NCAA Monday Purdue Boilermakers (+) vs Connecticut Huskies @ 9:20 ET - If you are a college basketball connoisseur you probably are well aware of the amazing history of UCLA basketball and when they were a dynasty from the mid 60s to the early 70s. You probably also are aware that since those dynasty days of legend head coach John Wooden and UCLA, there have only been two schools that have managed to have B2B national champs in the past 50 years! That said, so many things have to go right for a team to repeat and, as UConn tries to achieve that feat here, I feel the Zach Edey factor is too big to ignore. Yes the Huskies have a big man too but Edey is great at getting opponents into foul trouble and if Donovan Clingan gets into foul trouble it could greatly impact the interior of this UConn team. Couple that with the improving guard play of Purdue we have seen through their tourney run and there is no way I can pass up on the points here. As of about 15 hours before tipoff, this line is as high as a 7 and I feel we have excellent line value here with the Boilers. An outright upset would not shock me at all so certainly knowing they can lose by a half dozen points and we still cash our ticket has me very comfortable with the underdog side in this one. It is hard to say anything bad about the Huskies and indeed there are a fantastic team with stellar guard play too. I just feel that most everyone is already handing the Championship to the Huskies and this Boilers team is a confident, well-coached group that is going to have a helluva lot to say about that! Don't be surprised if this turns into a thriller that goes down to the wire! That said, having the points on your side could prove invaluable. PURDUE (+)

NCAA Final Four Saturday NC State Wolfpack (+) vs Purdue Boilermakers @ 6:10 ET - If you look at the two match-ups today we are talking about two very big favorites. In my opinion the best value is here with this underdog. NC State has been the cinderella team in this year's tourney and, conversely, as much I would like to pull the trigger on Alabama today, Connecticut has burned me multiple times and I just can not go against the Huskies. Out of both games today I feel the best value is in going against Purdue. As strong as Edey is, and he has the height edge here of course, Burns is likely going to do a job against him because he is such a big body. From a conditioning standpoint too, the time off has helped him. NC State has been playing very well defensively for an extended stretch now. They have the guard play to be strong enough on the perimeter too that I don't think this is going to be an easy "inside - outside" game for Purdue. The Boilermakers should still do enough to prevail but it will not be easy. I know the Boilers beat just beat #2 seed Tennessee but as long time followers know, I was not expecting much from the Volunteers because Rick Barnes track record in tourneys is not exactly stellar! That said, Purdue got 40 points from Edey or they likely would not even be here for this match-up today with, arguably, an even more dangerous dog. This Pack team is playing the underdog role perfectly as their confidence is building with each win and they feel no pressure. All the pressure here is on the Boilers to advance. As a result, don't be surprised if Purdue has another very ugly shooting performance here. Points are as high as 9.5 as of 10 hours before tipoff! Grab the big points! NC STATE (+)

NCAA Tourney Sunday NC State Wolfpack (+) vs Duke Blue Devils @ 5:05 ET - This line is up to as high as a 7.5 as of 9 hours before tipoff and it is too much in my opinion. Seemingly every year a lower-seed team becomes the Cinderella in the tourney and goes on a magical run. This season that team has been NC State and I am not going to let this value-packed opportunity pass me by. Entering Sunday, there are 6 teams still alive for the National Championship and the one and only team seeded lower than a #4 seed out of all these teams is the Wolfpack team. Of course Duke is solid in their own right and they lost to NC State in the ACC Tourney. That makes this a revenge game but while revenge is a key motivator and can be very important in regular season settings, it truly does not mean a damn thing in post-season situations because who is not motivated in the post-season? The Wolfpack are just as motivated to have a shot at winning the national championship as the Blue Devils are. That said, I love the big dog line value here. Duke should not even be here. If Houston did not lose their start guard EARLY in the Sweet 16 match-up, the Cougars don't lose that game. That said, the Blue Devils luck might just run out here but if they do find a way to win I do not expect them to cover this spread. Give Duke credit for beating Houston of course but again that game could have an asterisk by it. Now consider that the two teams they played before that were James Madison from the Sun Belt and Vermont from America East. Again, I am just pointing out good fortune for the Blue Devils in getting to this point. As for NC State, they are on an 8-game winning streak and 6 of the wins were against major conference teams that all had at least 20 wins this season: Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas Tech and Marquette. Those are NOT easy teams to keep a winning streak going against so my point is that it is 100% NO FLUKE that the Wolfpack have made it this far. Sometimes a team just jells at the perfect time and becomes a team of destiny. That is the look and feel that this NC State team has this season. Again, maybe the magical run ends here but 8 of the last 10 losses for the Pack have been by single digits and, if they do fall short here, look for it to be by a very slim margin. The Wolfpack are loaded with confidence right now and all the pressure in this one is on Duke as they are expected to win. This makes for a dangerous underdog. The Pack are that dog and this one goes down to the wire. NC STATE (+)

NCAA Elite Eight Saturday Illinois Illini (+) vs Connecticut Huskies @ 6:09 ET - You knew it was only a matter of time before the upsets started rolling in finally. Sure enough, in the Sweet 16 round, the higher seeded team LOST 5 of the 8 matchups. Now, I am certainly not saying the Illini win this game outright but I would not be shocked if they did. Connecticut was the only higher seed to win their game in the 4 Thursday games. In the past 2 days we have seen two #1 seeds and three #2 seeds lose. Illinois is a very strong team on the offensive end. Of course it goes without saying that the defending champs are a sizable favorite here with good reason as they have earned it. However, the Illini - just like UConn - are a very efficient club on the offensive end. Illinois gets that high efficiency in part because they - again, just like the Huskies - score well both inside and outside. The key here is that keeps the pressure on Connecticut here as long scoring droughts are highly unlikely with this Illini team. Illinois has 8 losses this season but not a single one by double digits. For Connecticut to get the money they essentially have to win this game by double digits. Another I like about that is the fact it has been awhile since the Huskies were challenged. That was in a 5-point win over St John's in the Big East tourney. Another interesting thing about that is the line was nearly identical to this line. Are the Red Storm really as good as the Illini? No way! That said, the fact is we are getting an inflated line here because the Huskies have just steamrolled teams in 4 straight games since that tighter win over St John's. Lets take advantage of the line value available now in this one as a result! ILLINOIS (+)

NCAA Friday Creighton Bluejays (+) vs Tennessee Volunteers @ 10:10 ET - We saw 3 of the 4 lower-seeded teams in the 4 match-ups yesterday win outright. With this line now climbing as high as a 3.5 in some spots, it is go time with this one. The Volunteers are off that huge win over Texas which is, of course, where Vols coach Rick Barnes was head coach for years. Tennessee's Rick Barnes has a history of falling short of expectations and just like that non-covering win over the Longhorns, I expect another very tight game here. The Bluejays have a great shot at the upset but we will grab the points just in case. Creighton is also off a hard-fought win as they wree taken to double-OT by Oregon. That was a fortunate cover for me in that game but the fact is it also shows this could be a season that was "meant to be" for Creighton. The Big East is so tough and absolutely deserved more than 3 teams making the tourney. Note that all 3 teams are still alive with UConn winning yesterday and Creighton and Marquette playing today. Also, Seton Hall made the quarterfinals of the NIT and could win that tournament. I am not sold on the SEC like I am on the Big East as so many of the SEC teams got bounced early. I know that Alabama upset UNC yesterday but now don't be surprised if we see another upset involving the other SEC team left in the tourney today. I will grab the points just in case but remember also that Tennessee lost their final regular season SEC game and then immediately got bounced in the SEC Tourney. Just how good is this team really? They have since beat a MAAC school and yes they then beat Texas but the Horns were turnover-prone and it cost them the game. Note that Tennessee's last two games against Power 5 conference teams - Texas and Mississippi State - saw them shoot a combined 41 of 127 from the field including a paltry 11 of 58 from 3-point land. That will not cut it against sharp-shooting Creighton. The Bluejays plus the points is the value play here. CREIGHTON (+)

NCAA Friday Gonzaga Bulldogs (+) vs Purdue Boilermakers @ 7:39 ET - When these teams met earlier this season in the Maui Invitational, the Bulldogs led by 5 at the half. The problem for Gonzaga was they shot a ridiculous 6 of 32 from three point land. Given that number they should have lost the game by much more than just 10 points. This Bulldogs team is battle tested and they also faced UConn this season. Gonzaga will not be intimidated here and they have a solid 7-man playing rotation. Two of their top guys also ended up with 4 fouls in that prior meeting and that also impacted things. I look for the Bulldogs to be much stronger in the rematch and all the pressure is truly on Purdue here. The Boilermakers are a #1 seed and, as we saw yesterday, with so many strong seeds advancing, the higher seeded team is prone to upsets. 3 of the 4 games Thursday saw the lower seeded team win the game. I would not be surprised to see the underdog Bulldogs win this game outright but we will grab the points just in case as getting 5.5 here is a huge value for sure. GONZAGA (+)

NCAA Tourney Thursday: San Diego State Aztecs (+) vs Connecticut Huskies @ 7:40 ET - The Aztecs have lost 10 games this season but only 1 was by a double digit margin. Now, of course, the Huskies are the defending champs and are a big favorite with plenty of reasoning behind it. However, the point is that this Aztecs team is a tough team too. They come from a Mountain West Conference that was very tough this season. Also, they have revenge here from losing the Championship Game to UConn last season. Note that, in that game, the Aztecs were down by just 5 points with about 5 minutes to go when the Huskies hit a big 3-pointer and then eventually pulled away for the win by 17 points. The point is that the game was not the blowout it might look like on the surface in terms of the final score. That experience in the Championship Game will do the Aztecs plenty of good here in the rematch. They have the full confidence that they can compete with this Huskies and, while it seems nearly everyone is practically considering Connecticut B2B champs already, I am not so sure. It is so tough to repeat and so many things have to go right and this Aztecs team can D up. So what happens if the shots are not falling for the Huskies and a tough defensive-minded team like San Diego State gets a lead and can play from in front? Not including OT points of course, the Aztecs have allowed an average of only 63 points last 15 games! The Huskies have a great D too and have allowed more than 67 points just twice in last 9 games but the point is the Aztecs are being a little undervalued here with this inflated number in the 11 range as of 12 hours before tipoff. This game is going to be a war and I expect it to be decided by single digits as a result. The Aztecs have good size on the wings and Jaedon LeDee has been a beast this season for them this season and he was only playing 19 minutes per game on average last season. He will be much more of a handful for the Huskies to contend with this time around! Grab the big points here! SAN DIEGO STATE (+)

NCAA Tourney Thursday: Clemson Tigers (+) vs Arizona Wildcats @ 7:10 ET - Clemson is hot at the right time. The Tigers beat a solid New Mexico team and strong Baylor team to get here. I like what I have seen. Yes, Arizona is a tough team but this line is in the 7.5 range and looks like too much. Clemson's final 6 regular season losses were ALL by 7 or less points and, in fact, were by an average margin of defeat of just 3 points. Arizona lost 2 of 3 entering the Big Dance and then got a freebie by facing an outclassed Long Beach State in their first match-up. Though facing Dayton was then a tougher 2nd round match-up, note that the Flyers had 6 more field goal attempts in the game. Dayton was simply done in by an off-shooting night from downtown in that game. Note that Clemson has been hot from the field and has 4 guys averaging double digits in points so far in the tourney. Getting balanced scoring is key going up against a tough Arizona team and I like the fact that Chase Hunter has gotten particularly hot. His strong play at the guard position (15 or more points in 7 of last 9 games including 20+ so far in both tourney games) helps take some pressure off leading scorer PJ Hall. But Hall does combine with Schieffelin for solid frontcourt scoring while Hunter and Girard are getting it done in the backcourt. A balanced attack can hang tough with this Arizona team and the Tigers confidence is very high entering this match-up. It is not just coincidence that there are 4 ACC teams in the Sweet 16! At the same time, Arizona is the only team remaining from the Pac-12. Grab the points here! CLEMSON (+)

NIT Semi-Final Wednesday UNLV Runnin' Rebels +5.5 @ Seton Hall Pirates @ 7 ET - Certainly I respect the Pirates and, particularly at home, but this Rebels team is also strong and well-coached too - just like Seton Hall. What I particularly like about UNLV here is that they are on a 12-3 SU and 2 of the 3 losses were by just 3 points. Also, the 3 games included two losses to Nevada (NCAA Tourney team) and a loss to San Diego State (still alive in NCAA Tourney and facing UConn next). The point is that this Rebels team has been rock solid and is offering excellent underdog line value here. Remember they were 8-3 on the road this season. As solid as Seton Hall is, it took OT for them to get past an underachieving St Joseph's team in round one of this tourney. Also, the Pirates beat North Texas by 14 but the Mean Green had 5 more shots from the field. North Texas simply had an off shooting night. Give some credit to the Pirates defense of course but Seton Hall now faces a much tougher challenge here. Grab the underdog line value with a team that has played very well on the road this season. I like fading line moves too as this one has been moving toward the Pirates since the line came out. UNLV +5.5

NIT Tuesday Cincinnati Bearcats +3.5 @ Indiana State Sycamores @ 9 ET - Look at the two NIT match-ups today and you will notice something very interesting about the difference in the lines on the two games. As long-time followers know, I am a contrarian. When people see something off and jump all over it you will often find me, if I am on the game, absolutely on the other side of the masses. So, in this case, notice that Ohio State is hosting Georgia and the Buckeyes are favored by 8.5 in that one and have the better overall record plus a home record of 15-4 facing a Bulldogs team with a road record of 5-6. Now look at this game. Indiana State has a much better overall record than Cincinnati plus the Sycamores are 15-1 at home while the Bearcats are 4-7 on the road and yet this line opened up at 2.5 in most shops. Sure enough Indiana State is up to a 3.5 point favorite in this one and, for me, it is go time on this one! Whey in the world would the Buckeyes be 8.5 point favorites over Georgia today but the Sycamores opened up as only a 2.5 favorite over the Bearcats when you consider the home / road dominating variances involved in each match-up? Exactly! Don't let this line fool you. Cincy is the play here. Keep in mind, the Bearcats played in the ultra tough Big 12 this season and they are 15-2 in non-conference games with the only two losses to Xavier and Dayton. The Musketeers also made the NIT and the Flyers made the NCAA Tourney. Cincy is a tough team battle-tested and the Sycamores are certainly solid but this line is set "funny" for a reason and I love fading the masses. Road team in an upset is my prediction BUT will grab the value of the points just in case. CINCINNATI +3.5

CIT Semi-Final: Monday Tarleton State Texans -5 vs IPFW Mastodons @ 7 ET - This is the match-up I wanted and so I am getting involved in this one with a best bet. IPFW was "okay" this season but they still finished in the bottom half of the Horizon League as they finished 7th in the 11-team league. The Mastodons are decently offensively but how well will their shots fall on the road here? Also, IPFW is not good defensively. The Texans, therefore, hold a big defensive edge in addition to also having the home court edge. Also, Tarleton State finished 2nd in the 11-team WAC and the team they finished behind was Grand Canyon. Yes, that same Grand Canyon team that just beat St Mary's in the NCAA Tourney plus would have also upset Alabama were it not for a horrific shooting effort including just 2 of 20 from three-point land! So the point is we have value here with Texans laying a very reasonable number at home in this one. They went 13-3 at home while IPFW went 9-7 on the road this season. Also, 9 of the 12 Mastodons losses this season were by at least 6 points and this one will be too! TARLETON STATE -5

NCAA Sunday Grand Canyon Lopes +6.5 vs Alabama Crimson Tide @ 7:10 ET - It is unlikely that A & M tops Houston as a double digit dog today. That said, it would not surprise me if Tennessee is the last team standing from the SEC entering the Sweet 16. Yes, another upset win for Grand Canyon is not out of the question here but we will grab the points as added insurance just in case. The fact is that the SEC was over-rated this season and we have seen that play out time and time again in this tourney. Even though the Vols are still standing they are just 1-1 ATS in the tourney after barely sneaking by Texas last night. As for the Crimson Tide they had lost 4 of 6 games before knocking off Charleston to open up the tourney. Yes, they won by double digits but they allowed 96 points to a Coastal Athletic Association team! Conversely, Grand Canyon enters this game having won 6 straight and 30 of 34 this season. Though they come from a weaker conference, I like the fact the Lopes put up an average of 75 ppg in their 4 games versus respectable non-conference foes like San Francisco, South Carolina, San Diego State and now St Mary's to begin the tourney with an upset. Also, they allowed just 71 ppg in those 4 games and one has to have a little concern over Alabama's lack of D in their opening win! Yes, the Tide can score well but they have allowed an AVERAGE of 94 ppg last 11 games! There is nothing "average" about that and this Lopes team has proven they can compete with teams from stronger conferences. This goes to the wire and an outright upset would not shock me in the least! GRAND CANYON +6.5

NCAA Tourney Sunday Colorado Buffaloes +4 vs Marquette Golden Eagles @ 12:10 ET - I am going to keep riding the Buffaloes. As I have stated in my recent write-ups, once they finally started winning road games their confidence sky-rocketed and they have carried that with them ever since they got on the late-season run following a much-needed road win. Colorado has never looked back and has now won 10 of 11 games. Now, of course, Marquette is a rock solid team. However, all the pressure is on them here as the #2 seed facing a #10 seed. Also, the Golden Eagles had lost 3 of 6 before the win over a #15 seed Western Kentucky team. It is certainly true those losses for Marquette were against top teams as it included #1 UConn and a ranked Creighton team as well. However, what I like about the Buffaloes is they have been so strong with shooting from all over the floor of late. They are playing with a ton of confidence and they are the stronger rebounding team. A big edge on the glass could also end up being the edge that decides this game. No points needed most likely but if the game is ultra tight late and swings the way of Marquette, the 4 points could come in handy. The Golden Eagles are known for being a solid shooting team but the Buffaloes are knocking down 3's nearly as well as any team in the country on the season. Also, Colorado is the better team at the free throw line too which can be a key in tight games when in tourney time like this especially. The points are quite generous considering all of the above. COLORADO +4

Rotation #794: NCAA Tourney: Saturday Creighton Bluejays -4.5 vs Oregon Ducks @ 9:40 ET - As I mentioned in my pick on Oregon over South Carolina, the Ducks have a great head coach and they had a huge coaching advantage in that game. However, now they take on a Bluejays team that also has an excellent head coach. Both Dana Altman and Greg McDermott are veteran coaches with a helluva winning track record long-term. In fact, Altman used to coach at Creighton and was there for a long period from the mid-90s through 2010. So what does this match-up come down to? Well, there are big edges for Creighton in this one as they have a cohesive group of players that have multiple seasons of experience together. That pays off in tougher match-ups like this one. As for Oregon, they rely heavily on a trio of guys that include a freshman plus a senior that played his first 3 years at South Carolina. Now Couisnard is off the huge  game versus his former team but again, he and Shelstad and Dante don't have quite the same level of cohesiveness that this Bluejays team has with their guys having all played together for multiple seasons. That creates a bond in big game situations that does make a big difference. I also like the rebounding edge going to Creighton in this match-up as well. The seeding for these tournaments is not easy and is often debated but the fact is they do, for the most part, a damn good job. That said, a #3 seed laying just 4.5 points to a #11 seed is quite a solid value. It is not a mistake as the Ducks are on everyone's radar right now after the Pac-12 Tourney run but, the point is, it has created value in the marketplace. Here we take advantage! CREIGHTON -4.5

Rotation #791: NCAA Tourney: Saturday Texas Longhorns +6.5 vs Tennessee Volunteers @ 8 ET - Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes was the head coach at Texas for many years from '98 to 2015! That adds extra intrigue to an already intriguing match-up. The pressure this match-up is truly on the Volunteers as they are they higher seed and are expected by most to advance to the Sweet 16 (at the very least) this season. I love fading pressure-filled favorites that might be over-valued! Why would the Vols be over-valued a bit? Well the SEC has had a rough go of it in the tourney already. Auburn and Florida lost yesterday after Kentucky was one of 3 SEC teams that were beaten Thursday. The Wildcats were one of the biggest upsets thus far and they joined South Carolina and Mississippi State in exiting the tourney on the first day of it! This is contrary to the Big 12 which still has Baylor and Kansas and Houston and Iowa State as well as this Texas team still alive in the Big Dance. So one must remember that most of the Vols games the past few months, of course, have been against SEC competition which may not be as tough as some thought! When you look back at Tennessee non-conference action it includes losses to Tourney teams like Purdue and Kansas and North Carolina. Granted those are great teams but, the point is, do the Volunteers (from an over-rated SEC) really deserve to be favored by this much over a solid Texas team? In my opinion, absolutely not! Keep in mind, coach Barnes has a long history of his teams underachieving in March Madness. Of course they beat an outclassed Saint Peter's team to open things up but the Longhorns beat a solid Colorado State team by a double digit margin and held them to just 44 points. Look for this one to go down to the wire making the points invaluable. TEXAS +6.5

Rotation #799: NCAA Tourney: Saturday Washington State Cougars +6.5 vs Iowa State Cyclones @ 6:10 ET - Lot of value with the points in this one. The Cougars are 25-9 SU this season. Washington State has seen 4 of last 5 losses come by 6 or less points. Since the calendar flipped the page to the year 2024, only one time have the Cougars lost by more than 6 points! As for Iowa State, they are a strong team from the tough Big 12. However, the Cyclones averaged 66.8 ppg last 9 games of the regular season including conference tourney. The Cougars averaged 74 ppg their last 8 games before losing to Colorado in a low-scoring grinder in the Pac-12 Tourney. The point is that Iowa State does have a solid defense but this Washington State offense has been consistent and they just do not get blown out in games. The Cougars defense is not that far behind that of Iowa State's and also the underdog holds a big edge in this one in the rebounding department. The Cougars are also 4-0 SU this season in games decided by 4 or less points so this team knows how to win tight games. I do think we could see an outright upset here but will grab the generous points just in case. WASHINGTON STATE +6.5

NCAA Friday TCU Horned Frogs -3.5 vs Utah State Aggies @ 9:55 ET - The Mountain West teams are already falling in this tourney. Utah State is no slouch for sure but TCU played in the brutal Big 12 this season and this battle-tested Horned Frogs hold the edge in terms of strength of schedule the way I see it. Also, note that the Aggies went only 3-5 against the other MWC teams that won 24 or more games this season - Colorado State, San Diego State, New Mexico and Nevada. Just like Texas knocked off Colorado State yesterday, this is another spot where a solid Big 12 team is going to knock off a MWC foe. Keep in mind, Nevada also lost yesterday to the #3 team in the Atlantic Ten. I am just as sold on this MWC team being as strong as some contend it is. At the same time there is no questioning the Big 12 was a powerhouse conference this season made even stronger with the additions of Houston and Cincinnati this season. The Horned Frogs just got hammered by a great Houston team by 15 to get knocked out of the Big 12 Tourney. But including 3-0 this season and dating back to last season, TCU is 4-0 L4 times they have entered a game off loss by at least a dozen point margin. By the way, all 4 of those wins by at least a dozen points and the line here on this one is available at 3.5 at the time of this posting. Lay it! TCU -3.5

NCAA Friday Colorado Buffaloes +1.5 vs Florida Gators @ 4:30 ET - I have been riding the Buffaloes hot streak for awhile now and I will not stop now! We saw the SEC struggle yesterday as 3 teams already got knocked out including #3 Kentucky upset by a #14 seed! The only SEC winner yesterday was Tennessee and that was a #15 versus #2 mismatch. As for the Pac-12, they are rolling. Note that Utah also advanced in the NIT and here in the NCAA, Arizona and Washington State and Oregon all advanced. Colorado has won 9 of 10 games and the only loss was to the Ducks who have a great coach in Altman and know how to win at Tourney time. They showed that gain yesterday against South Carolina. So no shame in that one loss for the Buffaloes last 10 games and once this Buffs team started proving they can win away from home, their confidence level was boosted greatly. This team is truly starting to believe and is playing with a ton of confidence. That will lead the way again in this one and I look for Florida to struggle again on the defensive end. Yes, the Gators can put up big points but this Florida team has allowed at least 79 points in 10 of last 12 games. This is the time of year when defense really matters. I know the Gators offense is strong but their points against numbers leave a lot to be desired. As for the Buffaloes, they have allowed 58 points or less in 4 of last 5 games and that included solid foes like Boise State, Utah and Washington State. Both teams should score well here but in the end, this Colorado team certainly appears more capable of getting enough stops for the win. COLORADO +1.5

NCAA Friday Northwestern Wildcats +4 vs Florida Atlantic Owls @ 12:15 ET - These are two very good offenses but what I like about the Wildcats here is they actually play defense quite well for extended stretches while the Owls almost never do. Additionally we have 4 points to work with here too. I feel this is a fantastic value for grabbing Northwestern and the points. The Wildcats enter this one having won 6 of 10 games. In those 10 games they had one high-scoring loss to Iowa 87-80 (one outlier) but allowed an average of only 64 points in the other 9 games! Conversely, FAU is 5-3 L8 games and there was no outlier as they allowed 77 points in these 8 games and consistently allowed big points. In a win or go home game in the NCAA Tourney against two teams most experts view as equal, I am happy to grab the better defensive team and the 4 points! Also, the last two losses for Florida Atlantic were to a Memphis team that lost 8 of 15 games to wrap the season and also to a Temple team that went 5-13 in conference action this season. Northwestern's last 3 losses were to Iowa, Michigan State and Wisconsin! All 3 of those are Big Dance teams and the Hawkeyes and Spartans advance already with wins yesterday while the Badgers are favored to win today on Friday as well. All signs above are pointing to the fact that the Owls are over-valued here and the Wildcats are undervalued! I will gladly take the generous points here as added insurance though I am making this wager expecting an outright underdog upset win. NORTHWESTERN +4

NCAA Thursday Texas Tech Red Raiders (-) vs NC State Wolfpack @ 9:40 ET - Give credit where credit is due and NC State had a helluva run through the ACC Tourney. However, they were fortunate to force OT against a late-game mistake-prone Virginia team. Then they beat rival North Carolina despite the Tar Heels having 16 more shot attempts from the field in that game. Also, the Pack made 6 of 8 threes while UNC took 30 threes but made only 8 of them! Again, give the Wolfpack credit but the fact remains both the Cavaliers and Heels played a role in giving victories away in each game. The result is line value here. NC State is a little overvalued now and Texas Tech, knocked out the Big 12 Tourney by Houston (one of the nations best), is now undervalued as a result. The Red Raiders had a better regular season than NC State but the Wolfpack got hot in the Tourney. This is a new tourney now however! Though Texas Tech has a new coach this season in Grant McCasland, he has a 375-131 career coaching record and has had success every step of the way no matter where he has been and what level the program was. Junior College, Division II and now Division 1 for the past 8 seasons. McCasland is a winner. Kevin Keatts has been solid for NC State but Keatts is 0-4 SU all time in NCAA tournament action - twice with NC St and twice with UNC Wilmington. 11 of 14 Wolfpack SU losses have been by at least 4 points this season! 19 of 23 Red Raiders wins have been by 6 or more points this season. Lay it! TEXAS TECH -4.5

NCAA Thursday Texas Longhorns -2 vs Colorado State Rams @ 6:50 ET - For whatever reason, Virginia was not ready when they faced Colorado State. It was an embarrassment and the Cavaliers offense was pathetic and they missed the last 15 field goal attempts they took in the first half of that game. That was a 1st half in which they ended up scoring just 14 points. That is an embarrassment and while some credit goes to the Rams, the ugly margin of that game had a lot to do with a Cavs team that was ill-prepared. That is not happening again here. Now Colorado State faces a Longhorns team that will be ready and that plays in one of the toughest conferences in the land. The Big 12 has 6 Top 25 teams and the MWC has 2. The Mountain West is a solid conference but this goes to show how the markets can sometimes get a big misaligned on a game and that is the situation we have here in my opinion. The Longhorns off a tough tight loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 Tourney and UT is 9-2 SU this season when they are off a loss. As for Colorado State, they just beat a Cavaliers team that gave an embarrassing effort. Prior to that they did have a nice win over a solid Nevada team but went 3-4 in their other 7 games since the 21st of February. Those 3 wins were against 3 of the bottom-feeders in MWC - Wyoming, San Jose State and Air Force. Those 3 teams went a combined 12-42 in the MWC this season. The Rams are a solid team...but they are not as strong as the Longhorns! This is a HUGE line VALUE! Lay the bargain number here! TEXAS -2

NCAA Thursday: Oregon Ducks +1.5 -120/-125 or Pick'em -110 vs South Carolina Gamecocks @ 4 ET - Take a look at the other 11 vs 6 match-ups on the card today. The 6 seed is favored solidly in each one with Texas Tech -5 and BYU -9.5 so the odds makers must be crazy here with this line near a pick'em, right? Of course not! This game is priced atypical to an 11 seed vs 6 seed match-up with good reason. For starters, the only loss that red hot Colorado has in last 10 games was to this Oregon team in the Pac-12 Championship. That is the same Buffaloes team that just knocked off a solid Boise State last night in the First Four to advance. I know South Carolina just got embarrassed by Auburn in the SEC Tourney and would like to respond here. However, the Gamecocks also got drilled by Auburn in the regular season plus lost AT HOME to Tennessee in the regular season plus got embarrassed at Alabama too. Those are 3 of the best teams in the SEC so against strong teams, South Carolina has had some major slip-ups with 3 losses ALL by 27 or more points! That is the sign of a soft team when you can get beat that bad. I am hearing the talk that now SC is playing with a chip on their shoulder here. I don't care. They are playing a tough Ducks team and a chip on your shoulder is not what wins games. This is the first time the Gamecocks have been in the tourney since 2017. Oregon did lose both regular season games with Arizona this season but then knocked them out in the Conference Tourney. Also, same thing with how their season against Colorado went. They also split with Washington State and Utah which are the other 20+ win teams from the Pac-12. The Ducks have had good post-season success in terms of advancing whether NCAA or NIT. Also if you had to pick a coach for your team in College Hoops would you rather have Dana Altman (27 straight winning seasons!) or Lamont Paris (3 ugly seasons in 6 in his career)? Altman is one of the winningest active coaches in NCAA basketball and this is a mismatch in the coaching department in my opinion and yes the Ducks have the talent on the floor to match South Carolina. Don't let this line fool you! OREGON +1.5 -120/-125 or Pick'em -110

Rotation #739: NCAA Thursday Akron Zips +12.5 vs Creighton Bluejays @ 1:30 ET - Akron undervalued here and Creighton overpriced in my opinion. The Zips come from a weaker conference and do have 10 losses on the season. However, this is a solid team defensively and I expect the Bluejays to struggle to truly pull away in this game as a result. Note that Akron had only two blowout losses in their 10 defeats this season. The other 8 losses were all by a single digit margin and, in fact, by an average margin of just 3.6 points per game! Creighton, of course, is the stronger team and from the better conference. However, another key with the Bluejays year in and year out is they tend to shoot much better at home. Of course this is a neutral site game and note that Creighton blew away the weakling Hoyas and Blue Demons at Georgetown and DePaul, respectively but look at their other last 10 games away from home. The Jays went just 4-6 SU in those 10 games and also 3 of the 4 wins were by an average margin of just 4 points! This game is going to be a lot closer than you might be expect for a 14 seed vs 3 seed match-up! Groce is a solid head coach and was at Illinois in the Big Ten before coming to Akron. He has already enjoyed great success with the Zips. They were also in the Big Dance two years ago as a 13 seed and so they faced a 4 seed. They lost that game by just 4 points to a UCLA team that went on to the Sweet 16. I just can not envision a blowout here and am confidently grabbing the big points in this one. AKRON +12.5

Rotation #703: NCAA First Four Colorado Buffaloes -2.5 vs Boise State Broncos @ 9:10 ET - The Mountain West is solid but the Pac-12 is even tougher. I have plenty of respect for the Broncos but the Buffaloes really seemed to turn their season a dime when they finally figured out how to win away from home. Once they did that their confidence level exploded and they are not a different team. Yes they bowed out of the conference tourney when they lost to Oregon but the Ducks are a strong team. As solid as Boise State is, they lost all 3 HOME games against the other 3 teams that finished along with them in the top 4 of the MWC. The point is, if you can't win at home against the best teams in your conference, how can you expected to win in a neutral site game against an equally strong (if not stronger) Pac-12 team playing its best basketball of the season? Note that the Buffaloes won 3 of the 4 home games against the other 20+ win teams in their conference. The Buffs had won 8 straight games before the Ducks beat them by 7 in the Pac-12 Tourney final. Note that Colorado lost the turnover battle 13 to 3 in that game and were outscored 23 to 0 in terms of points off turnovers! Given that it is amazing they only lost the game by 7. They will clean things up again for this one and when they play clean basketball, they have been tough to beat for many weeks now. They get this win and cover the small number. COLORADO -2.5

Rotation #715: NIT Tourney: Wednesday San Francisco Dons +6 @ Cincinnati Bearcats @ 9 ET - These Bearcats started the season 12-2 but went 8-12 from then until now! The Dons have as many wins in just 12 games as the Cats had in those 20 games. Indeed, San Francisco is on an 8-4 run and the kicker is that one loss was to a 20-win Santa Clara team and the other 3 losses were against ranked teams - St Mary's and Gonzaga! This SF team is a solid shooting team that plays well on the defensive end. The Bearcats will be in a war here just to win this game let alone cover the spread. That said, I love the points here as Cincy's most recent wins included against a Kansas team that was without the two top scorers in the Big 12! Also, Cats won against Kansas State but were down in that game with just 10 seconds to go when they hit the game winner in the 1-point win. The other two wins in the past 4 weeks were against a West Virginia team that went 9-23 overall and 4-14 in Big 12 action. This Bearcats team is over-rated in this spot and the Dons having to travel to Cincinnati for this game is no big deal when they have had so much time off to prepare for this game! Grab the generous points. SAN FRANCISCO +6

Rotation #702: NCAA First Four Montana State Bobcats -3.5 vs Grambling State Tigers @ 6:40 ET - This is essentially a play based on conference strength. The fact is that the SWAC that Grambling hails from is absolutely the worst conference in Division 1 basketball. The Big Sky is certainly not a big conference but it is a much stronger conference than the SWAC. That said, the fact the Bobcats have a much stronger offense than the Tigers plus the fact that they faced a tougher overall schedule plus the fact that Grambling is in the Big Dance for the first time ever...it all adds up to a solid play on the favorite in this one! We are getting some line value here because people see the Cats were just a .500 team in the regular season and finished only 5th in their conference. However, Grambling finished first in the worst conference in Division 1. Lay the small number here with confidence. MONTANA STATE -3.5

Rotation #672: NCAA Tuesday Virginia Cavaliers (+) vs Colorado State Rams @ 9:10 ET - Give me the 3 points here. Maybe I have a bit of the old "East Coast bias" but I have seen others that are unbiased do have the ACC as a significantly stronger conference than the Mountain West. Note that the only two teams that Virginia finished behind in the final ACC standings were North Carolina and Duke. Those are two teams rank in the top dozen teams in the nation. Also, the team that won the ACC Tourney (NC State) is a team Virginia should have beaten but inexplicably made a couple key mistakes late that allowed the Wolfpack to tie it up and force OT. It was a gut-wrenching loss but also the Cavs can't wait to get back on the floor to make up for that here. The fact NC State then went and upset North Carolina in much easier fashion after they should have lost outright to Virginia also says a lot. This Cavs team is very well coached and annually has one of the best defenses in the nation. Colorado State is certainly a solid team but they are over-rated here. The top teams in the MWC are only in the #20 to #25 positions in the nation. Also, the Rams finished tied for 6th in the MWC while the Cavaliers were 3rd in the ACC! The Cavaliers play ugly basketball so a lot of guys don't like them. However, this time of year, that ugly defensive style can play hell with opponents and I am grabbing the underdog line value here with an angry Cavs team that is still pissed from that inexcusable loss to NC State. They will not be denied here in my opinion but grab the points for added insurance. VIRGINIA (+)

Rotation #676: NIT Tuesday Providence Friars (-) vs Boston College Eagles @ 7 ET - Yes the Friars are expected to be without leading scorer Carter for this one but this line has fallen too low in my opinion. It is down to a -3 and, even without Carter, the Friars at home are stronger than these Eagles. Also, I feel Providence is one of a handful of teams that is out to prove the Big East was robbed in terms of only 3 Big East teams making the Big Dance. The Friars are hungry to prove they were one of the teams wronged and I expect a very strong performance here at home. Note that is what not that long ago that Boston College had just been obliterated by Pittsburgh and then sat at 15-14 on the season and just 6-12 in ACC games! I know the Eagles then won 4 straight, including 2 in the ACC tourney, before bowing out against Virginia. However, other than the impressive over Clemson, the other 3 wins were against a horrible Louisville team that finished 3-17 in ACC action and a Miami team that slumped badly and lost 10 straight games to the end the season. The point is the Eagles had a helluva great game against the Tigers but I am not sold on a team whose other recent wins were against bad teams considering they were also just 6-12 against conference opposition not too long ago. This Friars team had won 6 of 3 before a loss to Marquette in the Big East tourney and 3 of their last 4 losses were against the Golden Eagles and UConn - both of whom are in the Big Dance of course. Watch the Friars rise up here, even without Carter. PROVIDENCE (-)

Rotation #669: NCAA Tuesday Wagner Seahawks (+) vs Howard Bison @ 6:40 ET - Give me the 3.5 points here. If you watch the talking heads speak about this game or read preview articles you will see many people quoted about Wagner having a 7-man rotation and being short-handed because they are down two key players. Guess what? They played nearly the entirety of the season without those two players. Those two players played a combined 12 games - so an average of 6 games out of 31 on the season. In other words, this is 100% a NON-factor here. Now it would be a factor later in the tourney but there is no "later in the tourney" for either one of these teams. Whether Wagner or Howard advances either one will get blasted by North Carolina Thursday. However, I do like Wagner to advance as they ride the positive momentum of their conference tourney run. Also, most rankings do give a slight edge to the NEC over the MEAC in terms of conference power rankings. I personally feel the edge is bigger. The NEC is a little more significantly stronger than the MEAC in my opinion. I am well aware that Wagner had a sub-par regular season but they had to beat the top 3 teams in their conference (36-12 combined NEC record!) to get here! As for Howard, they had a ridiculous 3-point shooting effort in beating top seeded Norfolk State in their conference tourney but had the added benefit of their other two games against teams with a combined 13-15 conf record and overall 26-38 record. If they had faced a tougher team after upsetting Norfolk State they would have likely lost. Wagner thinks they are invincible right now. That makes for a dangerous dog. The way these two teams are playing right now, Howard is absolutely no better than Wagner. Also, the Seahawks are allowing just 54 ppg last 4 games. The Bison allowing 71 ppg L4 games. The Hawks stay hot! WAGNER (+)

CBB Sunday Illinois Illini -3 or -3.5 vs Wisconsin Badgers @ 3:30 ET - Badgers fought hard and won in OT versus the Boilermakers yesterday as they got the big upset win over Purdue. Their top 3 scorers in yesterday's win (71% of the points) played an average of 37 minutes as the game went to OT also. Now playing again today and having battled so hard to make it this far, this is the game where the juice runs out for Wisconsin. Their 3-point shooting was so hot but keeps cooling off game by game as their legs are starting to get tired. Purdue did not shoot as well as usual yesterday and also lost the turnover battle badly. Give some credit to the Badgers for sure but the Boilers caused their own demise as well. Don't look for Illinois to be so generous! This Illini team gets to the foul line well and Wisconsin had all kinds of foul trouble versus Purdue yesterday. Hats off to the Badgers for still being able to grind out the win but their big run ends here. The Illini create match-up problems with guys like Damask and Shannon just like they did in the recent regular season meeting. Getting this line in the -3 range is a great value. ILLINOIS -3 or -3.5

CBB Sunday Temple Owls +7.5 vs UAB Blazers @ 3:15 ET - These teams just met before the conference tourney started and Temple was embarrassed in Philly as the Blazers scored 100 points! UAB shot a ridiculous 61% from the field including 56% from 3-point land! Teams don't forget about home losses like that. The Owls have since won 5 straight games and just knocked off two of the top three teams in the conference as they beat Florida Atlantic and Charlotte. Temple underachieved in the regular season - to say the least - but they are truly battling hard now and have jelled as a team at the perfect time of year - mid-March! I am not saying they get the outright win here but I do expect them to have another very strong game and that should be good enough for at least the cover here! They have allowed just 62 ppg in their 4 games in this tourney so far. UAB has allowed 78 ppg in their last 8 games. The Blazers are the stronger overall team but the Owls are playing confident defensive-minded basketball right now and this game should go down to the wire. Grab the generous points and this one has upset potential as well. TEMPLE +7.5

Rotation #634: CBB Saturday North Carolina Tar Heels -9 vs NC State Wolfpack @ 8:30 ET - Give the Wolfpack plenty of credit of course as a win is a win and they fought hard yesterday. However, it took some late mistakes from Virginia including a key turnover and then a bank-shot 3 at the buzzer to even force OT in their eventual win over the Cavaliers. I also expect the Wolfpack to be worn out here. This is going to be their 6th game in 8 days! Conversely, North Carolina is playing just its 3rd game in 7 days! Not only is this a huge rest edge for the Tar Heels, they are absolutely the superior team in all facets of the game. I do not often lay big points in spread sports but there are exceptions. In this case, the rest factor plus the talent factor are hugely in favor of UNC. Also, the Wolfpack went just 9-11 in ACC games this season while the Tar Heels went 17-3. While 9 points may seem like a lot, half of NC State's losses this season were by 9 or more points. Given that plus the fact they are facing one of the top teams in the nation (and a rival that won't hold back given the chance to rout) and the fact they are very tired after all the basketball over the past week, this one gets ugly and UNC pulls away for blowout win by 15+ points. NORTH CAROLINA -9

Rotation #610: CBB Saturday Purdue Boilermakers -6 vs Wisconsin Badgers @ 1 ET - Live by the three, die by the three. Today is the day Wisconsin's Big Ten Tourney run dies. 3rd game in 3 days. The legs start to give out. That is very important in 3 point shooting. The Badgers have been ridiculous from three point land in each of their first two games in the tourney. Now they face a Purdue team that shut them down from downtown in each of their two meetings this season. I also like the fact that the Boilermakers faced a tough Spartans team yesterday. Gutting out a gutsy win over a Tom Izzo-coached team is never easy come tourney time. Keep in mind the Badgers played a struggling Maryland team and then Northwestern so far in this tourney. I know the Wildcats finished ahead of Michigan State this season in the Big Ten but when you factor in the Tom Izzo effect, the Boilers arguably faced the tougher match-up yesterday. Give credit to the Badgers for a solid run but I could see their 3-point shooting really drop off here (just like the regular season meetings) especially with some weary legs. The Boilers have a rest edge and they are fully focused on becoming the first team in 24 years to win both the Big Ten regular season title and Big Ten tourney in the same season. Look for big man Zach Edey to have another huge game and the fact their largest deficit was only 1 point and they led by as many as 12 points yesterday has led to value here considering they only won the game by 5 points. That is keeping this line a little low and I look for the Boilers to roll by double digits given all of the above. PURDUE -6 

Rotation #857: CBB Friday Colorado Buffaloes -1.5 -115 or money line -130 vs Washington State Cougars @ 10:30 ET in Pac-12 Tourney at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV - Love the line movement on this one. Colorado opened favored by about 2.5 then came down to 1.5 and now appears headed back up. First off, why were the Buffaloes favored in the first place even though Washington State is ranked and the Buffaloes are unranked? Exactly! Odds makers know! Why did the line come down? Sharps wanted to move it down! Why is it now going back up? Sharps took advantage of the lower number and the bigger bets are starting to come in. In addition to all these betting and market factors, I also like Colorado here because they are playing their best basketball of the season at the right time. The Buffaloes have won 7 straight games! The Cougars have two recent losses and they were to Pac-12 teams that finished the regular season with a combined 17-23 record in conference games! Colorado is the better team offensively including at the free throw line. That could be key in a projected tighter game. Though this game may indeed be tight I just do not see the Buffaloes being denied here. Colorado playing with such confidence right now. The Buffs were tested yesterday by a solid Utah team while the Cougars took advantage of facing an inconsistent Stanford team that ended up finishing their year on a 3-9 run. Don't let this line fool you. The Buffaloes are favored with good reasoning here as noted above. COLORADO -1.5 -115 or money line -130

Rotation #841: CBB Friday: Providence Friars +5 vs Marquette Golden Eagles @ 8 ET in Big East Tourney at Madison Square Garden - The Friars are off a great win over Creighton yesterday after an easy win over a horrible Georgetown team Wednesday. Yes it is a 3rd game in 3 days for Providence but they do catch Marquette off an intense physical and emotional grinder of a win over Villanova yesterday that did require OT. That said, this one sets up well for an upset. Will grab the points here just in case but the Friars enter this game with a lot of confidence and they actually had 70 shots from the field yesterday compared to just 58 for the Bluejays. In other words, the win was not a fluke and they took great care of the ball as well and that had an edge in the turnover department for the Friars as well. Providence has won 6 of 9 games and Marquette is at a disadvantage in the rebounding department also. Prior to yesterday's OT win over Villanova, the Golden Eagles were on a 6-6 run in games played away from home. Also, the only 2 wins that were blowout wins were against DePaul and Georgetown - the two worst teams in the Big East. The other 4 wins were by an average margin of 4.5 ppg an none of those wins by more than 6 points. Don't be surprised if this one goes to the wire and, though I expect an outright upset, we'll grab the points just in case the Friars fall a bucket or so short. PROVIDENCE +5

Rotation #782: CBB Thursday Colorado Buffaloes -3.5 vs Utah Utes @ 11:30 ET - Excellent line value here as the Buffaloes have won 6 in a row and have the rest edge here too as they have been off for a few days while the Utes were in action yesterday. Utah, prior to yesterday's win had lost 8 of 12 games and though they beat the Buffaloes by 5 earlier this season they also lost at Colorado by 24 in the rematch. This Buffs team playing with a lot of confidence right now and has all the key edges going in their favor here. Utah started the season 11-2 but then went 7-11 the rest of the way before this conference tourney. Colorado, on the other hand, has won 11 of 15 games since starting the season 11-5. Two teams that truly have been trending in opposite directions. Also, the Buffaloes finally got the much needed confidence boost by winning some road games. They needed that and this will also help them in his neutral site game in Vegas. COLORADO -3.5

Rotation #734: CBB Thursday Virginia Cavaliers -4.5 vs Boston College Eagles @ 9:30 ET - Eagles playing for 3rd straight night. Virginia has huge rest edge. Cavaliers won the first meeting even though it was at Boston College. Now this neutral site game in the tourney (in DC) truly is a location that favors the Cavs. They have stellar defense and did score 72 points in 2 of their last 3 games so it gives them some added confidence on the offensive end. On the defensive end there is no shortage of confidence for this tough Cavaliers team. Look for them to use that tenacious defense to pull away as this game goes on and they wear down a tired Eagles team playing a 3rd straight day. The revenge angle for BC that many in the market will buy into is helping to keep this line lower than it should be. We take advantage! VIRGINIA -4.5

Rotation #746: CBB Thursday Seton Hall Pirates +4.5 @ St John's Red Storm @ 2:30 ET - I know many might look at this and say it is a home game for St John's and it is true that the Red Storm do play home games at Madison Square Garden too. However, Seton Hall is from the NYC metro area as well and MSG is essentially right between the campuses of these two schools. Also, the Pirates won both regular season meetings so many people will be looking at the double revenge factor as well. The result of all this in my opinion is that St John's is getting too much support in the betting markets and we are getting plenty of value here on the underdog side catching 4.5 points! It is true that the Red Storm wrapped up the season winning 5 in a row. However, 3 of the 5 wins were against the 2 Big East teams that finished the season with a combined 2-38 record in the Big East. I am not saying St John's is a bad team or that Seton Hall is an elite team. I am just saying that these teams are close to equal in my opinion and I would say the Pirates are the slightly better team. The Red Storm are simply over-rated here and I look for the underdogs to make it a rare 3-0 season sweep over St John's but we will grab the points just in case. SETON HALL +4.5

Rotation #679: CBB Wednesday Xavier Musketeers -1.5 vs Butler Bulldogs @ 4 ET - This line is around a 1.5 and I like the Musketeers to respond in this opportunity at right back revenge. They just lost at Butler in the Bulldogs regular season finale and Xavier can get the best kind of payback right here in the Big East Tourney! Also, the Musketeers did win the first game when the teams met in Cincinnati and that was their 2nd straight win in this series. They bounce back here after the loss at Butler. The Musketeers dominated the glass in both meetings this season and they will cut down on their turnovers here in the rematch of the last season 6-point loss. Also, Xavier does a better job of getting to the free throw line than the Bulldogs. In a potentially tight contest I want the better rebounding team, that also thrives on getting to the rack and creating contact to get to the FT line, and that also has revenge on their minds. Great set up here to lay a short number! XAVIER -1.5

Rotation #854 CBB Monday Hofstra Pride -7 vs Stony Brook Seawolves @ 8:30 ET - The Seawolves had to rally multiple times yesterday in an amazing double OT win over Drexel. Not only will this be the 3rd game in 3 days for Stony Brook, their top 5 scorers in yesterday's game scored 87 of their 91 points. Those 5 players averaged 39.4 minutes played. That means you have the guys that scored 96% of their points yesterday and are playing their 3rd game in 3rd days AVERAGED playing a FULL GAME of 40 minutes yesterday. This is a fantastic setup for the more rested Pride team to dominate. Hofstra has won 12 of 15 games and each of their last 6 wins have been by a double digit margin. The Pride did have 4 guys play heavy minutes in yesterday's game but that was their first game in more than a week and they will definitely have the fresher legs here. They pull away as this game goes in and it make it a 7th straight win by a double digit margin. Lay it! HOFSTRA -7

Rotation #822: CBB Sunday Drexel Dragons -3.5 vs Stony Brook Seawolves @ 6 ET - Stony Brook had to play yesterday so this is a big scheduling edge for Drexel as they have been off for a week. Also, the Dragons have won 20 games this season. Compare that to the Northeastern team that the Seawolves beat yesterday - that team now has 20 losses this season. Also, Stony Brook was 20 of 22 from the FT line while Northeastern was 12 of 21 from the FT line. That was the difference in the game which is not saying a whole helluva lot about the Seawolves. This Dragons team has veteran leadership and a deep rotation and they will take advantage of facing Stony Brook in a B2B. Yes this is a neutral site game in DC but this is a bargain line that has moved down on the favorite and I am happy to take advantage of this Dragons team is the stronger team and will advance to the next round of the CAA tourney. They take advantage of having had a double bye heading into this one. DREXEL -3.5

Rotation #774: CBB Saturday Santa Clara Broncos -11.5 vs San Diego Toreros @ 10 ET - Won here with San Diego yesterday but that was more of a play against Pepperdine than a play on the Toreros. The fact is that San Diego won ugly but they will struggle to win ugly here. The Toreros face a Broncos team that has the huge rest edge plus Santa Clara dominated them on the glass in the regular season meetings. The Broncos just have too much and the Toreros will not be able to keep up as the rebounding edge plus points in the paint edge as well as turnover differential should all go in favor of the rested Broncos in this one. I don't often lay big points in hoops or football but sometimes a double digit favorite is screaming for a bet and this is one of those. All the edges belong to the Broncos and they pull away as this game goes on. Lay it! SANTA CLARA -11.5

Rotation #638: CBB Saturday Villanova Wildcats +1.5 vs Creighton Bluejays @ 2:30 ET - Creighton is a tough team but, for years (and this season is no different) they are much tougher at home than on the road. Now they face a Villanova team that has been playing great defense and is desperate for a win after a road loss at Seton Hall. Back home where they have been playing particularly well, I don't see the Wildcats being denied here. I know the Bluejays have revenge from a home loss to Nova earlier this season but the Cats are still going to prove to be the hungrier team here as their chances at getting into the Big Dance are truly dependent on winning this game. Another key is the defensive play for sure as Villanova, other than a loss at #1 UConn, has allowed only 56 points per game in their other 8 games since the end of January! Creighton is allowing 73.6 points per game since late January. Yes, the Bluejays are the better team offensively but defense and home court matters a lot in this match-up and Creighton is known for struggling with their shooting away from home and this Wildcats team has been playing solid perimeter defense as well. The desperate home club gets it done in this one! VILLANOVA +1.5

Rotation #892: CBB Friday WCC Tourney San Diego Toreros +3 vs Pepperdine Waves @ 9 ET in Las Vegas - The Waves just blasted hapless Pacific last night. Not only is this a B2B spot for Pepperdine but they are just 1-5 SU the last 6 times they are off a win in which they allowed 63 points or less. Note that Lorenzo Romar is out as coach after this season for Pepperdine. Last night they faced a Pacific team that was also without its head coach (and was already released from the program) and so the Tigers used an associate head coach. It was a disaster for Pacific and it looked like they did not know what they were doing and they did not even challenge things defensively. It was an embarrassment. So the Waves now going from facing a Pacific team that was 0-16 in WCC action this season and did not even want to be in the tournament (apparently) to now facing a San Diego team that will come to play here. This will be Romar's final game in my opinion. He enjoyed the demolition last night but now reality sets back in. San Diego is not a great team but they are solid and the Toreros won 7 of their last 11 games. 3 of those 4 losses were against 3 of the top teams in the conference. Certainly Pepperdine does not fall into that category. That said, take advantage of the line value being offered here as the Waves won 102 to 43 last night and that has inflated this line. SAN DIEGO +3

Rotation #751: College Basketball Thursday Colorado Buffaloes +3 @ Oregon Ducks @ 9 ET - This line opened up at a pick'em and now the Ducks, unsurprisingly, are all the way up to a 3 point favorite. For one thing, the Buffaloes might have Cody Williams and Julian Hammond back for this one. Additionally, even if they do not, Colorado has been winning without Hammond the last 3 games and Williams the last 2 games. They have won 4 straight games and have plenty of momentum here. I know about the home/road difference for the Buffaloes but so do the oddsmakers and this line was set this way for a reason! Now we get exceptional value after the line move. Note that Jermaine Couisnard just scored 39 for the Ducks but Oregon still lost by 20. Yes that was against Arizona but it still says a lot about this team. When the Ducks faced Colorado earlier this season Couisnard had only 11 points and the Ducks lost by 16 points! The point is that the Buffaloes, even though on the road for this rematch, have proven they match up well with this Ducks team. Additionally, Colorado has won 2 of last 5 road games including most recent one so they are starting to get a little confidence going even when traveling. The overall 4-game winning streak also helps in that regard. The Ducks loss at Colorado started an overall slide for them that they have really not bounced back from. Oregon started this season 13-3 and, ever since, has a record of 6-7. Also, the Ducks have only split (2-2) in their last 4 home games. Grab the road dog in this one! COLORADO +3

Rotation #671: CBB Wednesday 10* Top Play Villanova Wildcats +1.5 @ Seton Hall Pirates @ 6:30 ET - The Wildcats are off a win at Providence and are playing their best basketball of the season. Their defense has been fantastic. Villanova has won 5 of 6 games and, other than a loss at #1 ranked UConn, has allowed only 55 points per game in their other 7 games since then end of January. They blasted Seton Hall in that stretch so, of course, the Pirates want revenge. However, the Wildcats had great defense from Moore on the top player for Seton Hall and I expect a repeat of that here. Moore is known for his defense and he seems much healthier now than he was early this season. Also, the team as a whole is playing their best D of the season. The Pirates are at home here but are only 3-2 SU L5 home games and 2 of the wins were against the Hoyas and Blue Demons. Note that Georgetown and DePaul are a combined 2-36 SU in Big East action this season. Don't get me wrong, Seton Hall is a solid club but this game Wednesday is huge in terms of Big Dance scenarios for each of these teams and I am backing the team playing better defense that also has some match-up edges. Those match-up edges are so important in basketball. Seton Hall has allowed about 75 ppg their last 7 games. Even if you take out the B2B bad losses to Creighton and UConn, the Pirates have allowed 69 ppg their other 5 games since the end of January. We are into March and it is the time of year when defense is a key to making a big run. Tourney time is not quite yet here for the major conferences but it already feels like it is here and that will be the type of pressure involved in this game. That said, give me the better defense and the team with more confidence entering this match-up based on recent results. This one is all Wildcats. VILLANOVA +1.5

Rotation #666: CBB Horizon League Tourney Tuesday Milwaukee Panthers -11.5 vs Detroit Titans @ 8 ET - Detroit is getting a little attention in the marketplace and I get it. It is a new opportunity for the Titans after a disgusting 1-30 season. Also, they are off a tight loss to Oakland and the Golden Grizzlies are the top team in the Horizon. However, Oakland had already wrapped up the Horizon League regular season title so they were very lax defensively in that game. Detroit took advantage and shot uncharacteristically well. Now Detroit faces a fired up team in Milwaukee and the Panthers will be intense defensively. The Panthers averaged scoring about 84 ppg when at home this season and the Titans averaged only about 65 ppg when on the road this season. Don't be surprised when the hosts win this by 20+ points! They have the talent edge, the defensive edge, the rebounding edge and home court as well. Before that road loss by just 5 points to Oakland, 14 of last 18 road defeats for Detroit came by at least a dozen points! The Panthers wrapped up the regular season on a 5-1 run and blasted Green Bay 90-69 in their season finale. They carry that moment right into this game. MILWAUKEE -11.5 

Rotation #306662: ASUN Tourney CBB Monday: Florida Gulf Coast Eagles -4 vs Queens University Royals @ 7 ET - This is a conference tournament where the team with the better record gets it on their home court. But I am going to start with talking about road games. The reason is because you can oftentimes tell the better team by how they perform on the road. In this case, on the surface, you have two very evenly matched teams by looking at records. But if you look at how the Eagles performed on the road (including in losses!) compared to how the Royals performed on the road, you will see that Florida Gulf Coast was the stronger team on the road. Not only that, as noted above, now Queens University has to go on the road for this one while the Eagles are on their home floor. It all adds up to solid line value here as Florida Gulf Coast should take this by 5 or more points. The Eagles last 8 home games, and 11 of 13 this season, all were decided by a margin of 5 or more points. I also like the fact that FGC started 3-9 this season but then went 11-8 the rest of the way. Conversely, Queens started the season 6-5 but have since gone 7-13 the rest of the way. Also, 14 of the Royals 18 losses were by 6 or more points this season. While Queens just became division 1 in the summer of 2022, the Eagles have been Division 1 for more than dozen years and have been to the Big Dance 3 times. I like the home team for all the reasons noted above and I also like them for their better defensive play including key hustle stats like steals and blocks in their most recent match-up. Florida Gulf Coast Eagles -4

Rotation #852: CBB Sunday Colorado Buffaloes -13 vs Stanford Cardinal @ 9 ET - Colorado has been rolling offensively heading into this game and they are 15-1 SU at home this season. Stanford enters this game off 5 straight losses and with the Cardinal offense quite sluggish. The Cardinal just will not be able to keep up here. The Buffaloes know they are on the bubble and this is also their final home game of the season. You know that kind of effort that will result in for Colorado ... it will absolutely be an intense effort from the hosts here and they pull away for a win by about 20. One of Stanford's better shooters dealing with a wrist injury so that is not helping matters either as the Cardinal slide toward an ugly finish to the season. Not including OT points of course, the Buffaloes have averaged 83 ppg last 3 games - all wins. The Cardinal have averaged just 66 points in their last 5 games - all losses. I do not normally lay big points but this one is screaming blowout rout! Lay it! COLORADO -13

Rotation #801: CBB Saturday Gonzaga Bulldogs +2.5 @ St Mary's Gaels @ 10 ET - The Gaels already wrapped up the #1 seed for the WCC Tourney that is coming up. They should also have locked up a spot in the NCAA Tourney as well. That said, this game is not nearly as important to St Mary's as it is to Gonzaga. The Bulldogs have not been quite as strong as they usually are but they still showed what they can do in their most recent game with a blowout win courtesy of a huge 2nd half and that was on the road also. Now here they are out for revenge after losing at home 64-62 to the Gaels earlier this season. One of the big keys that night for St Mary's was Joshua Jefferson as he had 25% of their points with 16 points plus had 11 rebounds. He is now out for the season. Further limiting their depth in the paint is 7-footer Harry Wessels is out. The Bulldogs will take advantage here in the paint and they have big-time scorers all over the floor. Yes, the Gaels will try to slow them down but this game belongs to Gonzaga. I love the fact moved from the Bulldogs being a small favorite to now being an underdog of more than a bucket. There is a reason the line was originally set the way it was and the Bulldogs are all set for revenge here. GONZAGA +2.5

Rotation #733: CBB Saturday Virginia Cavaliers (+) @ Duke Blue Devils @ 6 ET - This is a revenge spot for Virginia. The last time they met Duke it was not just any game, it was the ACC Championship Game last March. They lost the game by 10 but it was a 4-point game with under a minute to go. The Cavaliers had a rough shooting effort in that game and that was the difference but they proved once again that they are capable of slowing down the Blue Devils offensive production. Duke comes into this one hot but look at what they have done against other strong ACC teams, like Virginia, this season. The Blue Devils lost to North Carolina, they went 1-1 against Wake Forest (and the win was by 8 points) and they did beat Clemson but only by 1 point. They did crush Syracuse but split against Pitt including losing here at home to the Panthers. This Cavaliers team has not forgotten the ACC Final from a year ago and they play solid defense and the offense, led by playmaker Reece Beekman, looked really strong earlier this week in winning on the road at Boston College. Don't be surprised if this one goes to the wire and I feel we have exceptional value here with such a strong defense getting huge points in this revenge match. Remember too that North Carolina already beat Duke this season and that is the same UNC team that Virginia lost too by 10 but trailed by only 5 with under a minute to go. I just feel this line is absolutely inflated when you consider the Blue Devils performance against solid ACC teams this season. VIRGINIA (+)

Rotation #601: CBB Saturday Villanova Wildcats +2.5 @ Providence Friars @ Noon ET - This one has made a big move toward Providence as Villanova opened as the small favorite here. I understand the move because the Friars have the home court edge here but also feel the odds makers had this one right. The Wildcats have been playing great defense. Other than a loss to a UConn team that is one of the best teams in the nation, Nova has allowed only 54 ppg in their other 6 games since the beginning of February. Villanova won 5 of those 6 games. They'll win this one too! Providence has lost 4 of last 8 games and allowed 77 points per game in their last 6 games since losing 68 to 50 at Villanova. Grab the better defense and the points here in a key game for Big Dance hopes. VILLANOVA +2.5

Rotation #843: CBB Thursday Gonzaga Bulldogs -3.5 @ San Francisco Dons @ 11 PM ET - Unless I missed something, Gonzaga has now beaten San Francisco 28 games in a row in regular season and WCC Tourney action combined. February of 2012 is the last time the Dons knocked off the Bulldogs! Yes, second-placed Gonzaga has season finale with first-placed St Mary's (14-0 in WCC) on deck but this game against 3rd placed San Francisco is more important! Wait a second...how can that be? Well the Bulldogs are not going to catch the Gaels for 1st place in the division but they could lose out on 2nd place to the Dons should they lose this game! Also, of those 28 consecutive wins, only ONE was by less than FOUR points and the current line on this game is 3.5 points. Yes, San Francisco has had a great season but they have 3 losses in the WCC but guess who beat them? St Mary's TWICE and Gonzaga ONCE already this season. The point is that the Dons have not yet proven they can beat the best of the best in this conference! That said, I am happy to put these streaks to the test because the Bulldogs are also on the road here which will help insure the proper focus. They need this game. They know they slip into a tie with the Dons in the WCC should they lose this game. I also like the fact this line opened up in the -5 range but has dropped since then. Lay the short number and know you are taking a team that has absolutely dominated this series for a dozen years! GONZAGA -3.5

Rotation #747 CBB Wednesday Virginia Cavaliers +1.5 @ Boston College Eagles @ 9 ET - The Cavaliers enter this game off B2B losses. Virginia's most recent road game was a disaster at Virginia Tech as the Hokies took that one by a 75-41 final! Those are the kind of losses you don't forget and this is the Cavs first opportunity on the road since that ugly loss in Blacksburg. The Cavaliers enter this one off B2B losses and that is is certainly noteworthy as they have not lost 3 straight games in 3 years! Virginia is on a 5-0 / 100% PERFECT RUN the last 5 times they have entered a game on a losing streak of 2 or more games since that instance in Feb of 2021. You know Tony Bennett is going to have his guys ready for this game and we get line value because it is at Chestnut Hill. Yes, Boston College is solid at home but they have also lost to stronger ACC teams here and Virginia is one of the top teams in this conference. Also, the Cavs lost their most recent visit here so they want payback here. While the Eagles are the much stronger team offensively, the defense of Virginia is one of the best in the nation year in and year out under Bennett. The low total posted on this game by the odds makers tells you they expect the same thing I do. That is the fact that Virginia will be able to control the tempo here. If the Cavs get that type of low-scoring game they want they come out on top more often than not. Look for that to be the case again here as they bounce back off rare B2B losing games to take that aforementioned multi-year run to a perfect 6-0! VIRGINIA +1.5

Rotation #631: Tuesday 10* Pittsburgh Panthers (+) @ Clemson Tigers @ 7 ET - Though the Panthers are off a win, they lost their prior road game badly so they will be looking to make up for that here. Also, prior to that road loss, they were on a 6-2 SU run in road games. Also, the Tigers are off a home win versus Florida State but were just 3-4 SU prior to this in their 7 most recent home games. The point is that home court is always baked into the lines but, in this case, neither one of these teams has met the traditional home/road dichotomy factors. So we get a little extra value here with the big points available for Pittsburgh. Also the Panthers lost at home to Pittsburgh earlier this season so this is a revenge game for Pitt as well. This is a huge game in terms of the Big Dance hopes for each and I am looking for a very tight game decided by a slim margin. Possible Panthers upset here given their road success this year so having the big points - currently 7.5 as of 7 hours before tipoff is certainly a huge value as well. The Panthers are the better team defensively and they will be fired up after losing their most recent road game by 33 points at Wake Forest. Good teams don't forget defeats like that and this Pitt team is strong. Their other two road losses before that were by an average margin of just 6 points apiece. PITTSBURGH (+)

Rotation #889: CBB Monday Baylor Bears (+) @ TCU Horned Frogs @ 9 ET - The road team has won each of the last 3 meetings. That includes a road win for the Frogs at Baylor in TRIPLE OT four weeks ago. The Bears are out for revenge here and they have won 3 in a row at TCU so being on the road for the rematch is not a big deal. These campuses are less than 100 miles apart. The Horned Frogs have lost 3 of 6 and the 3 wins have come against teams that are a combined 15-27 in Big 12 action this season. Baylor is off an OT loss to a Houston team that is one of the top teams in the country. The Bears are now off tough B2B losses but against tough teams and Baylor had won 5 of 6 prior to that. Also, 3 of those 5 wins were against teams that all are now at least .500 on the season in Big 12 action. In fact, those 3 teams are a combined 59-22 on the season overall. Those 3 wins TCU had were against teams with a combined overall record that is currently 41-40 on the season. I respect the Horned Frogs but love the road trending in these match-ups and the hunger of Baylor coming off that OT loss Saturday! TCU has home losses to Iowa State and Texas already this season and you can add this determined Bears squad to the list after this game goes final. But we will grab the available points - currently 2.5 as of 14 hours before tipoff - just in case though I do not expect to need them. BAYLOR (+)

Rotation#815: CBB Sunday Maryland Terrapins (+) @ Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ Noon ET - This line opened up around a pick'em but is now up to as high as a 2.5 as of 4 and 1/2 hours before tipoff. Of course the markets are all over Rutgers here at home at the low number but why do you think this line was set near a pick'em? Were the odds makers unaware that the Scarlet Knights were at home for this game where they have been strong this season? Of course not! The point is that the odds makers look at this one the same way I do. Maryland is the better team even though they are behind them in the Big Ten standings. This is a revenge game and the Terps get payback for a horrific shooting effort from beyond the arc in the first meeting. Yes Rutgers has a solid defense but so do the Terrapins! Payback game in a chance to move up the Big Ten standings and leapfrog the Scarlet Knights. 10* MARYLAND (+)

Rotation #769: College Basketball Saturday Villanova Wildcats (+) @ Connecticut Huskies @ 8 ET - As I mentioned in prior write-ups on the Wildcats, they have truly bought into improved defensive play and are doing key aspects of the game well like rebounding well and hustling and forcing turnovers. That, of course, does not mean they beat the #1 team in the nation and defending champion Huskies at Connecticut. But it does mean they hang around in this game and we get key line value here because this line is up near a DOZEN points but when these teams met at Villanova - a 1 point win for Huskies - UConn was a very small favorite. Now they are a little inflated here in my opinion because of coming off the loss. Keep in mind, the Huskies are off a loss which will have many thinking bounce back here but sometimes a team that is so use to winning does not respond as aggressively off a rare loss. After their other two losses this season the Huskies did win their next game each time but by an average of just 7.5 points as a victory margin. The Wildcats have allowed just 55 ppg in their last 5 games! That is not an accident folks, they really have emphasized defense and that won't stop here. Now, of course, the Huskies are a great team but they are over-valued here in a game that will be tight because the Wildcats will continue their tenacious D and they have older players that know how to rise to the occasion in a big game like this. They will not be intimidated. VILLANOVA (+)

Rotation #718: College Basketball: Saturday Pittsburgh Panthers (-) vs Virginia Tech Hokies @ 5:30 ET - The Panthers are in a great spot here. Not only are they off that ugly loss at Wake Forest after winning 5 straight games and 7 of last 8, Pittsburgh also has revenge on their minds here for added motivation. While it may seem like a meaningless game from year ago it is not forgotten. The Panthers were 12-3 and in first place in the ACC at the time and Virginia Tech was just 5-10 but the Hokies got the victory that day. Now Pittsburgh can bounce back at home off the ugly loss plus get revenge for that defeat last year in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech is just 1-7 on the road this season. We get line value here with the Panthers because Wake Forest was on fire with their shooting when they blasted Pitt earlier this week. Take advantage of the value here. PITTSBURGH (-)

CBB Friday 10* Top Play Akron Zips (-) vs Kent State Golden Flashes @ 6 ET - These are nearby rivals and this is always a big game as a result. That said, you might think Kent State is the revenge play here because they lost the most recent meeting at home this season. However, last season Akron had lost its final regular season game (in OT) at Kent State and then also had their season end just a week later when the Golden Flashes knocked the Zips out of the conference tourney! In other words, Akron still views this match-up as including some unfinished business. Also, the Zips are coming off a loss at Toledo which makes this home game extra important in the battle that Akron is in with the Rockets - also playing tonight - for the top spot in the MAC! Kent State is only a .500 team this season and they are a game under .500 in the MAC. Akron is definitely the stronger team and the much better defense and they improve on their 11-2 MAC season record. The Zips have gone a PERFECT 4-0 off a loss ever since that early season 3-game losing streak. Not only that, Akron won all 4 of those games by double digits. Look for the Zips to take that run to 5-0 here with another double digit victory. This line, as of 8 hours before tipoff, is in the 7.5 range and is a strong value here. 10* AKRON (-)

Rotation #769: CBB Thursday Ohio State Buckeyes (+) @ Minnesota Golden Gophers @ 8 ET - Off the upset of the Boilermakers, under normal circumstances, Ohio State should be faded here. However, this is anything but normal circumstances! The Buckeyes have had a down season and so they made a rare late-season coaching change. The assistant that took over here had already been at OSU for a few years plus is a long-time guy in terms of Ohio roots both for him and his entire family. The Buckeyes are showing they want to rally around this and are playing hard. There is a reason this line opened up low and then shot up to 4 but is already back to a 3.5 as of about 9 hours before tipoff. The sharps see the same thing I am seeing here too. The fact is the Golden Gophers had lost 6 of 9 before their win by double digits over Rutgers and now lets take a look at that victory. The Scarlet Knights actually had 13 more field goal attempts than Minny but they were done in by poor shooting that night while the Gophers were on fire both inside and outside the arc. Rutgers had more points in the paint plus the Golden Gophers had nearly twice as many turnovers. The point is that the box score proves it was a phony final. It is helping to give us some market value here as there was nothing phony about the Buckeyes win over Purdue! Love the fact that OSU had just 6 turnovers in that game too while the Boilermakers had 14. We get solid line value here as many will be playing Minny and the revenge angle here but this Buckeyes team is rejuvenated. OHIO STATE (+)

Rotation #682 CBB Wednesday Cincinnati Bearcats (-) vs Oklahoma State Cowboys @ 7 ET - This one is set up perfect as Oklahoma State off a rare big upset win as they beat BYU this past weekend plus they have a huge revenge game with rival Oklahoma on deck this weekend. Also, the Cowboys are on the road where they are 0-7 SU this season! The average margin of defeat in those games is 14 points! They are now in the wrong place at the wrong time as, even though Cincinnati is off a road win, the Bearcats are not happy at all about their two most recent home games. Those were both losses on their home floor (though they faced two tough ranked teams) and so now the Cats will take out their home court payback on a weak Cowboys team that always struggles away from home. This is a rare case where I have hesitation in laying the big number. Yes this one is a -10 as of 7 hours before tipoff but the Bearcats are destined to roll to a rout in this one. Keep in mind the Cats home schedule in Big 12 has been brutal with facing ranked teams in 6 of 7 games. They take full advantage of a rare reprieve here. CINCINNATI (-)

Rotation #659 CBB Wednesday Illinois Illini (-) at Penn State Nittany Lions @ 6:30 ET - This one is set up perfect as Illinois was favored over the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten tourney last season yet lost. The Illini ended up losing all 3 meetings with Penn State last season. You think Illinois has forgotten something like this? Of course not! Adding to the value here is the Nittany Lions are without Kanye Clary. He was their leading scorer and, arguably, their best player this season. He is gone for the season and will be entering the transfer portal. How did it effect the Lions so far? Well, they went on the road and got blasted at Nebraska in the first game without him again. He had been playing sparingly of late and the result of that was being reflected on the scoreboard as well! When he has played less than 10 minutes or missed a game entirely, the Nittany Lions have lost all 4 games and all defeats were by at least a dozen points! Penn State, overall, enter this game having lost 3 straight. Now they face a revenge-minded Illinois team that has won 7 of 9 games and, schematically, matches up very well with PSU on both ends of the floor. That means I can describe this match-up with two words truly...Road Rout! The line is 7.5 as of 6 hours before tipoff. Lay it! ILLINOIS (-)

CBB Tuesday Pittsburgh Panthers (+) @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons @ 9 ET - This line is in the 6.5 range as of 14 hours before tipoff. Wake Forest is solid but they are still just 5-6 L11 games and also 2 of their last 5 home wins have been by 4 or less points. Now they are laying more than a half dozen points to a Pittsburgh team that has proven to be ultra tough on the road this season. Not only have the Panthers won 5 straight overall and 7 of their last 8 overall, lets talk about their play away from home. Pittsburgh is 7-2 in their last 9 games away from home (one was neutral site) and 1 of the 2 losses was by just 4 points! These are road records we are talking about ladies and gentlemen...Pitt has traveled very well this season! Also, 3 of the 4 recent ones were at Duke, NC State and Virginia. Those 3 teams have an average of 19 wins on the season and the Panthers won at their venue! Yes, the Demon Deacons have revenge for a loss at Pitt earlier this season but WF is off huge games versus Duke and Virginia plus has the revenge match-up with big bad Duke on deck! I would not be surprised to see Wake struggle some here in this spot and nothing comes easy against this Pitt team. They are scrappy and hang around in games and the points are just too much here. Wake has 7 wins since the calendar turned the page to 2024 but only 4 of them (out of 13 games!) have been WF victories by more than a margin of 6 points. Excellent underdog value here. PITTSBURGH (+)

CBB Tuesday Villanova Wildcats (-) vs Butler Bulldogs @ 6:30 ET - Villanova has flipped a switch since an inexcusable loss in double-OT at Butler in late January. The Wildcats never trailed for the entirety of regulation in that game and even led by 14 late in the 2nd half but the game got away from them late and then it was an unreal double-OT loss as the final result. Nova had a "hangover" so to speak (and as to be expected following a soul-crushing loss) and so then lost a tough one in their next game but it was to a tough Top Ten Marquette team. So how did they respond since then? With defense! Villanova has since gone 3-1 and allowed 56 points or less in 4 straight games! You can bet they are going to "D up" again here against the Bulldogs. Yes, Villanova is in a must-win spot and while you can not blindly play "must-win" situations, this one has a lot going for it. The Wildcats are playing to keep their slim NCAA Tourney hopes alive and there has been a buy-in to defense. As for Butler, unlike Villanova, they have not bought into defense! The Bulldogs have allowed more than 70 in all 5 games since the miracle win over the Wildcats. Butler has gone 2-3 in this stretch and allowed an average of 80 ppg in this 5 games stretch! So one team allowing 53.5 ppg last 4 games and playing with revenge and playing at home and they face a team allowing 80 ppg last 5 games. The home team rolls by double digits here and this line is in the -6 range as of 11 hours before tipoff. VILLANOVA (-)

CBB Sunday North Texas Mean Green (+) @ UAB Blazers @ 3 ET - Yes, Jones is out for the Mean Green and Noland has missed 4 straight games. However, Jones has played in only 14 of North Texas' 24 games this season. The bigger current injury is Noland but the odds makers knew it when they set the early opener for this one and that was damn near a pick'em. Of course UAB is at home and with the better record and so every one jumped all over the Blazers. I love fading in cases like this as everyone feels UAB is easy money at home. Even if Noland does not come back for this one (decent chance he is back) I do like the Mean Green plenty here. They are the much better defensive team in comparison with the Blazers. Also, they have revenge from an OT loss at home against the Blazers earlier this season. Also, again the "trap line" theory is in effect here. UAB is undefeated in AAC home games this season and yet this line opened near a pick'em. Note that the Mean Green have lost 3 of last 4 road games. This is another one of those classic "someone knows something" match-ups! I love the extra line value here after the line move and I like having the stronger defense on my side plus in full-on revenge mode! Give me the points but we should not need them. NORTH TEXAS (+)

CBB Sunday Ohio State Buckeyes (+) vs Purdue Boilermakers @ 1 ET - Too many points as this is in the 8.5 range as of 7 hours before tipoff. The Buckeyes just fired their head coach Tuesday. The assistant is taking over and he has been with the program for years and he comes from a family of players and coaches. They have their footprint in Ohio basketball at various levels in this state. Now, I am not saying the Buckeyes are going to beat the Boilermakers here but I do expect a huge response at home after the firing of the coach. Also, Ohio State has lost each of the last two meetings with Purdue in Columbus by just a bucket each. The Buckeyes have a fair amount of size to at least throw some bodies at Edey. The Boilermakers big man is in a class of his own of course but he won't be able to completely dominate here. Plus, is Purdue starting to wear down a little bit? They were down 10 to Minnesota and had to rally in their most recent game. They did and they won by 8 but that was at home. These Buckeyes have underachieved but they are very talented and I expect them to surprise the Boilers here and absolutely turn this into a back and forth slugfest. Give me the big points. OHIO STATE (+)

Rotation #611 CBB Saturday Creighton Bluejays (-) @ Butler Bulldogs @ 12:30 ET - This is a revenge game for the Bluejays after they were beaten by the Bulldogs in Creighton by a single point in a very tough beat last month. Now the rematch is at Butler so we get a low number, as low as 2.5 as of 7 hours before tipoff, and I will not hesitate to step in on this one. Butler has had a few very tight wins this season and I feel this has inflated their value a bit. Yes they are at home for this one but the face a ranked foe that is out for revenge and that, on a more consistent basis, is the more dangerous team offensively! The stellar offensive production of Creighton is another reason they have won 4 of last 6 road games and one of those two losses was to #1 ranked UConn! That said, we get excellent value here as the Bluejays are the better shooting team and they catch the Bulldogs off losses in 2 of last 3 games. Not only that, Butler's last 5 wins included the crazy tight win over Creighton and a double-OT win over Villanova in a game they NEVER LED in regulation and a 3 point win over Providence in which Butler scored the final 7 points. Butler's other two wins were against DePaul and Georgetown and those two teams are a combined 1-26 in Big East action. My point here is that, against teams other the Blue Demons or Georgetown, in other words teams with pulse - Butler could very easily be on a 7-game losing streak. Their luck runs out here against revenge-minded and ranked Bluejays team. CREIGHTON (-)

CBB Friday Cornell Big Red (-) vs Harvard Crimson @ 6 ET - This line is around an 8.5 as of 12 hours before tipoff and, though I generally do not lay big points in spread sports, when the situation is right I will not hesitate. In this case you have a Cornell team coming off a rare loss. They are a PERFECT 3-0 this season when off a loss and all 3 wins were by a double digit margin. Also, the Big Red are a PERFECT 3-0 this season in home games in Ivy League action and all 3 wins were by a double digit margin! Cornell also is a PERFECT 7-0 this SEASON in home games! The last time they lost a home game was last February when they lost at home to (you guessed it!) Harvard! Now even though they just beat the Crimson at Harvard recently, that does not diminish the fact they want this game badly on their home floor. Cornell remembers the last time they lost at home AND they have much of that same core group intact this season. Conversely, Harvard had big turnover with their program. The Crimson team this season is a shell of the team that it was last season. That is another reason I am projecting the Big Red to roll big in this one and get that home court revenge they still want! This Crimson team is only 3-4 in Ivy League action this season and the 3 wins were against teams that are a combined 5-16 in league action! Also, one of the 4 losses was to a Brown team that is an ugly 6-16 on the season and just 1-5 against the rest of the Ivy League thus far! Additionally, Harvard has lost all 3 games against upper level teams Princeton, Cornell and Yale AND all 3 losses were by more than a dozen points apiece. This one gets ugly as the Big Red get the home court payback they have been waiting for as their last loss at home was to this Crimson team nearly ONE YEAR AGO to the day. Payback time! CORNELL (-)

Rotation #697 CBB Wednesday Iowa Hawkeyes (+) @ Maryland Terrapins @ 8:30 ET - This line up to a 5.5 as of about 8 hours before tipoff and I feel we have excellent value with this high-scoring Hawkeyes team coming off a huge win. Iowa was WAY DOWN against Minnesota but came all the way back late for the 5-point win. Yes that was at home but the Hawkeyes rougher road record has a lot to do with facing some really tough road games this season. Maryland is solid but they are not on par with a number of teams that Iowa has faced on the road already this season. Also, the Terrapins have lost 3 straight and 7 of 11 and they only have 3 home wins over Big Ten teams this season. One of those was against a Penn State team that is now 12-12 this season and another one was against a Michigan team that is 3-11 in Big Ten action this season and is at the bottom of the standings. The Terrapins won't be easy but I truly feel the Hawkeyes have a great shot at the outright upset in this one. The Terps have averaged only 56 points scored in regulation time of their last 3 games. They also enter this game off a really tough double-OT loss while the Hawkeyes enter this one on a much more positive note after their amazing come from behind win over Minnesota. Unlike the struggling Terps, the Hawkeyes have been scoring just fine in recent games and they are averaging 84 ppg this season and are the much better shooting team in comparison with Maryland. Grab the points here but we likely will not even need them! IOWA (+)

CBB Tuesday Pittsburgh Panthers (+) @ Virginia Cavaliers @ 7 ET - The current line as of about 11 hours before game time for this one is in the 6.5 range which means it is go time with this one! The Cavaliers are red hot but the Panthers have been an anomaly this season as they actually have been stronger on the road than at home. Overall, Pittsburgh is playing very well in ACC action of late with 5 wins last 6 games and the lone loss was by 4 points. In terms of games played away from home, Pitt is on a run of 6 wins last 8 games and those two losses away from home were by 8 points and 4 points. The Panthers rarely get blown out and, with a low total posted on this game, you can certainly project this to be a grinder likely decided by a slim margin. Of course the Cavaliers are known for defense but the Panthers do play well defensively and also have solid perimeter defense which is important against the Cavs. At the other end of the floor, the Panthers have some outside shooters that can help draw the Virginia defenders out and open things up a bit more inside. The Panthers match up well with the Cavs and, in fact, beat the Cavaliers last season. That makes this a revenge spot for Virginia. However, the Cavs just beat a Florida State team that was right behind them and now have Wake Forest, also right behind them, on deck. Could easily see the Cavs underestimating Pitt here and this Panthers team rebounds well, has some solid shooters and they play solid defense. This one goes down to the wire and just might end up in another upset which makes the points invaluable. PITTSBURGH (+)

CBB Monday Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+) @ Duke Blue Devils @ 7 ET - Duke is one of the most popular teams in sports betting. Just like the Yankees in MLB and Lakers in NBA and Cowboys in NFL, certain situations can result in excellent line value to go against the Blue Devils. Note that the line on this one already has climbed up a bit and Duke is favored by as many as 7.5 as of 12 hours before tipoff. In my opinion Wake Forest is very close to, if not equal, to the level of the Blue Devils this season. These teams are right next to each other in the ACC standings. Also, Wake Forest has revenge from losing their most recent game against the Blue Devils. That was here at Duke and was a very tight loss just like the prior WF visit here. Though the Demon Deacons do not have a great history they have been competitive against Duke in recent seasons. Look for another tight game here and note the value in the big points as Wake Forest is 16-7 this season and 6 of the 7 losses have been by 7 points or less. In other words, Duke is being asked to do something that only one other team has done in 23 games against Wake this season - that is, beat the Deacons by 8 or more points. I just do not see that happening. When you compare the defensive and offensive stats on these two clubs they are very similar. Yes I know Duke is a tough place to play but the Blue Devils only beat a bad Georgia Tech team here by 5 and beat Clemson by only 1 and also lost to Pittsburgh here. So Duke is far from invincible here this season and the Demon Deacons will take this one to the wire! WAKE FOREST (+)

CBB Sunday 10* Top Play Minnesota Golden Gophers (+) @ Iowa Hawkeyes @ 3 ET - This is another game where I am fading the line move as this one was around a 5 and worked its way up to a 6.5 as of 5 hours before tipoff. The Hawkeyes are off a loss at Penn State. Iowa just can't seem to stop teams yet Minnesota had a rough shooting performance (5 of 29) from 3-point land in the first meeting this season and they were at Minnesota for that one! That means payback here on the road. I know Iowa has won recent meetings but this is not the Iowa of old. They are just not that good this season and lost to an over-rated Penn State team a few nights ago. They will be lucky to win this one let alone cover the spread. The Golden Gophers know this is their chance to take advantage of an Iowa team that is just not itself right now. The Hawkeyes have lost 4 of 6 since beating Minny. The only 2 wins came against Ohio State and Michigan and those teams are a combined 7-19 SU in Big Ten games this season. The Golden Gophers have won 3 straight in Big Ten action and they came against teams that are currently all at .500 or better in Big Ten games on the season. Everyone will be backing the Hawkeyes at home in this one but I am expecting revenge as the hot team stays hot and puts a ton of pressure on Iowa at home in this one. MINNESOTA (+)

CBB Sunday Seton Hall Pirates (+) @ Villanova Wildcats @ Noon ET - I know Villanova is in a key must win mode but this team is going to be in a helluva battle just to win this game let alone cover. Seton Hall lost both meetings last season but each defeat by just 4 points. That said, this Pirates team is better than that one was and this Wildcats team is worst than that one was! I know the two wins Seton Hall enters this game off of were both against the worst teams in this conference. Still it is a momentum-builder for Seton Hall. Also, the Pirates are 8-4 in Big East action and have beaten UConn, Butler and Marquette plus they lost to Creighton in Triple OT! In other words, this Pirates team can compete with the better teams in the conference and right now Villanova is one of the weaker teams in the conference. Seton Hall also has wins over respectable teams like Providence and St John's. All those teams I just mentioned have at least 14 wins on the season. Villanova is just 5-7 in Big East action and two of those wins against a bad DePaul team. The other 3 wins included one big win over Providence but the other two wins by a margin of 2 or less points against Creighton and Xavier. The point is that it is very hard to justify the Wildcats being favored by 5.5 points in this one. I also love fading line moves and the line has moved the way of Villanova. Give me the big points which are now near the half-dozen mark. SETON HALL (+)

Rotation #824: College Hoops Saturday Stanford (-) vs USC @ 10 ET - The Cardinal have only allowed more than 89 points once this season in a loss and that was at USC. The Trojans have since gone 1-7 and their only win was against the team (Oregon State) they share the Pac-12 basement with. USC is having a rough run and a down season and they are in the wrong place at the wrong time here. Stanford also lost to the Trojans last season so this is a double revenge spot. Also, the Cardinal are normally strong at home but they are coming off a tough home loss in which they had a rough shooting night and their opponent hit 11 threes. But that was against a hot UCLA team. Now they face a cold USC team. Also, Stanford knows how crucial this game is. After this one they have just 2 more home games out of their remaining 7 games. With a tough 2-game road trip on deck, the Cardinal will come out with a very strong effort here at home. They are normally strong on their home floor and, while neither of these teams is good defensively, Stanford will be the more focused team here at home and looking to avenge a loss in which they allowed 93 points earlier this season! USC has been recently starting freshman Bronny James and, no disrespect intended, but he is just not quite ready to be a starter at USC. It shows how far this program has fallen. The Cardinal lost to UCLA by 8 points but that was because they were outscored by 21 points from three point land and 9 points at the free throw line. That is an unusual 30 point variance for a team on its home floor. The result here is line value as this line has dropped from its opener. Currently just a 2 point line as of about 11 hours before tipoff. Take advantage of the value. Lay it! STANFORD (-)

Rotation #695: College Hoops Drexel Dragons (+) @ College of Charleston Cougars @ 3:30 ET - Drexel is off their worst loss in CAA action this season. They are still 8-3 in conference games and the two prior losses were by 5 or less points. We are getting value here because this line has gone from a 4 to a 6 in favor of College of Charleston. There has been an over-reaction to the recent struggles of Drexel and we get line value with a very hungry road dog in this one off of B2B losses. This is the first and only meeting between these clubs this season. Note that 6 straight meetings have been by decided by 5 or less points! In other words, tremendous value with this line in the 6 range as of about 5 hours before tipoff. The Dragons ugly loss at UNC Wilmington came down to poor shooting for them and excellent shooting for the Seahawks. Again, that 75-56 loss has created line value here with a Drexel team that is scrappy and was 7-0 in CAA action as of just 2 weeks ago. The Dragons will bounce back here and note that the Cougars are tied with them in the CAA standing but only on a modest 4-3 run and they lost the 3 games against tougher teams. All 4 wins have come against 4 teams with a combined 13-31 record in CAA action. I am not saying Charleston will lose this game outright. But I am saying the Dragons are very undervalued here and they keep this game tight and indeed do have a great shot at the outright upset here. Don't be surprised if this one makes it a 7-0 RUN of meetings decided by 5 or less points! Grab the 6 points here. DREXEL (+)

Rotation #775: CBB Thursday Iowa Hawkeyes Pick'em or -1 at Penn State Nittany Lions @ 7 ET - The Hawkeyes are 2-5 SU in true road games this season while Penn State is 8-3 in true home games this season. That said this line must be a huge mistake, right? Not at all actually as Iowa's most recent road loss - which I fully expect they will bounce back from here - is their only road loss against an unranked foe this season. Their 4 prior losses in true road games were to Wisconsin, Purdue, Iowa State and Creighton! All of those teams are Top 25 teams. I love the situation here with the Hawkeyes having lost their most recent road game and catching Penn State off B2B wins. Note the only time this season the Nittany Lions have won more than 2 in a row was way back at the beginning of the season. Penn State started the season 4-0 but faced a bunch of cupcake opponents. The oddsmakers have this game with Iowa at a pick'em or -1 with good reason and I look for the Hawkeyes to have too much offense for the Nittany Lions in this one. Yes, Penn State has that signature home win over Wisconsin but upsets do happen at times when everything comes into place in one game. Other than this, the Nittany Lions other 4 Big Ten wins have come against teams that currently have a combined 16-31 Big Ten record on the season. Penn State, other than the upset of Wisconsin, has gone 3-2 L5 home games but with wins over a struggling Ohio State team and non-conference home wins over Rider and Le Moyne! Remember Iowa lost here last year so they have plenty of motivation here and though the Hawkeyes appear on track for an overall season comparable to last year, the Nittany Lions have regressed and were 9-11 this season prior to the B2B wins. The road team gets it done here. IOWA Pick'em or -1

Rotation #746: CBB Wednesday Stanford (-) vs UCLA @ 9 ET - The Bruins have won 3 straight games but let's not forget this was followed by a tough 3-9 stretch for UCLA. Included in that stretch was a home loss to Stanford. That will have some looking at the Bruins here with the revenge angle. UCLA, however, is in a tough spot as Stanford is strong on their home floor and the much better club offensively. The Cardinal are averaging 78 ppg compared to the Bruins averaging 66 ppg. Also, Stanford hits 47% from the field while UCLA hits only 42% from the field. Remember too that those shooting variances have a strong tendency to be even more pronounced in the home/road factor as well. So in this case the better shooting team is on their home floor and I look for the Bruins to struggle to keep up in this one. UCLA is 2-7 in their last 9 games played on the road or at a neutral site. Stanford is 1-2 last 3 games but those were on the road. They finally get a home game again and are 8-3 at home this season. The Cardinal are 4-1 at home this season when they are at home and coming off a loss. That includes a win over an Arizona team that is one of the top teams in the country. Now they are coming off a loss at Arizona and I expect them to respond immediately here. UCLA is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Current line is 3.5 as of about 8 hours before tipoff. Lay it! STANFORD (-)

Rotation #735: CBB Wednesday Creighton Bluejays (-) @ Providence Friars @ 8:30 ET - Creighton is off a loss and they have only lost B2B games once this season and are actually a perfect 4-0 SU this season when coming off a loss in regulation time. The Bluejays are laying only 2 points here - as of 9 hours before tipoff - and that means most any SU loss will also translate to an ATS win. I like the fact that Creighton had won 7 of 8 prior to that loss. Also, Providence has lost 6 of 9 games. Not only that but 2 of those 3 wins were against Georgetown and DePaul. Those two teams are a combined 1-21 SU in Big East action this season. The Friars, in other words, have been struggling for many weeks now. Also, when they lost at Creighton a month ago by 9 points, their biggest lead was only 2 points while the Bluejays led by as many as 18 in that game. In other words, it was quite dominating and now you can grab Creighton off a loss and facing a weaker foe and only lay 2 points. Count me in! Of course many will look at the revenge aspect for the Friars here but Bluejays are fired up to respond off a loss plus they lost here last season in double-OT so they have some extra motivation here to win at Providence this time around. CREIGHTON (-)

CBB Tuesday St Joseph's Hawks (+) vs Dayton Flyers @ 8 ET - This is a Triple Revenge spot for St Joe's. Not only did they lose the most recent meeting in Philly and in Dayton but also they lost in a neutral site venue last March which knocked them out of the Atlantic Ten tourney. That said, don't let the line on this A-10 match-up fool you on Tuesday. Why is a ranked team that is 18-3 this season and 8-1 in conference action laying just a bucket against a team that is only 5-4 in A-10 action this season? Exactly! The fact is that the Hawks are heating up and they are playing their best basketball of the season and their big man is starting to become a true gamechanger at both ends of the floor also. The play on the wings was already solid for St Joseph's but now that they have the interior presence coming to full strength, they are looking more and more solid with each game. The Hawks have won 5 of 6 games overall and, with only 2 exceptions this entire season (both 3 point losses), they have been unbeatable at home. They also took Kentucky to OT earlier this season and the Wildcats are also a ranked team like Dayton and that game was at Kentucky! The Flyers lost their most recent road game and the Hawks have the edge of a 3rd straight game in Philly as their last "road" was at LaSalle here in Philly as well. Don't let this line lead you astray. This one has upset and revenge written all over it! The line is currently a 2 as of about 9 hours before tipoff. We'll grab the bucket but should not need it!  ST JOSEPH'S (+)

CBB Monday Miami Hurricanes (+) @ Virginia Cavaliers @ 7 ET - Certainly I have plenty of respect for Virginia and they are arguably the best team defensively in the nation. However, there is line value here with a live dog catching about a half-dozen points against a Cavaliers team that has had a somewhat friendly ACC schedule so far. Virginia has played 11 conference games so far and 4 of them were against Louisville and Notre Dame and each of those teams are 2-9 in ACC action! Also, the Cavs have played Georgia Tech who is 3-8 and NC State who is 4-6 as well as Syracuse and Virginia Tech and each of those teams is 5-6 in ACC action. So that leaves 3 games against teams that currently (like Miami) have a winning record in ACC action. Those 3 games saw Virginia lose by double digits at Wake Forest and at NC State! They did win the rematch with the Wolfpack here but that 6-point win was in OT. The fact is that Virginia could very easily be 0-3 against teams that currently have a winning record in ACC action on the season and I feel the Canes are vastly undervalued here. The line has moved toward Virginia here so we have even more line value and I am grabbing the points (currently 6 as of 10 hours before tipoff) and expect this to be a great game where the points prove invaluable in a tight finish. MIAMI (+)

Rotation #856: Sunday CBB Villanova Wildcats (-) vs Providence Friars @ 6 ET - Many Wildcats fans in Philly have lost faith in coach Kyle Neptune and are calling for his firing. However, the team is rallying around this and fully support him. The reason they are on a 5-game losing streak is they are not quite the same team they once for sure but also take a deeper look at this run! The 5 losses included one at Butler in double OT and was a game Nova never trailed in. Also, the Wildcats other 4 losses included just one ugly one versus St John's and the other 3 were losses against ranked teams including top-ranked UConn. In other words, the Cats are not as strong as past teams but they certainly deserve a little leeway on the tough recent run. Now they host a Providence team they have double revenge against! This is the first meeting between these teams and last season the Friars beat the Cats in both games in Neptune's first season. In other words, this has not been forgotten and Nova also so hungry for a win in this spot and they are at home. Remember they are 3-1 SU in last 4 home games versus unranked foes! This is a game they can (and will) win. Providence is just 3-5 SU last 8 games and 2 of those wins were against the two worst Big East teams - DePaul and Georgetown. Value here with a reasonable line with a desperate, revenge-minded home team here. Lay it! Payback! 10* VILLANOVA (-)

Rotation #849: Sunday Temple Owls (+) @ Tulane Green Wave @ 4 ET - This line is now in the double digit range and it is just too much. The Owls have a sub-par record but they are fighting hard and there is no quit in this team. As a result, they are hanging tight in many of their recent defeats and I expect more of the same here. Temple is just 2-7 SU last 9 games but each of last 3 losses by 6 or less points. Tulane has the better record on the season but, keep in mind, they have not exactly been setting the world on fire of late! The Green Wave have lost 6 of last 8 games and both wins were by 7 or less points. Also, Tulane is off a tough loss at SMU and have a tough game at Memphis on deck. Memphis was a ranked team not too long ago and don't be surprised when this game, given all the situational aspects, is decided by a single digit margin. TEMPLE (+)

Rotation #789 CBB Saturday 10* Top Play Iowa State Cyclones (+) @ Baylor Bears @ 8 ET - The Cyclones have won 11 of 13 games. The Bears are off a win but this followed a 5-5 stretch and was on the heels of 3 straight losses for Baylor. The Bears certainly have revenge on their minds from losing all 3 games to Iowa State last season. However, the Cyclones look like the stronger team this season without a doubt. That said, the Bears laying about 4 points here is just too much because these teams are not equal on a neutral floor in my opinion. Also, Baylor is facing a Cyclones team that is among the best in the nation for steals per game with 11.2 and I look for Iowa State to force enough turnovers here to capitalize and grab the road win. We'll grab the points just in case but note that the Cyclones are looking to make it 4 in a row over the Bears and certainly will have no shortage of confidence in facing Baylor here. 10* IOWA STATE (+)

CBB Rotation #691: Saturday Rutgers Scarlet Knights (+) @ Michigan Wolverines @ 4 ET - This line is currently as high as a 4.5 as of about 5 hours before tipoff. Rutgers is off a crazy game in which they made just 1 of 17 from 3-point land. I am sure they will bounce back here. The Scarlet Knights have allowed just 66 ppg this season. The Wolverines have lost 9 of 10 games and allowed 83 ppg during this stretch. I like scrappy underdogs that are facing fellow weak teams that have a tendency to not play defense. Look for the Scarlet Knights to force an ugly low-scoring scrappy game and that leads to a great shot at the upset or, worst case, a tight finish likely decided by a single possession. The points are well worth it here. 10* RUTGERS (+)

CBB Friday Creighton Bluejays (-) vs Butler Bulldogs @ 9 ET - Butler's most recent game was against Villanova and we had the Wildcats there. The Bulldogs pulled off a miracle with a double-OT win in a game they NEVER LED in regulation and trailed by as much as 14 points in the SECOND HALF of the game. Give Butler some credit but also know that the Wildcats are proving to be a shell of the type of teams they use to be under head coach Jay Wright. Other than that miracle win over a Nova team that is proving to be one of the 3 worst teams in the conference AND an amazing win over Marquette on a rare night in which the Golden Eagles had a rare horrific shooting night, the Bulldogs other 3 wins are against the two worst teams in the Big East. That trio of victories coming against DePaul and Georgetown. The point is that this Butler team is 5-5 in Big East action but I am not impressed. Conversely, the Bluejays are chasing UConn for the top spot in the Big East and they are at home for this one where they are so strong and tend to shoot the ball very well. I also like the fact they have some size inside and this will frustrate Butler and the Bulldogs will struggle to get easy buckets all night long. That is why this is one of those rare instances where I am willing to lay bigger points as this one is a line that is currently in the -10 range as of about 10 hours before tipoff. Lay it! CREIGHTON (-)

Rotation #737: CBB Thursday 10* Top Play Drexel Dragons @ Monmouth Hawks @ 7 ET - The Dragons bounced back nicely from their very first CAA loss of the season (by just 3 points at Towson) by coming up big at home against NC AT & T. The Dragons are a very strong defensive team and they are strong on the offensive boards and they are a very deep team. Those are the kind of gritty teams that can win big games and it is a big reason Drexel is having such a solid season including now 8-1 in CAA action. As for Monmouth, the Hawks did almost upset the Dragons at Drexel last month in CAA action. However, the Hawks shot surprisingly well in that game and Drexel did not and yet the Dragons still pulled out the 4 point win. Also, all 7 of the Dragons CAA wins have been by 4 or more points this season. The current line on this one is a 4 as of about 9 hours before tipoff. Monmouth is not as strong defensively or on the boards or in terms of shooting percentage on offense either. They are 4-4 in CAA action but had lost 4 of 5 (with the only win over a bad Hampton team) prior to coming up with a win versus Hofstra in most recent game. Hofstra has not beaten any of the top tier teams in the CAA either so that win is not ultra impressive. Monmouth will have their hands full here against a Dragons team that already tasted defeat once in their most recent road game and they are very motivated and hungry here as a result in their very next road opportunity as they look to add to an 8-1 conference record. Monmouth just 9-17 SU in last 26 conference games. 10* DREXEL (-) 

CBB Wednesday 10* Top Play Kentucky Wildcats (-) vs Florida Gators @ 8 ET - This line has come down from the -7 range down to as low as a -5.5 on Kentucky as of about 7 hours before tipoff. Note that the Wildcats won the first meeting this season at Florida and that was despite the Gators outscoring them by 12 points from three point land. The Cats were an uncharacteristic 5 of 20 from 3-point land in that one. UK still won that game on the road despite the shooting variance. Now they are at home and hosting a Florida team that is just 1-3 in true road games. The only win was against a Missouri team that is having a tough season including 0-7 in SEC games! The point is that the signs strongly point to a home win here but now, what about the all important cover? Well, Kentucky has 15 wins on the season and the 2 point win over Florida and a 4 point win over a ranked UNC team are the only wins they have this season by less than 6 points! As for Florida, their last 4 losses included the 2 point defeat at home versus Kentucky and then 3 losses all by double digit margins! Look for this one to be the next one! 10* KENTUCKY (-)

CBB Tuesday 10* Top Play Air Force Falcons (-) vs Wyoming Cowboys @ 9 ET - Double revenge spot for Wyoming from last season and they are much higher in the conference standings and Air Force has lost 9 of 10 games! That said, why are the Falcons favored by 4 here? Exactly! Do not let the line fool you. This Falcons team is the better team defensively, stronger on their home floor and they catch Wyoming off a huge OT upset win over Colorado State where they celebrated as if they just won the MWC Championship! The point is that the Cowboys could be flat here while the Falcons are at home and hungry and then here is another big key that might surprise you to hear. In true road games this season, Wyoming is still winless! The Cowboys are not only 0-7 SU on the road this season, they also have lost all 7 games by double digits! That means they are being asked to do something they have not managed to do in a single road game this season - that is to lose by less than 10 points! Considering this line is a 4 that means this is a go-against Wyoming spot that is a perfect 7-0 this season! Look for this one to make it 8-0 ON THE SEASON as the Falcons also catch the Cowboys off that huge upset win of a ranked team in OT! 10* AIR FORCE (-)

CBB Monday 10* Top Play Texas Longhorns (+) vs Houston Cougars @ 9 ET - Grabbing the +5.5 that is currently available as of about 13 hours before tipoff. When the betting markets are down on a team it is oftentimes the best time to back said team! That is the case here with the Longhorns! Texas has lost 3 of 5 and just lost at BYU by double digits. However, now they are a home dog to a Houston team that is very strong but proving to certainly not be unbeatable. Now, I am not saying the Horns win this outright but I am saying that I certainly will not be shocked if that happens and I feel we have excellent value here with the sizable points available. Remember that Texas won at Oklahoma and beat Baylor in their two games prior to the loss at BYU. All 3 of these teams the Longhorns have just faced are ranked teams and, of course, Houston is as well. However, the Cougars have lost 2 of last 3 road games and those were at TCU and Iowa State. Texas is arguably at a similar level to both the Horned Frogs and Cyclones so, the point is, we have some definite home dog value here. UT hungry off a loss while the Cougars could get caught looking ahead to their next game at Kansas. Yes the Jayhawks are down a little this season but they are still one of the top programs in the country annually and Houston entered the Big 12 this season knowing that Kansas, year in and year out, has a tendency to be the team to beat in this conference. Definite possibility of a lookahead here and Austin will be rocking for this home game! 10* TEXAS (+)

Rotation #755: CBB Thursday 10* Top Play Drexel Dragons (+) @ Towson Tigers @ 7 ET - I like games like this in which the line flips. Drexel has gone from being a small favorite when this opened to now being a small dog in the 1.5 point range as of about 6 hours before tipoff. Something has to give here as the Dragons are 7-0 in conference play but the Tigers are 8-0  L8 home games. I like the way this Drexel is such a cohesive group and they have the better numbers on both ends of the floor. The Dragons have a higher shooting percentage on the offensive end and they are one of the top 25 teams defensively in the nation! Towson is solid defensively but not as strong as Drexel and the Tigers offense often bogs down against top defensive units. Home court is important in college hoops especially but the odds makers are certainly well aware of that as well. That being said, the Dragons were installed as the favorite here with good reason. I am fading the line move and rolling with a defensive-minded road dog that has meshed well this season. This team is very cohesive as I noted above and a true "team" that is building a winning culture. Season after season of late the Dragons are looking better and better. Now they sit at the top of the conference and that is not a perch they will give up easily. They are ready for this game and have solid team depth also. 10* DREXEL (+)

Rotation #723: CBB Wednesday 10* Top Play Villanova Wildcats (+) @ St John's Red Storm @ 8:30 ET - The Wildcats lost the first meeting at home by double digits this season. It was a 10 point defeat thanks in part to the Red Storm hitting 44% of their threes while Villanova was a horrible 6 of 28 from beyond the arc! Overall in the game St John's hit 48% from the field while Nova hit just 39% from the field. Now we have a nice revenge spot set up here and the Wildcats are hungry but also confident in this rematch. That's because they just put a scare into the #1 team in the country when they nearly upset UConn this past weekend! I know some will look and say that they are spent after a loss like that, the reality is the Wildcats are hungry because they know they almost did it but almost is not good enough of course. They will have great determination here and we can take advantage of a line that was lower but has moved higher on the Red Storm. I love fading line moves like that. Note that St John's has not been great. The Red Storm have lost 3 straight and now face a team that swept them last season and that normally holds the upper hand in this series. Prior to the upset win by St John's earlier this season, the Wildcats had beaten them 6 straight times. The Cats are not what they used to be under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright but they are showing signs of turning the corner on this season as the 1-point loss to the Huskies shows. I expect an outright win here but we'll grab the points just in case. 10* VILLANOVA (+)

CBB Tuesday 10* Top Play Fresno State Bulldogs (+) vs Boise State Broncos @ 10:30 ET - This line is in the 5.5 to 6 range as of about 10 hours before tipoff and it is a great spot for a home dog upset. We will grab the points just in case but the Bulldogs are playing this game with triple revenge and the set-up is perfect. Not only did Fresno State lose last season's meeting, they also lost both meetings the season before and that included the only home loss out of these three games coming in OT. Not only do the Bulldogs have plenty of motivation here, the setup is perfect. Boise State is off a hard-fought 1-point win over San Diego State while Fresno State is off one of their worst performances of the season. The Bulldogs just lost by 21 points at ranked Utah State. Fresno State was on a 5-5 run prior to that with 2 of those losses by 3 or less points. They have played a road-heavy schedule too so they are offering extra value here on their home floor after 5 of their last 7 games have been on the road. Boise State, on the other hand, has had very few true road games this season and 8 of their last 11 have been home games. Based purely on records, everyone will be looking at the road team in this one but the situational edge and motivational edge is all Bulldogs in this one. 10* FRESNO STATE (+)

CBB Monday 10* Top Play Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+) @ North Carolina Tar Heels @ 7 ET - Yes this will be a tough test for the Demon Deacons but, as of 11 hours before tipoff, 8 is the line on this game. That is noteworthy as Wake Forest is 13-5 this season and has not lost a game by more than 7 points! So WF, based on the line in this game, would be 18-0 on the season. Also, in their most recent game the Demon Deacons just got senior Damari Monsanto back and he has been a solid contributor in his career and already produced a solid showing in his first game of this season. He is a strong 3-point shooter so having him back is a key. Monsanto delivered 12 points in the win. Plenty of respect for this Tar Heels team but UNC is facing a confident Wake Forest team that is playing with an extra boost right now after the return of Monsanto. Also, the Demon Deacons beat the Tar Heels in their most recent meeting last season. Don't be surprised if this game goes to the wire. 10* WAKE FOREST (+)

Sunday CBB 10* Top Play Indiana State Sycamores (-) @ Murray State Racers @ 5 ET - Even though the Racers lost the 2nd meeting last season, the first meeting was a loss for the Sycamores at Murray State. That being said, there is no way that Indiana State is overlooking this match-up and they are just too strong for Murray State. The Sycamores are 15-3 this season and their only 3 losses were to Michigan State, Alabama and Drake. Note that Drake is another of the top teams in the MVC just like Indiana State. As for the Racers, 4 of their 5 conference wins have come against 3 teams that have a combined 6-18 record in the MVC. So, even though Murray State has been hot, it deserves an asterisk. The Sycamores on a whole other level. Lay it! This line currently in the 5 to 5.5 range. 10* INDIANA STATE (-)

Rotation #793: CBB Saturday 10* Top Play Connecticut Huskies (-) @ Villanova Wildcats @ 8 ET - The Wildcats are just not on the level of prior teams in the Jay Wright years. Yes they are a solid team and they are at home here. However, that is what is keeping this line lower than it should be because the Huskies are a elite team and the Wildcats are not. Connecticut only has 2 losses this season and they were on the road but against Kansas, one of top teams in country and Seton Hall, the other strongest team in the Big East Conference along with UConn. That said, excellent value with this line in the 3.5 range as of 8 hours before tipoff. The Wildcats have only won 5 of 10 games and, of the 5 wins, two were against a very bad DePaul team and one was against a UCLA team struggling badly at the time. Though they did have a surprising win over Creighton their only other win of these 5 was against a Xavier team that has only been mediocre so far this season. That said, the Huskies wins have all been by at least 4 points and they have not lost to a team that is on the level of the Wildcats this entire season. Huskies win and Huskies cover! 10* CONNECTICUT (-) 

CBB Rotation #887 Friday: Akron Zips (pick'em) @ Kent State Golden Flashes @ 7 ET - The Zips played their most recent game without Nate Johnson but Ali Ali came back mid-December and Akron is 8-1 in the 9 games he has played in with the only loss coming by a single point. Ali Ali has been fantastic. Also, this is a great spot for Akron as this is a double revenge spot. Not only did the Zips lose in their late season visit to Kent State late last season, the Golden Flashes then knocked them out of the conference tourney soon after that as well! In other words, high motivation here and this is a big rivalry match-up and we get line value since this one is at Kent State. The fact is that Akron has been the much stronger team early this season and they enter this game winners of 5 straight and 9 of 10. The Golden Flashes enter this game off a win but had lost 5 of 6 games prior to that victory. Home court matters a lot in college basketball but it is not enough to get this Kent State team over the hump against a double revenge-minded rival that is in better current form. 10* AKRON Pick'em 

Rotation #819: CBB Thursday Washington Huskies (+) @ California Golden Bears @ 9 ET - This line has swung from Huskies being roughly a 2 point favorite to now the Bears being roughly a 2.5 point favorite as of about 11 hours before tipoff. I like fading line moves like this plus there is a lot more to like about this play! For starters Cal is overvalued here. Lets not forget this Golden Bears team is coming off a 3-29 season. In a season with so many losses like that, there would be very few where payback would matter but the one that ended their season was a loss to Washington State in the Conference Tourney. The Bears have the Cougars on deck and certainly that one would be more of an attention-getter than this one! Also this is a Cal team that is now 30-80 the past 3 and 1/2 seasons! As for the Huskies, they are off their worst loss of the season. Washington just lost by double digits. Prior to this, the Huskies were 10-6 this season with all losses by a single-digit margin and by an average margin of just 4 points! Coming off the double digit loss and facing a team that has won only 27% of games last 3 and 1/2 seasons, I like our chances here! We get excellent line value because the Huskies are on the road. Yes, home court matters, but Cal has been losing everywhere in recent seasons including this one! The Bears did beat Colorado here but, other than that, their wins are nothing to write home about AND in that win over the Buffaloes they were down by as many as 20 points. The Huskies are well aware of that and will keep their pedal to the metal all game long in this one. Now getting as much as 2.5 points here as of gameday morning, love the value in this one. WASHINGTON (+)

Rotation #623: CBB Tuesday 10* Top Play Florida Gators (+) @ Tennessee Volunteers @ 5 ET - The line on this is in the range of 10 points as of about 5 hours before tipoff for this early game on Tuesday. The Volunteers are a great team but the Gators are no slouches and I am going to challenge the Vols to win this thing by double digits. The fact is that Florida has 3 tight losses in the 5 defeats they have this season. In their only truly ugly loss this season (against Ole Miss), it was simply one of those nights when the Rebels were making everything. They just could not miss that night and, other than that, the Gators have been in every game this season. Florida had a big year under their first year coach last year and his 2nd year should end up being just as strong. This is a very talented team that scores well and rebounds well and they will not be intimated on the road. Yes, Barnes is a great veteran coach for the Volunteers and Tennessee does want revenge for last season's loss at Florida. However, this Gators team is solid and the Vols also have Alabama on deck and the Crimson Tide are one of the few remaining undefeated teams in conference games in SEC so far this season. Value on the big dog in this one as revenge is being over-priced here! 10* FLORIDA (+)

CBB Sunday 10* Top Play Washington Huskies (Pick or +1 or -1) @ UCLA Bruins @ 7 ET - The Bruins are a mess right now and they are hoping to fix things but it won't come quickly and it won't come against a solid Huskies team like this one. UCLA has been trying to fix things for awhile but the issue is that Cronin can't get the confidence of this team back. They get down on offense because their shots won't fall and they don't create the looks they need to on the offensive end so then they fall behind. As they see the scoreboard constantly going against them. their defense and rebounding also starts to struggle as they just lose their confidence. This has been a recurring pattern for this Cronin team this season and I don't see it turning around immediately. They will have to face a weaker foe in the right situation to turn this around. This is not the right team nor the right situation. Huskies roll. 10* WASHINGTON