 in the conference at 2-point defense allowing just 45% shooting by opponents. In the first match up the Cowboys only made 47% of their 2-point shots but were able to make up for it at the FT line in a tight game. This should be a tired team and they most likely won’t have as many calls go their way @ Allen Fieldhouse. While Kansas is down a notch from past years, they are still a very solid team and they’ve dominated this series at home going 23-4 SU their last 27 home meetings with OSU. Last year they were favored by 15 here vs the Cowboys and won by 25. Now we're getting the Jayhawks at just -4.5 a year later in a favorable situation. We like Kansas to cover. |
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02-07-21 | Boise State -3.5 v. Nevada | Top | 62-73 | Loss | -115 | 20 h 50 m | Show |
#821 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Boise State -3.5 over Nevada, Sunday at 4 PM ET - These two met on Friday night and Nevada pulled the upset beating Boise 74-72 as a 4.5 point underdog. It was just the 3rd loss of the year for the Broncos who now stand at 14-3 overall. This situation sets up very similarly to a situation Boise encountered just over a week ago. They were @ Colorado State who is rated right around 30 spots higher than this Nevada team and Boise lost the opener of a 2 game series as a 3-point favorite. They bounced back on the road 2 days later and took out CSU by 8 points. When the Broncos met this Nevada team on Friday night, they led nearly the entire game. They were up by 5 at half and Nevada took their FIRST lead of the 2nd half with under 1:00 minute remaining in the game and went on to win by 2. The Wolfpack shot lights out for the game at 53% and still trailed nearly the entire way. It was Nevada’s 2nd highest shooting percentage of the entire year in MWC play (13 games). Can they pull that off again on Sunday? We highly doubt it as we expect Boise, who ranks 2nd in the conference in defensive efficiency and eFG% defense, to clamp down on that end of the court after playing poorly on Friday. While the Broncos defense is one of the best in the MWC, their offense IS the best in the conference as they average 1.16 PPP in league play (1st in the conference). On Friday they were solid on that end of the court (1.07 PPP) but still well below their average. The Broncos also turned the ball over on nearly 20% of their possessions which is very unlike they as they rank 1st in the conference in that category as well coughing it up just on 15% of possessions. So in other words, Nevada played a great game while Boise underperformed in most of their stats and the game still went to the wire. The Broncos are 13-3 ATS the game following a SU loss dating back to last year and we fully expect a top notch performance on Sunday. Lay the small number with Boise State. |
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02-06-21 | Jacksonville State -3 v. SE Missouri State | 66-54 | Win | 100 | 10 h 27 m | Show | |
#707 ASA PLAY ON 8* Jacksonville State -3 over SE Missouri State, Saturday at 5 PM ET - Despite their 7-5 OVC record we feel Jax State is one of the top teams in the conference. They’ve already beaten Austin Peay and Murray State on the road, two of the top five teams in the league. They are healthy now after missing a key player for 3 of their 5 conference losses. UNC transfer Huffman missed their loss vs Morehead St (2nd meeting) and Georgia transfer Ngumezi missed their losses vs Morehead St (1st meeting) and Eastern Kentucky. Their only 2 other OVC losses came vs Belmont (the best team on the league) by 7 and vs Eastern KY in OT. They’ve controlled the bottom half of the conference, winning all of their games thus far vs the bottom half of the conference. That’s where SE Missouri sits. They are currently ranked right around 300 in most power ratings and all of their OVC wins have come against teams ranked 300 or lower. Not only that, 4 of their 5 conference wins (vs teams all ranked 300 or lower) have come by 4 points or less. Jax State is the 2nd most efficient team in the OVC and they’ve scored at least 80 points in 4 of their last 6 games. SEMO is one of the worst offensive teams in the nation (301st in efficiency) and they’ve only reached 70 points once in their 12 conference games. SEMO is 5-7 in conference play despite playing the easiest schedule in league play. Jacksonville State has handled all of the lower ranked teams in the conference and we’re getting a gift with the Gamecocks laying only 3 points here. |
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02-06-21 | Wisconsin v. Illinois -3.5 | Top | 60-75 | Win | 100 | 8 h 47 m | Show |
#658 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Illinois -3.5 over Wisconsin, Saturday at 2:30 PM ET - This is a tough match up for the Badgers. Defensively, they struggle to contain athletic, quick back courts and Illinois has just that. They have problems staying with penetrating guards and on top of that UW usually has an advantage inside with Reuvers and Potter but that won’t necessarily be the case here. Illinois has two very good big men in Cockburn and Bezhanishvili who open up the outside for one of the top 3 point shooting teams in the nation (10th best in the country). Four of Illinois five losses have come vs teams that scored at least 80 points in their game. Wisconsin isn’t built to put up huge numbers offensively. In fact the Badgers have scored 80+ points in just 1 of their 12 Big 10 games (in regulation). They often win low scoring games and we’re not sure they can hold Illinois (8th most efficient offense in the country) in check here. So that means Wisconsin will have to keep up and we don’t think they can. Wisconsin has beaten the teams they are supposed to for the most part, however they’ve only played 2 teams ranked in the top 6 in the Big 10 and lost to both (Ohio State by 12 and Michigan by 23). The favorite is 19-7-1 ATS the last 27 meetings and this is simply a bad match up for Wisconsin. Lay the points. |
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02-06-21 | Syracuse v. Clemson -2.5 | 61-78 | Win | 100 | 7 h 22 m | Show | |
#636 ASA PLAY ON 8* Clemson -2.5 over Syracuse, Saturday at 2 PM ET - Clemson has one of the biggest home/road dichotomies in the nation. They are 7-1 at home with their only loss coming vs Virginia, the top rated team in the ACC. The Tigers were smoked in their 3 most recent road games losing @ Duke, @ Ga Tech, and @ Florida St. However their last 2 home games they beat Louisville and UNC. They also beat Florida State at home this year so they have W’s vs 3 of the top teams in the ACC in their own arena. Speaking of home/road dichotomy, the Cuse also has a fairly drastic difference in regards to that. The Orange have lost 4 of their 5 road games this season with their only win coming @ BC, who is 3-10 overall and 1-6 in ACC play. Their other 4 road losses have come by an average of 15 PPG. We have a huge difference defensively in this game as Syracuse allows 80 PPG on the road while Clemson gives up just 57 PPG in their 8 games. The Tigers are 7-2-1 their last 10 home games while Syracuse is just 1-5 ATS their last 6 on the road. These 2 have met 5 times in Clemson since 2007 and the Tigers have won 4 of those games. We’ll take the host on Saturday. |
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02-05-21 | Maryland v. Penn State -2 | Top | 50-55 | Win | 100 | 7 h 57 m | Show |
#860 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Penn State -2 over Maryland, Friday at 7 PM ET - This one sets up nicely for PSU coming off an embarrassing effort @ Wisconsin while Maryland won a barn burner at home vs Purdue. The Nittany Lions played the Badgers back to back and we could see the potential for a blowout after they beat UW on Saturday and then had to travel to Madison on Tuesday. PSU was stymied by Wisconsin’s defense holding the Nits to just 56 points which again we could see coming after the Badgers played very poor defensive vs them a few days earlier. Penn State is undervalued right now because of their overall & Big 10 record (6-8 & 3-7) but this team is solid. They’ve had a number of players miss games this season and they are now getting healthy over the last few weeks with Sessoms and Dread back in the line up. They have won 3 of their last 5 games and one of those losses was a 4-point setback @ Ohio State, who just might be the best team in the Big 10 right now. PSU led by 8 in the 2nd half of that game. They are 3-1 at home in Big 10 play with their only loss coming vs Illinois before Christmas. Maryland is off a thrilling 61-60 win over Purdue at home. It was a game the Terps led for a total of 5:00 minutes and won the game on 2 FT’s with 3 seconds remaining. Tough spot for them with a home game vs Ohio State on deck as well. Both rely heavily on the 3-point shot offensively and while PSU is decent at defending the arc (114th nationally & 5th in the Big 10), Maryland stinks in that regard (249th nationally & 11th in the Big 10). PSU plays much better offensively at home averaging 81 PPG while hitting almost 47% of their shots. They’ve also had some back luck in conference play this year with opponents hitting nearly 79% of their FT’s vs PSU in league play. That won’t happen here as the Terps make just 64% of their freebies in conference play. The home team has won 7 straight in this series and the host has also covered 5 of the last 6. |
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02-04-21 | Cincinnati v. Temple +2.5 | Top | 63-60 | Loss | -109 | 12 h 2 m | Show |
#736 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Temple +2.5 over Cincinnati, Thursday at 7 PM ET - The Bearcats have had a long layoff having not played a game since January 10th. They had 6 straight games cancelled due to Covid within the program. Not only have they not played, they’ve practiced very little. In fact, their first 5 on 5 type practice in weeks was on Tuesday of this week. Head coach John Brannen also said his full roster will not be available for this game and he expects a few walk ons to log extended minutes in this game. So Cincy is laying points in this road tilt despite practicing just twice recently (Tues & Wed), without a full roster, and the chances of the players being in game shape is slim to none. On top of that, this simply isn’t the Cincinnati team of old as they were just 3-7 (1-4 in the AAC) when they had their extended break. Temple has been inconsistent but they’ve shown they have the ability to play very well at times. One of their key offensive players finally got into the line up in mid January as Butler transfer Khalif Battle has been able to play the last 4 games (11 PPG). Last week the Owls beat one of the top teams in the AAC here at home topping Tulsa 76-67. Tulsa was a 1.5 point favorite in that game and now Cincinnati is favored by 2.5? Tulsa is better than Cincinnati and beat the Bearcats on the road already this year. After their win vs Tulsa, the Owls laid an egg over the weekend losing at home to Tulane as an 8 point favorite. After that loss we expect Temple to play very well (third straight home game) before going on the road for 4 of their last 5. This is a big game for the Owls. Cincy is one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country (328th) so they need to score inside the arc to be effective. That’s where the Temple defense excels ranking 48th nationally at defending 2-point attempts, The Owls also rarely send teams to the FT line so the Bearcats will struggle to score here. The last 2 seasons these teams have met 3 times with the Bearcats winning all 3 very tight by margins of 1, 4, and 7 points and those games took place when Cincy was a better team than they are right now. We fully expect Temple to get the home win here. Take the points here. |
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02-03-21 | Kentucky v. Missouri UNDER 137 | Top | 70-75 | Loss | -110 | 11 h 13 m | Show |
#715/716 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 137 Points – Kentucky @ Missouri, Wednesday at 7 PM ET - While Kentucky is struggling with just a 5-10 overall record, their defense has been very solid all year. They are ranked 14th nationally in defensive efficiency and they have allowed less than 1.00 PPP in 5 of their last 6 games. In SEC play the Cats are giving up only 0.99 PPP. Offensively they’ve really had problems. They rank 11th in offensive efficiency, 12th in eFG%, and 14th (last) in 2-point FG% (in conference play). They have been held to 65 points or less in 4 of their last 5 games. On the season UK is making only 41% of their shots and just 29% from 3. Mizzou is off back to back high scoring games vs TCU and Auburn but we think that changes here. In their most recent game over the weekend, they beat TCU 102-98 in OT where both teams went off hitting 56% of their shots overall, 46% of their 3-point shots, and they combined to make 34 FT’s. It was a fast paced game that was on pace and the 2 teams combined to score a ridiculous 60 points in the final 10 minutes of regulation. This one won’t be fast paced as UK is one of the slowest teams in the SEC and Mizzou is in the bottom half of tempo stats in league play. Both defenses rank ahead of the offenses in this one with Kentucky ranking 2nd in eFG% defense in SEC play and Missouri ranking 3rd. The offense rank 12th and 8th respectively in that category. Neither teams shoot many 3 pointers with both ranking 300th or lower nationally in percentage of points from beyond the arc. When they do shoot 3’s, they aren’t very good with the Cats hitting 29% of their shots from deep and Mizzou hits just 30%. This has been a low scoring series with 4 of the last 5 meetings landing on 134 or lower. UNDER is the play. |
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02-02-21 | North Carolina -3.5 v. Clemson | Top | 50-63 | Loss | -110 | 12 h 14 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* North Carolina -3.5 @ Clemson, 7 PM ET - Clemson has literally forgotten how to play defense as they’ve allowed 1.467, 1.327, 1.151 and 1.213 points per possession in four of their last five games. Those are all drastically higher than the D1 average of 1.018PPP. In the Tigers most recent game they gave up 79-points to a Duke team that ranks slightly higher in offensive efficiency in ACC play than this North Carolina team. The Tarheels are scoring 1.043 points per possession, 5th best in the conference. In comparison, Clemson is currently last in the ACC in offensive efficiency averaging less than .94PPP. Not only are the Tarheels better offensively but defensively it’s not close as Clemson is 3rd to last in the ACC in defensive efficiency, North Carolina is 6th. The Tarheels will own a decisive advantage on the boards with the 2nd best offensive rebounding team in the country. North Carolina has played well of late with three straight wins and 6 of their last seven. We don’t think the trend of horrendous defense by Clemson is going to end anytime soon and will look to play against them here. |
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02-01-21 | Murray State v. SE Missouri State UNDER 132.5 | Top | 77-60 | Loss | -110 | 10 h 51 m | Show |
#865/866 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 132.5 points – Murray State @ SE Missouri State, Monday at 7 PM ET - SE Missouri State has struggled offensively as much as any team in the OVC. They reached 70 points in regulation just 1 time in the last 13 games. They are a slow paced team that doesn’t get many shot attempts as they have averaged just 52 shots per game over their last 10. Not only do they have limited shot attempts each game, they are very inefficient on offense on top of that. They rank 305th nationally in offensive efficiency. The Redhawks are also one of the worst FT shooting teams in the nation hitting only 64%. They’ll be facing a Murray State team that rates as the slowest tempo team in the OVC in conference play. The Murray defense has allowed an average of just 66 PPG on OVC play including holding Belmont, the #1 offensive efficiency team in the conference, to 72 & 68 points in their 2 meetings. When facing offenses ranked in the lower half of the OVC in efficiency Murray State allows just 61 PPG. SE Mizzou State ranks 9th in the league in offensive efficiency. The Racers are averaging 71 PPG in OVC play but against the top 3 ranked defensive efficiency teams at they have averaged only 60 PPG. SE Missouri State ranks 4th in the conference in defensive efficiency so we expect Murray State to struggle here. Like SEMO the Racers are also a poor FT shooting team hitting only 68% as a team. This will be a game with limited possessions and we look for both defenses to have the advantage here. SEMO has gone under the total in 6 of their last 7 and Murray State has stayed under in 4 of their last 5. Take the UNDER. |
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01-31-21 | Northern Iowa v. Southern Illinois OVER 138.5 | Top | 68-71 | Win | 100 | 8 h 28 m | Show |
#829/830 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Over 138.5 Points – Northern Iowa @ Southern Illinois, Sunday at 6 PM ET - These two played on Saturday and tallied 136 points with UNI winning 74-62. The game stayed under by a couple of points as the closing total was 138 at most spots. The two teams combined to make 50 of their 108 shots which isn’t bad at 46%. However, digging deeper we can see a lot of points were left off the board in this game. While they shot OK overall, their 3-point shooting numbers and FT numbers were horrible. The 2 teams combined to make only 11 of their 40 three point attempts (barely 25%) and from the charity stripe they combined to make 25 FT’s on 47 attempts (53%). Both teams drastically underperformed their season averages in those 2 categories as UNI hits 34% of their 3’s on the year and SIU hits 37% (49th nationally). From the stripe they hit 68% and 70% respectively. It’s not as if these teams are lock down defensively from the arc either as NIU ranks 312th nationally defending the 3 and SIU ranks 299th. It was simply an off shooting performance. Expect a much better offensive performance from these teams on Sunday as both defense rank at the very bottom of the Missouri Valley in most key categories. They are 9th & 10th in defensive efficiency (10 team league) and neither of the two rank above 8th in eFG% defense, 2-point % defense, or 3-point % defense. We look for this one to get into the mid 140’s on Sunday so take the OVER. |
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01-30-21 | Minnesota v. Purdue UNDER 141 | Top | 62-81 | Loss | -112 | 13 h 57 m | Show |
#741/742 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 141 Points – Minnesota @ Purdue, Saturday at 7:30 PM ET - We have 2 offenses in this game that have struggled in conference play. Purdue ranks 11th in the offensive efficiency with Minnesota ranking 10th in that category. These teams also rank 14th (last) and 11th in eFG% and 14th and 13th in 3 point percentage. The Gophers average 70 PPG in league play (7th) while Purdue averages 66 (11th). The Boilers are missing one of their top offensive performers as Sasha Stefanovic, who leads the Big 10 in 3 point shooting percentage, is out due to covid protocols. In their only game with out Stefanovic, Purdue scored 53 points at home vs Michigan last Friday. He’s a huge part of their offense and will be missed on Saturday. Minnesota has one of the largest home/road dichotomies on the nation. The Gophers average just 63 PPG on the road in Big 10 play and they’ve topped 65 points just once and that was @ Iowa who ranks 9th in the league in defensive efficiency and ranks 68th nationally in tempo. When Minnesota played @ Wisconsin and @ Michigan, 2 of the slower paced teams in the conference similar to Purdue, the Gophs scored 59 and 57 points. On top of that, Minnesota is shooting just 31% on the road (25% from 3) and Purdue has allowed an average of just 64 PPG in their 7 homes games this year. The Boilers will make this a slow paced game and we don’t see either team getting into the 70’s. Take the UNDER. |
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01-30-21 | Ole Miss v. Georgia UNDER 142 | 61-71 | Win | 100 | 11 h 12 m | Show | |
#721/722 ASA PLAY ON 8* Under 142 Points – Ole Miss @ Georgia, Saturday at 6 PM ET - These two met a few weeks ago and the total was set at 147. They combined to scored 152 points yet this number is set lower at 142.5. Hmm… In the first meeting these two team shot lights out combining to make 58 of their 107 shots (54.2%) and they made over 43% of their 3 points attempts. Even with that, the game was sitting at 132 total points with 3:30 remaining and they scored a ridiculous 20 points to close it out. At half the game was 29-28 and they went crazy scoring 95 points in the 2nd half. The hot shooting was definitely out of character for these two teams as they rank 12th and 13th in SEC play in offensive efficiency. They are also both poor 3-point shooting teams ranking 281st and 322nd nationally in that category. Neither team gets to the line very often but if they do they shoot 67% and 66% from the stripe. UGA want to play fast but Ole Miss plays very slow and we expect them to control the tempo here as they did in the first game which was slow paced as they combined for just 107 shots as we mentioned above. We just don’t see any way these two teams shoot as well as they did in the first meeting. Because Ole Miss often controls the tempo and limits possessions, their games are mainly low scoring. Their games this season average 131 total points and they have gone UNDER the total in 13 of their 15 games this season. The Rebels are also 21-5 to the UNDER their last 26 road games dating back to last season. Neither team reaches the 70’s here and we grab the UNDER. |
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01-30-21 | Illinois-Chicago +3.5 v. Northern Kentucky | 67-69 | Win | 100 | 9 h 40 m | Show | |
#685 ASA PLAY ON 8* Illinois Chicago +3.5 over Northern Kentucky, Saturday at 5 PM ET - These 2 played last night with NKU coming out on top 72-68. The host made 20 FT’s to UIC’s 9 which turned out to be the difference in the game. The Flames absolutely dominated the boards 40 to 27 including 14 offensive rebounds but they shot just 38% for the game. The Hilltoppers are a poor rebounding team (328th in defensive rebounding) and one of the smallest teams in the country. We full expect Illinois Chicago to dominated the boards again on Saturday. Northern KY is one of the worst 3 points shooting teams in the nation and they were off from deep on Friday making 4 of 14 vs a UIC defense that allows just 26% from beyond the arc (6th best nationally). On Saturday we expect the Hilltoppers to struggle again from deep as they have for much of the season and if they don’t have a huge edge at the FT line, the Flames will have a great shot to win this game outright. After last night’s win, NKU is now 6-5 in Horizon League play and all of their wins prior to last night game against teams rated in the bottom 4 of the conference. We feel the Flames are a bit undervalued as they are now at full strength after playing 4 of their 9 Horizon League games without their top big man Bridges (10 PPG & 5 RPG). He’s back to full strength and we like UIC to win this game in quick revenge mode after losing a tight one last night. Take the points. |
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01-29-21 | Ohio v. Buffalo -1.5 | Top | 76-75 | Loss | -117 | 6 h 10 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Buffalo -1.5 over Ohio, 7 PM ET - We are backing the home team Buffalo in this MAC showdown and expect a double-digit win by the home team. The Bulls stand 4-3 SU in conference play this season while Ohio U checks in at 5-4 SU. These two teams are very similar in terms of offensive efficiency in MAC play with Ohio averaging 1.124 points per possession while Buffalo averages 1.09PPP. Defensively it’s not close as the Bulls have the best defensive efficiency rating in conference play at .982PPP allowed compared to the Bobcats who give up 1.114PPP which ranks second to last in the MAC. Ohio is 0-4 against the top four teams in the conference (Buffalo is 5th) and lost by an average of 11PPG in all four. Buffalo is on a 4-1 ATS run right now and has covered 5 of their last six conference games. The Bulls have also won 7 of the last ten meetings with the Bobcats. When Ohio has faced better competition, it hasn’t gone well for them with a 2-5 ATS their last seven against a team with a winning record. Lastly, Buffalo has a +11PPG differential at home this season and should have their way offensively against a Bobcats defense allowing over 80PPG on the road. |
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01-28-21 | Morehead State v. Jacksonville State -4.5 | Top | 85-66 | Loss | -110 | 12 h 49 m | Show |
#736 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Jacksonville State -4.5 over Morehead State, Wednesday at 8:30 PM ET - These two met just a few weeks ago with Morehead winning 56-55 at home. Jacksonville State had a shot at the buzzer to pull off the road win but missed and came up just short. Jax State hit just 33% of their shot in that game and made only 6 of 23 from deep and still nearly won the game on the road. Now we’re getting great value in this revenge spot as Jacksonville State was favored by 3 @ Morehead State in that loss and now they are laying just 3.5 at home. Not only that, the Gamecocks were missing 2 key players in that game and still nearly won the game. Starting forward Kayne Henry and 6th man Amanze Ngumezi both issues that game and they’ve since come back and played very well. Ngumezi has scored 51 points in his 4 games since returning and Henry has put up 46 points in the same span. Morehead State is 8-2 in conference play but they’ve played on of the easiest slates thus far in the OVC and their last 3 wins have come vs the 2 lowest rated teams in the league. Jax State has just one home loss this year and that was vs Belmont the best team in the OVC (16-1 overall / 10-0 in conference play) and that was a tight game with the Gamecocks trailing by just 2 points with under 3:00 remaining int eh game. It was a 7 point win over Belmont but Jacksonville State hung to the end despite an -18 made FT margin. The Gamecocks shoot 50% at home and have a point margin if +17 per game at home. Morehead State has a -6 PPG margin on the road this year and we like Jax State to get their revenge at home on Thursday night. |
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01-27-21 | Wisconsin -3 v. Maryland | 61-55 | Win | 100 | 14 h 19 m | Show | |
#701 ASA PLAY ON 8* Wisconsin -3 over Maryland, Wed at 9 PM ET - We’re getting a very good Wisconsin team in revenge mode AND off a loss. We really like this spot. The Badgers lost at home to Maryland 70-64 back on December 28th. In that game the Terps hit 50% of their shots for 1.11 PPP and made 80% of their FT’s. That was vs a Wisconsin defense that has allowed less than 1.00 PPP in conference play and it was the Badgers worst defensive efforts of the season on a PPP basis. On the season in Big 10 play Maryland is averaging just 0.98 PPP and making only 63% of their FT’s so the numbers in the first meeting were not indicative of this team. They played over their heads. We also get Wisconsin coming off a home loss vs Ohio State on Saturday and Maryland coming off a road upset at Minnesota over the weekend. The Terps have pulled a number of upsets on the road topping Illinois, Minnesota, and Rutgers, however they have not yet won at home in Big 10 play. They have lost all 3 of their Big 10 home games by double digits. The Badgers on the other hand, have lost only 1 conference road game and that was @ Michigan. The Badgers are a very solid 3-point shooting team (34th nationally) and facing a Maryland defense that ranks 13th in the Big 10 at defending the 3. If UW holds a lead late as we expect, they also make 76% of their freebies in league play. The Badgers were favored by 10 at home in the first meeting and now only 3 on the road despite zero home court advantage? Bad line and we’ll take Wisconsin. |
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01-27-21 | Boise State v. Colorado State +2.5 | Top | 56-78 | Win | 100 | 14 h 15 m | Show |
#692 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Colorado State +2.5 over Boise State, Wed at 9 PM ET - Wrong team is favored here according to our power ratings. Boise State sits at 9-0 in the MWC however they’ve played the easiest schedule in league play. The Broncos have not played a single team ranked in the top 6 in the conference. All 9 of their wins have come vs the bottom 5 teams in the Mountain West. The 5 teams they’ve faced in the MWC rank 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th in conference defensive efficiency (MWC has 11 teams in the conference). The 5 offenses they’ve faced rank 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th in MWC offensive efficiency. Boise hasn’t faced a team ranked inside the top 180 since December 9th! CSU has an 8-2 conference record but they’ve had the much tougher slate. The Rams have already faced the 2 highest rated teams in the conference (San Diego St & Utah St) and split the 2 game series which each of those teams. On top of that, both of those 2 games series was on the road. Their most recent win they knocked off Utah State 84-76 on the road last Thursday after the Aggies entered the game winning 11 in a row. The Rams are happy to finally be at home where they are 6-0 this year but haven’t played here since January 9th. CSU is one of the best shooting teams in the nation ranking 21st in the country in eFG% and 3-point FG% while also making 77% of their FT’s. They are even better at home making over 50% of their shots and hitting 45% of their shots from deep. The Rams take out Boise tonight. |
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01-27-21 | Marquette v. Providence -1.5 | 63-72 | Win | 100 | 12 h 24 m | Show | |
#668 ASA PLAY ON 8* Providence -1.5 over Marquette, Wed at 7 PM ET - The Friars are just happy to finally be playing a game at home. After a 4 game road trip they are back on their home court for the first time since January 2nd. One of their opponents on that tough 4 game road trip was this Marquette team. The Golden Eagles topped Providence 79-69 in that game but it was an obvious letdown spot for the Friars while Marquette was in a very solid situation at home. Just 2 days prior to their game @ Marquette, the Friars blew a 7-point lead with 1:30 remaining in the game @ Xavier with the Musketeers hitting a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win 74-73. The quick turnaround was rough for this Providence team while Marquette had a full week off entering their game with the Friars. Providence hung around and trailed by just 2 points with just over 3:00 minutes remaining before a rested Golden Eagle team pulled away. Marquette has won their last 2 road games, however they came against St Johns (by 2) and Georgetown (by 4) who are the 9th and 11th rated teams in the Big East (who has 11 teams). The Eagles are coming off a home loss to DePaul who is the 10th rated team. Providence has played the much tougher Big East schedule (#1 SOS in conference play) yet these 2 have identical 4-5 conference records. The Friars, despite their first loss to Marquette in a bad situation, actually matched up well with the Eagles. That’s because Marquette relies fairly heavily on their 3-point shooting and Providence has the #1 three point defense in Big East play allowing opponents to shoot just 30%. On the other side, Marquette has the worst defensive efficiency numbers in the league (11th in Big East play) and they also rank last at defending the arc while the Friars are the 2nd best three point shooting team in conference games. Providence gets their revenge here with a home win. |
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01-26-21 | Mississippi State v. Tennessee UNDER 131 | Top | 53-56 | Win | 100 | 22 h 6 m | Show |
#611/612 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 131 Points – Mississippi State @ Tennessee, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - Two of the slowest paced teams who are both struggling on offense calls for the UNDER here. Mississippi State ranks 312th in pace of play and the Volunteers come in at 306th in that category (out of 357 teams). Tennessee has been missing key offensive player (Springer) the last 2 games and they’ve scored 68 or less in 3 of their last 4 games. Starting PG Vescovi is also banged up with a bad hip but he’s been playing and scored just 10 total points the last 2 games (was averaging 10 PPG prior to last 2 games). The Vols now rank 10th in the SEC (conference play) in both offensive efficiency and eFG%. The Mississippi State offense has average 1.00 PPP or less in 5 of their last 7 games and now they face a defense that ranks 3rd nationally in efficiency allowing just 0.88 PPP. We expect both Tennessee & MSU to be held under 1.00 PPP which will make it very tough at a slow pace to reach this total. Both teams defenses rank above the offenses in conference efficiency which we like to look for when considering Unders. One thing that can kill under bets is if both teams end up getting to the FT line a lot. That shouldn’t be the case here as both defenses foul infrequently giving up just 15% and 17% of their opponents points at the line. So there shouldn’t be a ton of FT’s in this game and when they do get there neither team is great at the line with MSU shooting 63% and UT hitting 71%. We expect this one to be a grind it out, physical SEC match up. Under is the call. |
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01-26-21 | Western Michigan v. Ohio OVER 141 | Top | 58-81 | Loss | -109 | 11 h 35 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* OVER 141 Western Michigan @ Ohio U, 6PM ET Ohio U has scored 75+ points in seven straight games and has played in two straight that ended with 168 and 162 total points. In their last three games the Bobcats have scored 78 or better and that was against teams rated slightly better than Western in defensive efficiency. In fact, Ohio recently played Northern Illinois at home, who is comparable to Western in terms of pace, offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency and they combined for 149 total points. Ohio U is the second most efficient offense in the conference averaging 1.119-points per possession but they’re also the 2nd worst when it comes to defensive efficiency. Western has had trouble scoring points with an offensive efficiency rating in MAC play below 1-point per possession BUT they’ve faced the five best defensive teams in the conference in their last five games. Again, now they face Ohio who has one of the worst defenses in MAC play. WMU just played Akron and Vegas set a number of 138 on their game and the Zips are similar to Ohio U on offense but much better defensively. WMU and Akron finished with 147 total points. This one GOES OVER rather easily. |
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01-25-21 | Syracuse +6.5 v. Virginia | Top | 58-81 | Loss | -109 | 22 h 18 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Syracuse +6.5 over Virginia, 7PM ET Virginia is coming off a down to the wire win against Georgia Tech on Saturday, a game in which the Yellow Jackets led for most of the game. The Cavs were an 8.5-point home favorite in that game and recently a 9.5-point chalk against Notre Dame and those two teams aren’t as good as this Syracuse team. Virginia is just 1-2 ATS at home in conference action. The Cuse are off a pair of quality wins over Miami and Virginia Tech by 26 and 18-points respectively. In ACC play these two have similar overall efficiency numbers with Virginia first in offensive efficiency while Syracuse is 3rd. The Cavs check in with the 2nd ranked ACC defensive efficiency number while the Cuse are 5th. Points are a premium in this matchup of the 2/3 zone by Syracuse and the Pack-line D used by the Cavaliers which makes the dog that much more attractive. In the last two meetings (not including OT) these two have combined for 82 and 86 Total points. Grab the points with Syracuse. |
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01-23-21 | Furman v. East Tennessee State +3.5 | 62-71 | Win | 100 | 19 h 36 m | Show | |
ASA play on 8* #678 East Tennessee State +3.5 over Furman, 4PM ET - This is another quick turnaround game for both teams as they just met at Furman last Saturday. Furman won that game by 12-points as a 10-point chalk. The glaring difference in that game was the 3-point shooting as the Paladins hit 8 of 26 compared to ETSU making just 4 of 20. We expect those number to trend in the opposite direction now that this game is being played on the Buccaneers court. ETSU has gone 72-13 (.847) inside Freedom Hall since the start of the 2015-16 season, including a 5-1 mark this year and a 16-1 record last year. Since the start of the 2015-16 campaign, ETSU has won the most games in the Southern Conference with 75 victories, Furman is next at 70. In five SoCon games this season, ETSU leads the conference in rebound margin (+6.4), ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.422) and scoring defense (69.2), ranks third in three-point field goal percentage (.383), three-point field goal percentage defense (.317) and scoring margin (+5.6). The Bucs are slightly lower than Furman in conference offensive efficiency ratings but hold a sizeable advantage in defensive efficiency. Those are significant numbers considering ETSU has played the tougher schedule. In SoCon road games Furman is 0-3 ATS with a 4-point win at Chattanooga, 6-point win at The Citadel and a 1-point loss at VMI and none of those teams are as good as ETSU. This is a quick revenge game and East Tennessee State will enjoy a home court advantage here with a handful of fans |
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01-23-21 | Duke v. Louisville -1 | Top | 65-70 | Win | 100 | 19 h 54 m | Show |
#676 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Louisville -1 over Duke, Saturday at 4:00 PM ET - We’re not jumping off this train yet. We’ve gone against Duke in each of their last 2 games and cashed on both @ Va Tech and @ Pitt. Now they are playing their 3rd straight road game @ Louisville on Saturday. The Devils continue to be overvalued as they are now 1-8 ATS on the season and their spread losses have come by an average of 12 PPG. In other words, they aren’t even close to covering. Louisville is coming off a home loss on Monday vs a red hot FSU team. The Noles are playing FAR better than Duke right now and the Cards were favored by 4 in that game. Now laying only 2 points vs a Duke team that is really struggling. The Devils aren’t built to win on the road right now. They aren’t a good 3-point shooting team (223rd nationally) and they don’t defend the 3 point line well (295th nationally). They don’t get to the FT line with only 13.7% of their points coming from the line (332nd nationally) so they have to shoot really well to have a chance to win and they simply aren’t a great shooting team. On top of that, Duke has been sending teams to the line a lot in ACC play with almost 20% of opponents points coming from the stripe. The Devils also rank dead last in the league in defensive efficiency (conference games). The Cards are every bit as good as Va Tech & Pitt, the 2 teams that just beat Duke (by 7 & 6 points) and coming off a home less sets them up for a solid performance. We fade Duke again on Saturday. |
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01-23-21 | Clemson v. Florida State -7 | 61-80 | Win | 100 | 18 h 45 m | Show | |
#656 ASA PLAY ON 8* Florida State -7 over Clemson, Saturday at 3:00 PM ET - Two teams heading in opposite directions here. FSU has been on fire since they came back from their 15 day covid hiatus. Since their return, they’ve beaten NC State by 32, UNC by 7, and Louisville by 13. They are extremely deep and tough to guard with 9 players averaging double digit minutes and 6 players averaging between 8 and 15 points. They have 5 players shooting 40% or better from beyond the arc. Since their covid return, the Noles have made 96 of their 182 shots (53%) and 44 of their 48 FT’s. They should have a field day vs a Clemson defense that has solid overall defensive numbers, but the Tigers have been trending down. Over their last 2 games vs UVA and Georgia Tech, the Clemson defense has allowed a ridiculous 1.47 and 1.32 PPP. The Tigers were destroyed in both of those games losing to the Cavs by 35 and the Yellow Jackets by 18. The two games prior to that Clemson struggled to beat NC State at home (won in OT), the same team FSU just beat by 30+. The game before that they came from behind in the 2nd half to beat a Miami team, that is 2-6 in ACC, by 1 point. On top of that, just before their covid break, FSU traveled to Clemson and lost by 10 points as a 1 point underdog. That was the Noles worst offensive performance of the season on a PPG and PPP basis. Clemson also held a HUGE edge at the FT line in that game with the Tigers going 24 of 33 from the stripe and FSU going 6 of 9. Clemson has scored just 66, 52, 62, and 65 points over their last 4 games (in regulation). Now with FSU rolling offensively and Clemson struggling on defense, we’re not sure Clemson can keep up in this game. |
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01-23-21 | Eastern Washington -2.5 v. Northern Colorado | 82-76 | Win | 100 | 17 h 40 m | Show | |
ASA play on 8* #633 Eastern Washington -2.5 over Northern Colorado, 2PM ET - In the new Covid climate back-to-back games in conference play are now the norm. That’s the case here as EW and Northern Colorado just met the other night with UNCO coming out on top 78-76. Eastern had the ball and a chance to win with 11 seconds left, but a turnover and foul led to a pair of game-winning free throws by the Bears with one tick of the clock left. Eastern sank 49 percent of its shots from the field and 88% from the free throw line, but the Eagles made just three 3-pointers compared to 13 for the Bears, who sank 43.3 percent of their treys compared to 18.8 percent for EWU. The Eagles, the preseason and defending regular season champions, are 3-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big Sky Conference. Northern Colorado was picked to finish fifth by the coaches in the Big Sky Conference preseason polls and are off to a 5-4 start. The Eagles have the best overall offensive efficiency rating in the Big Sky at 1.117PPP compared to Northern Colorado who is 9th at less than 1-point per possession. UNCO is better when it comes to conference defensive efficiency ratings than EWU, but six of the Bears games have come against three teams that are in the bottom five in OEFF in conference action. Off that disappointing loss the Eagles bounce back here with a big win. |
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01-22-21 | St. Peter's +4.5 v. Siena | Top | 68-62 | Win | 100 | 12 h 59 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* St Peters +4.5 over Siena, 7 PM ET - Siena is what we call a ‘false favorite’ as their undefeated record of 6-0 SU has them over-valued here. Siena has played all conference opponents to date but four of those games were against Rider and Fairfield who are 6-14 in Metro action and two of the worst teams in the league. St Peters has faced Niagara and Canisius who are both better than Rider and Fairfield and both teams have faced Monmouth. Siena beat Monmouth twice while St Peters split with them, winning by 2 and losing by 2. The lines on the games against Monmouth are the tell in this situation as St Peters was favored by 2-points in both games at Monmouth while Siena was -2.5-point favorites at home. In fact, St Peters has been a favorite in every conference game this season. Last season these teams met twice and both games went down to the wire with a 5-point and 3-point margin. Siena also has some injury concerns while the Peacocks are healthy. Easy call here with the points. |
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01-21-21 | Wichita State +3 v. Memphis | Top | 52-72 | Loss | -103 | 12 h 54 m | Show |
#730 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Wichita State +3 over Memphis, Thursday at 7 PM ET - Memphis continues to be overrated by the oddsmakers. They have lost 7 straight games vs the number by a combined 57 points or -8 PPG vs the spread. Since December 1st the Tigers haven’t beaten a single team ranked inside the top 100. They are 1-5 SU overall vs top 100 teams with their lone win in their season opener vs St Marys. They are 2-2 in the AAC with their wins coming vs Tulane by 6 and South Florida by 1. Those 2 teams are ranked last and 8th in the 11 team conference. Their 2 losses came vs Tulsa, a team Wichita just beat by 19 in their most recent game (they’ve already beaten Tulsa twice). The Shockers have been impressive this year with 4 wins already vs top 100 opponents and their only 3 losses have come at the hands of Missouri (by 10), Oklahoma State (by 3) and Houston (by 7) – all ranked inside the top 40 with Houston currently ranked 8th. Their 7 point loss @ Houston was the Cougars closest win this season and a game the Shockers led by 7 in the 2nd half. Wichita has played the much tougher schedule and much more consistent schedule as they’ve played 4 games in January but have had a week off to get ready for this game. Memphis, on the other hand, just played their first game since December 29th last Sunday, a 58-57 loss @ Tulsa. The Tigers are a poor shooting team that has only top 0.90 PPP once in their last 5 games. The last three games they’ve scored 49, 58, and 57 points. We don’t think they should be favored in this game so we’ll grab the generous points with Wichita State |
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01-20-21 | VCU v. St Bonaventure UNDER 140.5 | Top | 54-70 | Win | 100 | 5 h 24 m | Show |
#669/670 ASA TOP PLAY ON Under 140.5, VCU @ St Bonaventure, Wed at 5 PM ET - Value here is on the Under according to our numbers. We had this total set at 136 and when it came out at 138 we liked the value. Now that it has been bet up a few more points the UNDER now is a play on for us. VCU likes to play fast and when they face off with opponent that would prefer to play at a quick tempo, they’ve had some high scoring games. They are averaging 76 PPG on the season but their numbers are higher than they should be because the majority of their opponents are fast paced. The Rams have played 13 games this season and only 4 of those were vs teams ranked 200 or lower in pace of play. In those 4 games vs slower paced teams, the average combined points scored was 126 and only 1 of those games topped 140. St Bonnies ranks 275th in tempo and they are at home in this game. We’ve found it’s much easier to slow a team down rather than speed a team up. In other words, the slower team usually gets the tempo they prefer. We also have 2 top notch defenses here both ranking in the top 60 nationally in both defensive efficiency and eFG% allowed. The Bonnies have topped 140 just twice this year and they’ve now gone under the total in 5 straight. The Rams have gone under in 5 of their last 6 road games. The last 2 years when these teams have met the totals have been set in the 120’s. Now 140? Someone is going to have to get to 70+ points for this to have a shot at going over and our numbers say neither get there. Take the UNDER. |
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01-19-21 | Duke v. Pittsburgh +4.5 | 73-79 | Win | 100 | 7 h 27 m | Show | |
#640 ASA PLAY ON 8* Pittsburgh +4.5 over Duke, Tuesday at 9 PM ET - We do not get the love for Duke. They simply aren’t very good this season. But again, this line opened with Duke favored by -2 and has jumped to -4 as people continue to play them. Very similar to last week when we took Va Tech over Duke after the Hokies opened as a 1-point favorite but went off as a 2-point dog. VT controlled the entire game on their way to a 7 point win as the dog. Duke’s spread record is an abysmal 1-7 ATS this season as the continue to be overvalued because of their name. Not only have they consistently lost to the number, it hasn’t been close. Their 7 spread losses have come by an average of 12.2 PPG. Even if we throw in their 1 spread win @ Notre Dame, the Devils average spread loss this year is by 10 points. They sit at 3-1 in the ACC, however their 3 wins have come vs the 3 lowest rated teams in the league (BC, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame). Pitt is flying under the radar right now in our opinion. This is a very solid team. They have won 7 of their last 8 games with their only loss during that run coming @ Louisville and the Panthers were without 2 of their best players, both starters, in that game. Both of those players, Toney (16 PPG) and Champagnie (19 PPG), have both returned to the line up and played very well. Pitt’s defense is the best in the ACC in league play allowing just 0.92 PPP. Duke’s defense in ACC play ranks allowing 1.07 PPP despite not playing a team ranked in the top 5 in the league in offensive efficiency and playing 3 teams ranked 11th or lower in that category. Duke shoots a lot of 3’s (almost 39% of their shots come from deep) but they are not particularly good at it. Pitt’s defense ranks 9th nationally at defending the arc allowing only 25.9%. The Devils also don’t get to the FT line with just 13% of their points coming from the stripe (330th nationally). Not a recipe for winning on the road. We like Pitt in this game both at +4 and throwing a little on the money line as well. |
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01-19-21 | Colorado State +7.5 v. Utah State | Top | 64-83 | Loss | -110 | 14 h 55 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Colorado State +7.5 @ Utah State, 9 PM ET - Utah State is coming off a HUGE 2-game series with San Diego State and played both games at a high level, so a letdown is imminent. San Diego State was one of the favorites to win the conference this season which is why they were small favorites in both game on this court over the weekend with the Aggies. Those two wins by Utah State has caused an over-reaction by the oddsmakers which has driven this line up to where it is now, yet Colorado State may be better than San Diego State. CSU is 3rd in the conference in OEFF at 1.115 (San Diego State 8th) and 3rd in DEFF (SDSU 5th). The Rams are a great shooting team with an EFG% of 56 (23rd in nation), 39.2% 3-point shooting (21st) a 2-pt percentage of 53.5%. Utah State will have a much tougher time defending the Rams shooters in this game than they did SDSU. Utah State has some incredible defensive numbers this season but prior to the two games against San Diego State they hadn’t played a team ranked higher than 212 per KenPom in 8 straight games. We like the Rams and the points here in a close game. |
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01-18-21 | Florida State v. Louisville -1.5 | Top | 78-65 | Loss | -112 | 12 h 48 m | Show |
#876 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Louisville -1.5 over Florida State, Monday at 7 PM ET - The Cards are coming off a 78-72 loss @ Miami in a game they were favored by -4.5 points. Their starting guards, Jones and Johnson, both shoot around 40% from 3-point land combined for 2 of 9 from deep on Saturday. The Cards as a team made only 3 of 20 from deep which was the difference in the game. The should fare much better at home on Monday vs an FSU defense that is poor at defending the arc (263rd nationally). The Noles topped North Carolina on Saturday, however the Heels, who entered Saturday ranked 11th in the ACC in 3-point shooting, made 10 shots from deep vs FSU. The Noles had a long 2+ week break recently due to covid issues and they’ve had 2 games since that break both at home last Wednesday and on Saturday. They won both games and their offense was ridiculously good. Over the 2 games they made 65 of their 108 shot attempts (60%), 20 of their 34 three point attempts (59%), and 37 of their 38 FT attempts (97%). While they do have an efficient offense, those numbers are not sustainable especially now that they take the road for only the 2nd time this season. Their first road game was @ Clemson and FSU lost that game by 10 shooting 42% overall and just 28% from deep. They are facing a very solid Louisville defense (allowing 0.93 PPP) coming off one of their worst efforts of the year on Saturday as Miami hit them for 1.15 PPP. Expect the Cards to play very well defensively on Monday. FSU is also a bit banged up with guards Barnes (11 PPG) possibly out and and Walker (16 PPG) a game time decision. Louisville is 7-0 at home this year and they are also 19-4 their last 23 home meetings with FSU. The Noles are a bit overvalued right now and Louisville is at home off a loss. Nice spot to lay the small number. |
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01-17-21 | Indiana State v. Illinois State OVER 140.5 | Top | 74-68 | Win | 100 | 4 h 49 m | Show |
#829/830 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Over 140.5 Points – Indiana State @ Illinois State, Sunday at 4 PM ET - These 2 played yesterday with Indiana State winning 73-65 for a total score of 138. They reached that number despite both shooting poorly (40.8% combined overall) and neither hitting 30% from the 3-point line. Both are solid 3-point shooting teams hitting 35% & 38% on the season so we expect a much better effort on the offensive end on Sunday. Both underachieved as well on a points per possession basis with the Sycamores putting up 1.00 PPP and the Redbirds 0.89 PPP, both below their season averages. Neither team is good defensively 273rd and 277th nationally in eFG% defense. Illinois State has allowed at least 70 points in 8 of their 11 games on the season and Indiana State has given up at least 70 in 7 of their 12 games. Their overall offensive numbers in league don’t look great with Indiana State averaging 67 PPG in league play and Illinois State averaging 61 PPG, however of their 12 combined games in the MVC this season, 8 of them have come against the 3 top defensive teams in the league (Loyola, Drake, and Mizzou St). Both like to play fast and it took a half for each offense to get comfortable with the opposing defense yesterday. After scoring just 57 combined points in the first half they put up 81 in the 2nd. We say they pick up where they left off on Saturday and this goes over the total (currently set at 141). |
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01-16-21 | Baylor -4.5 v. Texas Tech | Top | 68-60 | Win | 100 | 10 h 33 m | Show |
#691 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Baylor -4.5 over Texas Tech, 4:00 PM ET - Baylor has been one of two dominant teams this year along with Gonzaga. The Bears are 11-0 with all 11 wins coming by double digits. That includes 4 wins vs top 100 teams and an 13 point win vs an outstanding Illinois team who ranks 8th nationally in the power rankings. Their average margin of victory on the season is +28 points. They rank in the top 5 nationally in BOTH offensive and defensive efficiency. The Bears also rank in the top 10 nationally in eFG%, 3 point %, and offensive rebounding. This is as complete a team as you’ll find in the nation. Texas Tech is solid. They are not on the same level as Baylor. The Red Raiders have already lost 2 home games vs Oklahoma State & Kansas. They have won just 2 games this season vs top 50 teams both by margins of 2 points. Tech is coming off a huge won @ Texas winning 79-77 on a last second shot by Mac McClung. The Raiders were more than fortunate as they led that game for a total of 45 seconds. Baylor won both games in this Big 12 series last year and the Bears have taken a big step forward while our ratings have Tech at about the same level as a year ago. We actually feel Tech is a bit overvalued as they’ve lost 5 straight home games to the number. Baylor is the much better team this season and we’ll lay the small number. |
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01-16-21 | Michigan v. Minnesota +6 | 57-75 | Win | 100 | 8 h 49 m | Show | |
#646 ASA PLAY ON 8* Minnesota +6 over Michigan, Saturday at 2:00 PM ET - We think the Gophers have a great shot to pull off the upset here. Michigan steps in with an undefeated 10-0 record but they’ve played the easiest conference schedule to date. They’ve already faced Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, and Maryland, the 4 lowest power rated teams in the conference. The Wolverines have also been on the road for only 2 of their 10 games this season and those games were back in December vs Northwestern and Maryland, 2 of the 3 lowest rated teams in the Big 10. Michigan is also coming off a huge win over Wisconsin (their only top tier conference opponent they’ve faced) and they played the perfect game. They hit 52% of their shots, 56% of their 3’s. and 100% of their FT’s. Wisconsin shot and play terribly in the game and that win has now pushed Michigan into the overvalued category in our opinion. We fully expect a come back to earth, letdown game for the Wolverines. Minnesota’s home / road dichotomy is as drastic as any in the nation. They stink on the road. They are 0-4 on the road getting beat by double digits in each. That includes an 82-57 loss @ Michigan just 10 days ago. Can you say quick revenge? At home the Gophers are 10-0 with wins over top tier Big 10 teams Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State, and a win over the top team in the A10 conference St Louis. Minnesota is on the opposite end of the spectrum strength of schedule wise having faced the toughest slate in the Big 10 to date including games vs Iowa (twice), Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State. This will be their 7th straight game vs a ranked opponent. They are also off 2 straight losses (both on the road) and they’ve had since last Sunday to get ready for this game. In the first meeting Minnesota was a 7.5 point dog @ Michigan and now they are getting nearly the same. Last year the Gophs were favored by 2 at home in this match up and won by 2. Value is absolutely on Minnesota and we’ll take it. |
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01-14-21 | Stanford v. Utah +1.5 | Top | 65-79 | Win | 100 | 11 h 51 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Utah +1.5 over Stanford, 5 PM ET *Early tip* With public money immediately flowing in on Stanford this line moved the opposite direction which grabbed our attention. Utah has some tremendous offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency numbers despite playing a brutally tough schedule. The Utes have lost four straight games, but it came against teams rated 28th or better by Kenpom. Utah lost three of those games close to UCLA by 2, Oregon by 6 and Colorado by 7-points and they got outscored from the charity strip by 16 in that one. Stanford has won 3 in a row, but they’ve been playing the bottom of the Pac 12 conference unlike Utah. The Cardinal’s two toughest games have been against Arizona who they beat by 3 and Oregon who they lost by 17. The home team has won 9 of the last ten meetings and Utah is in a desperate situation here. Bet against the public and play on Utah here. |
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01-13-21 | NC State +4.5 v. Florida State | Top | 73-105 | Loss | -108 | 21 h 54 m | Show |
#661 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* NC State +4.5 over Florida State, Wed at 6:30 PM ET - We think this NC State team is undervalued. They are 6-3 on the season but definitely better than their record. This team has only been at 100% for a few games this season as starters Hayes and Funderburk (now coming off bench) have missed a few key games. The Wolfpack are coming off 2 straight losses @ Clemson in OT and at home vs an underrated Miami team in tight game over the weekend. The Canes shot the lights out over the weekend hitting nearly 50% of their shots with NC State hitting only 38% yet the game went to the wire. Because of Covid issues, Florida State hasn’t played in over 2 weeks. Their last game was a 10 point loss @ Clemson on December 29th. Tough to not play a game for that long and come back at an optimum level. Despite their 6-3 record, the Wolfpack are +12 PPG on the season while the 5-2 Seminoles are +8 PPG with a very similar strength of schedule. FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton was blunt about the interruption, "In practice we very seldom, ever, ever have a starting lineup together. We never practice who starts together. We practice different lineups and different groups of guys every day. ... Because we have different mixtures. Everybody's got to blend in." FSU won both games last year in tight fashion with margins of 5 & 6 points giving a little extra motivation to the Wolfpack. We think NC State has a great shot to win this one and we’re getting a decent cushion with the pointspread here. |
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01-12-21 | Duke v. Virginia Tech +2 | Top | 67-74 | Win | 100 | 12 h 41 m | Show |
#624 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Virginia Tech +2 over Duke, Tuesday at 7 PM ET - Duke has been shaky at best all season long with a 6-2 record and their only top 100 win coming vs Notre Dame. The Devils have played only one road game all season and that was over 3 weeks ago. They have played only 2 games since December 16th due to some covid issues. In their 2 games since December 16th they had to come from 16 points down at home to beat a 2-9 Boston College team by 1 points. Duke also beat Wake Forest at home by 11 but the game was much closer than that as the game was tied midway through the 2nd half and they didn’t take their first 10+ point lead until 3:00 minutes remaining in the game. This is a very young team that isn’t built to win games on the road. They rarely get to the FT line (13% of their points from the line – 327th nationally) and they’re poor at defending the arc. Va Tech is 9-2 on the season and their only loss since December 8th was a 2 point loss @ Louisville. They are very solid 3-point shooting team hitting 36% which matches up very nicely vs this Duke defense. The Hokies have covered 5 of their last 6 and remain very underrated in our opinion. This Duke team is nowhere near as good as their teams yet they are still getting the respect because of their name. They are just 1-6 ATS their last 7 games and we’re getting the better team at home around a pick-em here. Take Virginia Tech. |
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01-11-21 | Loyola-Chicago -6.5 v. Indiana State | Top | 58-48 | Win | 100 | 6 h 59 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Loyola Chicago -6.5 over Indiana State, 7PM ET - Loyola Chicago was thrown a “Covid-curveball” when they were scheduled to play Missouri Valley leader Drake this past weekend but instead faced Indiana State. Because of a Covid outbreak on Drakes roster the Ramblers were instead forced to change last minute and travel to play Indiana State. In an obvious let down situation Loyola lost to the Sycamores by 5-points with the big difference in the game being a +12 margin of made free throws for Indiana State. Loyola was projected to be one of the best teams in the MVC this season while Indiana State was expected to finish near the bottom. In fact, the Ramblers rate higher in our power ratings than undefeated Drake, who beat Indiana State on their home court by 18 and 7-points. Prior to the upset in the game Sunday to Indiana State, the Ramblers two previous losses were to quality foes Richmond and Wisconsin. Loyola is the most efficient offense in the Missouri Valley and 2nd in defensive efficiency. Indiana State is the 4th worst in OEFF, 6th worst in DEFF. The Ramblers get payback here after the upset Sunday. |
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01-11-21 | Connecticut v. DePaul +5.5 | 60-53 | Loss | -115 | 5 h 8 m | Show | |
ASA play on 8* DePaul +5.5 over UConn, 6PM ET - We like the spot here and the number as UConn recently beat DePaul as an 8-point home favorite. UConn shot 49% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc while DePaul had a very poor shooting night at 38% overall and 24% from three. The Huskies also got a huge night from guard Bouknight (potential Big East player of the year) who scored 20-points, grabbed 4 rebounds and handed out 3 assists. Bouknight is doubtful here or at the minimum will not be 100% after suffering a hyper-extended elbow recently. We are betting UConn doesn’t shoot nearly as well here, playing their 3rd straight road game, and having season averages of 43.7FG% overall and 36.5% 3-point percentage which are well below what they shot in the first meeting with the Demons. On the other hand we expect DePaul to shoot closer to their regular season averages of 46.9% and 37.8% (3pt). Take the revenge minded home dog here. |
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01-10-21 | Minnesota v. Iowa UNDER 164 | Top | 71-86 | Win | 100 | 7 h 48 m | Show |
#825/826 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 164 Points – Minnesota @ Iowa, Sunday at 2:30 PM ET - These two met just a few weeks ago and Minnesota pulled the upset 102-95 in OT. The total on that high scoring affair was set at 165 and even with the huge numbers put up in that game, this total is set lower. Hmmm. A closer look reveals that these teams ended regulation at 166 and it took a LOT of crazy stuff happening late in the game to get to that number. The halftime score was 38-33 so on pace for 142. The two teams combined to score 24 points in the last 3+ minutes and 15 points in the last minute of play alone. That game was sitting at 151, looking like an easy under, with 60 seconds remaining. On top of all that, the 2 teams combined to make 52 of their 67 FT attempts in the game (77.6%). The offensive efficiency numbers in that game were through the roof with Minnesota averaging 1.32 points per possession & Iowa 1.23. You can bet both coaches were focused on improving their defense here in the 2nd meeting. With Iowa right around a 10 point favorite, the projected score here is right around 87-77. Minnesota has played 3 road games in Big 10 play and scored 57, 59, and 65 points. They are shooting just 30% from the field in road games. Iowa might have to get to 90 for this to have any chance. While they did that in abundance before conference play, they haven’t reached 90 a single time (in regulation) since Big 10 play began. UNDER is the value play here. |
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01-09-21 | Virginia v. Boston College OVER 131 | Top | 61-49 | Loss | -108 | 7 h 43 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* OVER 131 Virginia at Boston College, 2PM ET Granted it’s hard to play Over on a Cavaliers game but we’ll do it here with the value in the number. Virginia is one of THE slowest paced teams in college basketball but they have one of the best offensive efficiency ratings at 1.111 points per possession. The Cavs have put up 66 and 70 points in their last two games against Notre Dame and Wake Forest and both ended with 123 total points and 131. Those two teams don’t play anywhere near as fast as Boston College who is 45th in tempo and 84th in average possession length. The Eagles are also 82nd in adjusted offensive efficiency and average 1.066PPP. Virginia will score here too against a BC defense that is last in the ACC in defensive efficiency. The lowest total points scored in a BC game this year is 133 in Game 2 against Rhode Island. The Eagles have totaled 140 or more in 8 straight games. Bet this one Over! |
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01-09-21 | Ohio State v. Rutgers -3 | 79-68 | Loss | -118 | 14 h 8 m | Show | |
#616 ASA CBB PLAY ON 8* Rutgers -3 over Ohio State, Saturday at 12 PM ET - We’ve been waiting for this rematch for a few weeks now. These two Big 10 programs met just before Xmas @ Ohio State and the Buckeyes won 80-68. We watched that game closely and the Scarlet Knights dominated for about 80% of the game. They took their first lead with just over 15 minutes remaining in the game and did not relinquish that lead until just over 4:00 minutes remaining in the game. They led by 16 with less with 15 minutes remaining and still up by 10 with just over 10 minutes remaining. One of their top players, Jacob Young, was injured midway through the 2nd half and did not return and he is back at 100%. They were outscored by 18 points over the last 8 minutes to make it look like they got smoked and that was not the case. Rutgers is now 3-3 in conference play and this is a huge game for them. They have played the toughest slate of home games thus far in league play and they are 2-1 with wins over Illinois & Purdue and a 2 point loss vs Iowa. Illinois is currently rated as the best team the conference per KenPom and Iowa is ranked 3rd. In their loss to Iowa the Knights led for much of the game despite going 4 for 12 from the FT line making 14 fewer freebies than the Hawkeyes yet only lost by 2. They could easily be undefeated at home with wins over 2 of the top 3 teams in the Big 10. That Iowa loss was last Saturday and took the wind out of their sails as they followed that up with their worst performance of the year @ MSU. Now off 2 losses, we expect Rutgers to play great at home in this quick revenge spot. OSU has been tough at home but they are 0-3 on the road in Big 10 play with losses @ Northwestern, @ Minnesota, and @ Purdue. The Buckeyes have been a poor 3-point shooting team (last in Big 10 play) and in road games they are only hitting 40% of their shots (just 29% from 3). The Buckeyes are without starting guard CJ Walker for this game as he was injured last weekend vs Minnesota. Speaking of the Gophers, they rolled over OSU by 17 points at home last weekend and we expect Rutgers to control this game from start to finish. The host has covered 5 straight in this series and we lay the small number. |
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01-08-21 | Youngstown State v. Wright State -11.5 | Top | 74-72 | Loss | -105 | 5 h 59 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Wright State -11.5 over Youngstown State, 7 PM ET - We feel Wright State is the best team in the Horizon conference this season, yet they are looking up at Illinois Chicago and Cleveland State in the standings. Cleveland State is 6-0 in league play but have played three of the worst teams in the league in IUPUI, IPFW and this same Youngstown State team that Wright State plays today. Cleveland State beat this Youngstown State team by 18 and 7-points earlier this season. Wright State had ripped off 7 wins in a row before an upset loss to Oakland their last time out. After beating Oakland, the night before by 29, the Raiders lost by 10 as an 11-point chalk. We’ve said it a million times and will say it again, bet good teams off bad losses! Wright State has an adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 64th and an AEO of 116th. Youngstown State is 2-4 in league play and coming off a pair of home games against UW Green Bay who might be the worst team in the Horizon. YSU beat UWGB in the first meeting by 7, then lost the next day by 10 in OT. That’s the same UWGB team Wright State beat by 14 and 13. Wright State has the 2nd best offensive efficiency rating in the Horizon and will exploit a Penguins team that is last in the conference in defensive efficiency allowing 1.183 points per possession. The key here is whether or not Wright State will be motivated against this lesser opponent and we know they will be off a loss in their last game AND a loss to YSU last year in the final meeting of the season. |
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01-07-21 | Murray State -2.5 v. Eastern Illinois | Top | 68-74 | Loss | -115 | 13 h 3 m | Show |
ASA top play on 10* Murray State -2.5 over Eastern Illinois, 8:30 PM ET - Murray State was picked as one of the contenders in the Ohio Valley Conference this year but have gotten off to a 1-3 start. Two of those losses came against Austin Peay and Belmont who are currently two of the top five teams in the OVC. The most recent loss for the Racers came to Morehead State at home which broke a 25-game winning streak on their home court. Eastern Illinois is coming off a win at home which extended their home record to 3-0 this season. Closer inspection though shows those three wins came against weak competition that are not on the level as Murray State. The Panthers most recent win came by 6-points over Tennessee Tech who is one of the worst teams in the OVC. EIU struggles to defend with an efficiency rating of 220th allowing 1.011 points per possession. Their EFG% defense is also horrendous ranking 266th. The Panthers offense isn’t much better ranking 152nd in OEFF at less than 1-point per possession. The Racers are similar to the Panthers in terms of offensive efficiency but much better on the defensive end of the floor allowing .975PPP (135th). The Racers have won 41 out of their 50 regular season meetings and 19 of 27 games at Lantz Arena. Up until their loss there at the end of last season, the Racers had won five in a row and 10 of the last 12 on this court. The Racers bounce back here. |
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