Dave Price
Indiana Pacers +2.5
The Indiana Pacers should not be home underdogs to the Utah Jazz tonight. They are 24-10 at home this season. They are coming off a loss, which has been a great time to back them considering they are 6-0 SU & 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a loss. They haven't lost back-to-back games since mid-February. The Pacers are 13-4 ATS off a blowout loss by 15 points or more over the last 2 seasons. Indiana is 9-0 ATS in home games vs. good defensive teams that allow 98 or fewer points per game over the last 2 seasons. The Jazz are 7-18-1 ATS in their last 26 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
Black Widow
Washington Wizards +3.5
Bets against all teams where the line is +3 to -3 (Boston) revenging a loss vs opponent against an opponent that's off a road loss to a division rival are 54-20 ATS over the last 5 seasons. This situation's record is 8-4 this season alone. The Celtics are playing the second of a back-to-back tonight after a 99-105 loss in Philadelphia Sunday.
Mike Rose
Boise State vs. Illinois
Play: Boise State 8.5
One of the more impressive aspects of the Broncos outright win over the Utes was that they were able to get to the free throw line more. Utah just so happened to be the home team. That’s an oddity this day and age in college basketball, but it tells those looking for some action on this game that Boise State knows how to get to the charity stripe, and take care of business when it gets there. In fact, it averages 23.1 free throws per game and knocks them down at a 71.3% clip. The Illini are the lesser free throw shooting team, so if Boise State can continue playing towards that trend, their work from the stripe will likely play a huge role in this contest.
Illinois is going to be the sexy side to back in this contest. They’re at home and off a trouncing of a solid Valparaiso team, while Boise State just put forth a ton of energy to comeback and beat the Utes on the road. I’m not sold however. One game doesn’t make an NIT tourney run, and I foresee the Illini coming in a bit cocky after waltzing to the first round victory. Illinois might possess the more efficient of the two defenses, but Boise State owns the advantage at the offensive end of the court. Look for Chandler Hutchison to build off his big game in SLC to lead his club to a second straight outright win over an Illini team that just might be better served calling it quits and looking ahead to next season with the coup of Brad Underwood immediately pointing the needle up in Champagne.
Harry Bondi
OKLAHOMA CITY (+1.5) over Golden State
The Warriors have had their way with the Thunder this year, going 3-0 with all of the wins in blowout fashion, but we’ll call for OKC to get its revenge tonight. The Thunder are a much better team at home (24-10 ATS this season) than on the road and tonight they face a Golden State team that will be missing Kevin Durant for a 10th-straight game. In the previous nine games, the Warriors are 3-6 ATS and overall this season they have been very average on the road, going just 14-21 ATS. The Thunder are 17-13 ATS the last three years when revenging a home loss, including a 6-1 ATS record this year and they do it again tonight.
Bruce Marshall
Weber St/Texas A&M Corpus Christi Over 149
The Big Sky was full of "over" trends this season and no team contributed more to that than Weber State. The Wildcats' pattern of higher-scoring games continued into the opening round of the CIT at CS Fullerton in an 80-76 win, pushing Weber State's "over" mark to 18-4 the past 22 "totals" decisions. Which figures as the Wildcats have plenty of offense (79 ppg, 49% from floor, better than 40% beyond arc) with outside threats in bombs-away G Jeremy Senglin (21 ppg) & Jerrick Harding (39% triples) and inside scorers in rugged Fs Zach Braxton (10.5 ppg) & Kyndahl Hill (10.4 ppg). Meanwhile Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scores a healthy 75 ppg led by prolific sr. PF Rashawn Thomas (22.2 ppg), and scoring better than 26 ppg over his last six games.
VegasButcher
Washington Wizards +3
Boston is getting Thomas back tonight, but this team is in a b2b spot in this one. Washington was off yesterday, and should have more physical energy in this one. Plus Wall is a tough matchup for Thomas on the defensive end. We'll see if his conditioning is an issue after missing some time. I expect a very close game.
Bruce Marshall
Houston -8.5
Quick turnaround from last Saturday at Pepsi Center, a 109-105 Rockets win. In first meeting, Houston rolled by 18 at Denver on Dec. 2, when James Harden (scored only 20) didn't have to put in any extra work, as six other Rockets scored in double digits when Mike D'Antoni's team torched the nets with better than 51% shooting. Denver still gamely hanging on to the 8th and final West playoff slot into last week, though Nuggets have been gifted with some beatable foes (Kings twice and Lakers) in the first half of March, and still can't seem to get all hands on deck, with PF Kenneth Faried (back) hurting and Wilson Chandler now dealing with a groin strain, all after Nikola Jokic and Danilo Gallinari just returned from short absences.
Jeffrey James
Utah Valley +4
Ever heard of the Utah Valley Wolverines? Didn't think so, neither has Rice so they will be taking this team for granted big time. That is going to be a mistake since a team like this will be very fired up for a shot at a team in a real conference in tournament play. The Wolverines have won their last 4 true road games in a row and in the first round of the CBI they won on the road by 25 points. They are taking this tournament seriously and they have had a ton of time to prepare for Rice.
Anthony Michael
Illinois -7.5
Illinois was an interesting team this season. They struggled in Big 10 play but they were pretty darn good out of conference going 10-3 SU with 2 of the losses against West Virginia and Florida State. They showed they are taking the NIT seriously with a 25 point win in the first round against a solid Valpo team. Now they get to take on a Boise State team that was an upset winner in the first round at Utah that did not have great success out of conference. Take the Illini here to come out firing and get a big win and cover here.
OC Dooley
Akron / Texas-Arlington Under 154
As of this typing after six thirty in the eastern zone this total at some Las Vegas locations has dropped to 153-and-a-half (still at 154 offshore) which is a bit of a shock since last week in their opening round NIT game the offense of Texas-Arlington exploded in a shocking 105-89 rout of an opponent (Brigham Young) who actually handed Gonzaga their lone regular season setback. The LACK of offshore totals inflation also is stunning since Akron is 24-12 "over" in ROAD games and also played "above" the total in their NIT tournament opener. Getting back to Texas-Arlington when the total has been in the 150's range like this evening, they have gone 15-5 UNDER the number long term