Scott Rickenbach
Maple Leafs vs. Red Wings
Play: Red Wings +121
Even though this is a back to back spot for the Red Wings (lost 4-3 at Boston last night) I am expecting a huge "leave it all on the ice" type of effort tonight for Detroit. After tonight's game, the Red Wings will begin their All Star break as they don't play again until the last day of the month when they host New Jersey. Considering that the Red Wings have lost 3 straight games, won't get a chance at a win again until Tuesday, and they have revenge from a loss at Toronto in the outdoor game on New Year's Day, I look for a huge game from Detroit here. The Red Wings have actually won 3 of 5 (+$2,600) when they are playing the 2nd night of a back to back situation this season. Also, Detroit is +$4,800 this season when playing with revenge. The Maple Leafs have lost 52 of 74 road games with a posted total of 5.5 goals the past three seasons combined. Also, Toronto had lost back to back games before their shutout win over Calgary Monday and the Leafs have a game at Philly for tomorrow night. The Red Wings will prove to be the hungrier and more focused hockey club for this one.
Brandon Lee
Hawks vs. Bulls
Play: Bulls +1½
Chicago is worth a look here as a home dog against the Hawks. The Bulls have won two straight to get back to .500 at 23-23 and this feels like a key point in Chicago's season. They either make a run or continue to disappoint. I believe the talent is there and with everyone healthy, this is the Bulls time to go on a run. Regardless if they do or not, I really like them to win this game at home against the Hawks. Chicago just lost to the Hawks in Atlanta last week (1/20) and revenge is a much bigger factor when the teams face off in a short period of time. Not to mention the Hawks are coming off a miserable showing in their last game, losing 105-115 at home to the Clippers who were without their two big stars. Atlanta is just 4-17 ATS in their last 21 road games after playing 3 straight games as a favorite and Chicago is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 at home against a team with a winning road record.
Tony George
Connecticut vs. South Florida
Play: Over 128
I faded South Florida on Saturday against Tulsa and cashed a ticket and the reason I did is because they play no defense what so ever. They have allowed 78 ppg their last 5 games and U Conn is scoring damn near 70 a game their last 5 against stiffer competition than this. Love the Over here. U Conn minus the 7 looks tasty but I expect this one to land on around 136 according to my power ratings.
Jack Jones
Knicks vs. Mavs
Play: Mavs -4
The Dallas Mavericks come into this game playing some of their best basketball of the season. They are 4-2 SU & 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall. Their only two losses came in a back-to-back set with a 4-point loss in Miami, and an overtime home loss to the Utah Jazz.
The Mavericks just handed the Lakers their worst loss in franchise history last time out with a 49-point drubbing. Now they've had two days off since that win on Sunday and will be fresh and ready to go against the New York Knicks tonight.
The Knicks are just 4-13 in their last 17 games overall. Now they face a Mavericks team that has owned them, winning five of the last six meetings in this series. The lone exception was a loss in New York earlier this season, but that just places the Mavs in revenge mode here as they are a much better team now than they were in early November.
The Knicks are 0-5 ATS in their last five games vs. a team with a winning % below .400. New York is 0-4 ATS in its last four games following a win. Dallas is 6-1 ATS in its last seven games when its opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
Jimmy Boyd
Butler vs. Seton Hall
Play: Seton Hall +2
I really like the value here with the Pirates as a short home dog against the No. 11 ranked Bulldogs. We saw a bunch of highly ranked teams get beat on the road yesterday and I think the trend continues here. Seton Hall is not getting the respect it deserves here. The Pirates are a perfect 8-0 at home and we know they are going to lay it all on the line in this one.
Butler has been playing with fire here of late. They come in having won 3 straight, but have dug themselves some big holes. They trailed Marquette 25-43 early in the 2nd half and were down 5-25 in the 1st half against a bad DePaul team. The Bulldogs were very fortunate to win both of those games and I think their luck runs out tonight at Seton Hall.
The Pirates are 9-2-1 ATS in their last 12 home games against a team that's won more than 60% of their road games and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 as a home dog. They are also 14-4 in their last 18 off a home win by 10 or more points.
Brad Powers
Richmond +3.5
Richmond is coming off 2 straight losses and desperately need a win here. In their last game (an upset loss to George Mason), they shot just 36.1% from the field which was their worst performance of the entire season. One of my favorite handicaps in hoops is to back teams off extremely poor shooting nights (same goes for fading teams off great shooting nights). On the other side, Rhode Island is playing back-to-back road games for only the 2nd time this season and the first time this happened they lost outright as a 3-point favorite. My power ratings (which can be found each week in the CBB forums for FREE) has this game power-rated at pick-em. Therefore, we're finding some value on the home underdog here.
Rocketman
Texas A&M @ Ole Miss
Play: Ole Miss PK
The Texas A&M Aggies travel to Ole Miss to take on the Rebels on Wednesday night. Texas A&M is 10-8 SU overall this year while Ole Miss comes in with a 12-7 SU overall record on the season. Texas A&M is 1-5 ATS this year when the total is 130 to 139 1/2. Texas A&M is 1-6 ATS this year against conference opponents. Texas A&M is 1-5 ATS this year after playing a conference game. Texas A&M is 2-9 ATS this year when playing against a team with a winning record. Ole Miss is scoring 76.7 points per game overall this year and 77.1 points per game at home this season. Ole Miss is 2-0 SU at home vs Texas A&M since 1997. We'll recommend a small play on Ole Miss tonight!
Brad Wilton
Willing to give the Johnnies a shot at the underdog cover tonight at Providence, as St. John's takes on a Providence team that has won and covered the last 3 in the series, and they have done so convincingly, by 14, 18, and 17 points!
St. John's has hit a little lull, as Chris Mullins' team has only won once both straight up and against the spread in their last six games.
Providence is off a loss - but cover at Villanova - but the Friars have won 11 of their 12 home games this season straight up! The Friars have failed their last 3, and 4 of their last 6 when listed as the chalk.
With 3 straight double-digit losses to the Friars staring at them this week on the locker room chalkboard, look for the Red Storm to at least make a game of it at the Dunkin' Donuts Center this Wednesday night.
Take the points for this Big East game that will start at 6:30 pm eastern time.
2* ST. JOHN'S
Chris Jordan
No. 16 Creighton continues its campaign post Maurice Watson, Jr., who tore the left ligament in his knee. His college career is over, and the Bluejays move on. Tonight they're in the nation's capital against struggling Georgetown, and I like the Hoyas to earn a significant win here.
The Jays (18-2, 5-2 Big East) just lost at home Saturday to Marquette, without their leader. It clearly affected them, something I didn't think could happen.
Now, Georgetown (10-10, 1-6 Big East) is off to one of the worst starts in conference play, and step to the wood after a loss Sunday at Xavier. The Hoyas proved it can hang, for awhile, but just couldn't pull out a victory. The Hoyas have lost six of their last eight games overall, and I know Creighton is 5-0 on the road this season. But I also saw what happened to three of the top four ranked teams in the nation last night.
Look for Georgetown to disrupt the troubled Jays, and aim for the win here.
3* GEORGETOWN
Eric Schroeder
It's a battle for first place in the Mountain West Conference, as Nevada is in Boise, Idaho to take on the Boise State Broncos. Both teams are 5-2 atop the league, with New Mexico on their heels.
My free play tonight is on the Broncos, who are 7-1 SU and 4-2 ATS at home.
Boise State is a stingy team, limiting teams to just 69.5 points per game this season - and a mere 65.6 points at home.
The Broncos have won the last four meetings, including the last two in Boise by margins of 19 and 32. Lay the low home chalk in this one, as Boise State wins and covers.
2* BOISE STATE
TONY KARPINSKI
Knicks vs. Mavs
Play: Over 201
New York will take advantage outside vs man to man coverage if Dallas plays it. So if the Mavs plays tight, it is going to be rough. New York can fire the ball at will, and they have shown with the 3rd most 2 point FGs in the NBA - Carmelo Anthony is very capable of putting up more enough on his end to take on the responsibility.
The frontcourt of Dallas will struggle with getting open vs the frontcourt of the Knicks. Kristaps Porzingis is a very solid PF and will know how to play excellent defense vs their bigs. Dallas have given up 40% from deep - it is going to be hard, even vs a low ended team like the Knicks - the have some guys who are never shy about putting it up.
I expect a high scoring game as the Knicks are scoring better and Dallas just won by 50 pts so expect a letdown on the defensive side.
DAVE PRICE
Illinois -5
The Iowa Hawkeyes are 0-4 SU & 0-4 ATS in true road games this season. They have been outscored by a whopping 18.6 points per game on the highway this season. They lost to Purdue by 22 and Northwestern by 35 in two of their three road games in conference play. Illinois is 9-2 at home this season with one of its losses coming to Maryland, which is one of the best teams in the Big Ten. After dropping 3 straight to Maryland, Purdue and Michigan with the latter two on the road, the Fighting Illini will be hungry for a victory here. The Hawkeyes are 1-10 ATS in their last 11 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600. The Fighting Illini are 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.
Mike Rose
UCLA -5.5
The Trojans pulled the trifecta on the Bruins last season winning both regular season meetings and then sending Bryce Alford and company home in the Pac-12 tournament. None of the matchups were close either with USC winning by an average of 19 points per game even though they were dogged in all three games. Welsh, Alford, Isaac Hamilton and Aaron Holiday found themselves on the short end of each tilt, and that’s something the quadrant likely won’t have forgotten heading into this crucial bounce back spot.
USC has already been defeated on its home court twice this season, and each defeat came against conference opposition. It just squeaked out an 82-79 non-covering home win against the same ASU team the Bruins spanked right before taking on the Wildcats. With turnovers likely to not play a crucial role in this one with each team decent at holding onto the basketball and limited in forcing turnovers, I’m going with the better overall offense. That by a wide margin belongs to the Bruins, and the fact that they’re out for three-times revenge and not in a position to suffer a letdown has me looking forward to laying the road chalk.
David Banks
Lakers @ Blazers
Pick: Lakers+9.5
A 127-123 win over Boston on Saturday ended a four-game losing streak for Portland, which will welcome the Los Angeles Lakers to the Moda Center on Wednesday night. Guard Damian Lillard continues to pace the Trail Blazers. He scored 28 points and dished out seven assists in the win over the Celtics. For the season, Lillard is seventh in the NBA in scoring averaging 26.2 per game. The Lakers, one of the league’s poorer defensive teams, will have trouble slowing down Lillard and his backcourt mate C.J. McCollum, who averages 23.5 points a game.
The Lakers, dead last in the Western Conference standings, have won just once in the past seven games. In their most recent loss, the Lakers gave up 122 points to Dallas and scored just 73. It was the worst loss in the history of the franchise. Los Angeles has managed to score over 100 points just twice in the past seven games, once in the lone win over Indiana and also in a 127-121 loss to Denver.
The Lakers are young and guard D’Angelo Russell (14.3 ppg) and forward Julius Randle (13.2 ppg, 8.5 rpg) continue to improve. Russell, Nick Young (13.7 ppg), Jordan Clarkson, and Louis Williams are just no match for Lillard and McCollum. The Trail Blazers have beaten the Lakers twice already this season on Jan. 5 at home and Jan. 10 in Los Angeles. McCollum led Portland in both games scoring 27 in the first meeting and 25 in the second.
Dave Essler
SMU / Central Florida Under 125
UCF has the #1 defense in plenty of categories - my only issue is whether or not they can protect the ball. They've had trouble, but SMU isn't a "pressure the ball" defense. I suppose they should be tonight, but on the road with a low scoring game predicted, I think UCF can stay within the number, or win. I do not think it's going to be SMU and the over.