Chris Jordan
600* Hornets -10
EZWinners
3* Sacramento
5* Air Force
2* Wisconsin
2* Oklahoma
BIG AL
Elite Info - Celtics
Jimmy Boyd
3* Portland +6
3* Sacramento +7
5* Illinois -8
4* Mississippi +7
Ben Burns
10* Rockets / Lakers Under 210.5
10* Sacramento
Lenny Del Genio
25* Wizards / Hornets Over 188.5
Larry Ness
10* Wizards / Hornets Over 188
10* Colorado -7.5
Sam Paolini
20* Blackhawks
Devils -1.5
Predators
LA Kings
ATS Insider
4* Purdue +4
3* Wichita St -3.5
Will Cover
4* Penn St
Bruce Marshall
Spurs at Blazers
Play: Spurs -5
Spurs doing just fine, especially on road, where S.A. has covered 13 of 19 decisions going into tonight's battle. Note that Spurs didn't have much trouble with Portland at AT&T Center back on Dec. 12, rolling by 17 when Blazers were relatively healthy with Roy and Camby in the starting lineup. Injuries now really catching up with Portland, whose offense short-circuited in recent Rose Garden losses vs. Sacto and Boston when failing to exceed 81 points. Spurs also pointing to this one to get season-long 9-game road trip (into All-Star break) off on the right foot.
Power Play Wins
Celtics -6.5
David Malinsky
4* CREIGHTON over BRADLEY
We were very close to pulling the trigger on this one earlier today, and now that the game has been moved up to a 4:05 Eastern tip-off we have the edges to get over the top. For a Bradley team already struggling in so many ways, losing at least half of the expected crowd, and likely even more, makes it an atmosphere hardly conducive for an 0-11 Missouri Valley free-fall to turn around.
It has been a rocky campaign all the way for Jim Les, who lost Taylor Brown before the season started and then Sam Maniscalo six games into the campaign. Now there are also issues with leading scorer Andrew Warren, who left Saturday’s loss with a head injury. Even with Warren scoring 22 pints the Braves were beaten much worse than the 81-68 final score can show at Creighton earlier, trailing by 25 points at halftime, when only one Blue Jay starter played more than 27 minutes.
While Bradley fades, and gets stuck in a lackluster environment today that does not create any energy to help, Creighton is playing as well as anyone in the Valley. The Blue Jays have won their last two home league games in double figures, and took Missouri State and Northern Iowa both to the wire in their last two trips. They have the depth to wear down the shallow host; the FT shooting (73.9 percent) to close out with a lead; the confidence to know that they can win on this court (seven wins in the last nine trips); and having already made it to Peoria last night, starting early is actually an advantage for them, instead of having to sit around all day.
Jeff Benton
10 Dime Wichita State
First off, we’re riding the hot hand here. Wichita State has won three in a row (beginning with a 93-83 triple-overtime home win over Indiana State) and is 13-2 in its last 15 games. Indiana State has followed a six-game winning streak (all in conference) with three straight losses, including Saturday’s 83-69 beat-down at Creighton. And the last time the Sycamores were at home, they got beat by Evansville 66-63 as a seven-point home favorite.
When you break down the Shockers’ season on a whole, you’ll see they’re 18-4. The four losses include a 14-point setback at San Diego State (a Top 5 team), a four-point loss to UConn in Hawaii back on Nov. 22 (and UConn is a Top 10 team) and a pair of three-point Missouri Valley Conference defeats to Missouri State and Northern Iowa. What about the 18 victories? How about 16 by double digits!
Taking that point a step further, each of the Shockers’ nine Missouri Valley Conference wins have been double-digit blowouts with an averiage victory margin of 16.8 points! Wichita State has played five conference road games, and here are the results:
79-63 win at Bradley
65-51 win at Illinois State
68-54 win at Creighton
68-54 win at Drake
74-64 win at Southern Illinois
Throw in a non-conference win at LSU on Dec. 18, and Wichita State is riding a six-game road winning streak (which more than cancels out Indiana State’s 8-1 home record, especiadly when that one loss occurred just last week).
With their 10-point overtime win over Indiana State on Jan. 22, the Shockers have now won five in a row in this rivalry (all five wins by six points or more), and the visitor has cashed in each of those five games. Additionally, Wichita comes into this game on ATS runs of 8-3 overall (all as a favorite), 5-0 on the road (all as a favorite) and 11-4 in Missouri Valley contests.
Finally, while Indiana State’s defense is struggling (77.8 ppg allowed in the last four games), Wichita State has surrendered 64 points or less in nine of 11 conference games (and they held the Sycamores to 58 points in regulation when these teams met in their triple-overtime thriller 10 days ago).
Bottom line: For a team that’s won all six of its conference road games by 10 points or more – and rolled by double digits in 16 of its 18 wins – to be laying this cheap of a price is a big-time bargain. And considering the direction each of these teams has gone since that triple-overtime game at Wichita State 10 days ago, playing the Shockers is a no-brainer.
Boston Blackie
5* Bradley +3.5