Look for both teams to focus on defense here on Thursday night as both meetings combined to score in the mid 160's. With a tournament birth on the line we look for a slower pace and tougher to shoot with little or no fans at the game with depth perception. Take the UNDER here between Toledo and BG..

Portland State already beat Montana State twice this season and covered the spread on both occasions. The Vikings are playing their best basketball of the season right now and are on a six-game winning run, while the Bobcats are playing in a hot and cold form lately. The Vikings are a far better team when it comes to scoring as they have a top 20 offense which will carry them today, and they also have a major advantage in rebounds (+5 margin) and assists (+3.1). I am going with the Portland St Vikings to get the win and cover here Thursday evening.

The Big Ten Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament second-round games are set for this Thursday, and the Michigan Wolverines take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the first clash of the day. These two schools have already met twice this past regular season, and the Wolverines have been victorious on both occasions, defeating Rutgers 69-63 as 2-point home favorites and 60-52 as 4-point road underdogs. THis is a double revenge spot for RUTGERS and I like the way they are playing right now.

Rutgers has been one of the worst programs in the country for a while. The Scarlet Knights haven’t appeared at the Big Dance since 1991. However, things have changed, and we’ll be shocked if Rutgers doesn’t get an invitation for the upcoming NCAA tournament. The Scarlet Knights finished the regular season in fashion, recording a couple of straight wins over Maryland 78-67 as 1-point home favorites and Purdue 71-68 in overtime as 5-point road dogs.


The Scarlet Knights enter the second-round clash against Michigan as No. 31 at the NCAA NET Rankings and No. 27 at the latest KenPom rankings. They mostly lean on a stout defense, surrendering only 90.2 points per 100 possessions (6th in the country) on 38.3% shooting from the field (8th). On the other side of the ball, the Scarlet Knights tally 108.0 points per 100 possessions (73rd) on 44.7% shooting from the field. Sophomore guard Ron Harper Jr. leads the way for Rutgers with 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, while junior guard Geo Baker adds 10.9 points and 3.5 assists per outing. Take the underdog Rutgers here in the early tip-off on Thursday afternoon.

In a tournament setting, games tend to pick up the pace with more fouls and up tempo especially with 2 these 2 teams. Tonight in this #12 vs #13 match up in the SEC Tournament lets take OVER THE TOTAL in what I expect to be a high scoring battle.

Washington vastly under-performed their talent level this season as the Huskies finished in the basement of the Pac 12 with a record of 15-16 overall and just 5-13 in conference. This is the 3rd straight road game for Wash U and I believe that will catch up with them here this evening.

Arizona is better on offense and defense and should pull away for the win and ATS cover here in this one.

Clemson has one of the best scoring defenses in the country, ranking 39th in the NCAA. Miami's leading scorer Chris Lykes, who scored 27 points in the first meeting between these two teams, is going to miss the game due to an eye laceration, so that gives Clemson a big advantage in this game. MIami-FL has a poor defense, as they rank 284th in points allowed, 254th in opponents field goal percentage, and 243rd in opponents three-point shooting. The Hurricanes have lost three of their last four games, and had to go to overtime to defeat Syracuse in their last game.

I just think Clemson is the far better overall team here.

We really don’t like how Pittsburgh closed out the regular season losing their last 7 games in a row, including a 57-73 loss at Georgia Tech the other day. The Panthers have been a massive disappointment this season standing 15-16 overall and 6-14 in the ACC. Pitt has mainly had issues with their inconsistencies on the offensive side of the ball averaging just 64.9 points per game.
Wake Forest won 69-65 at Pitt (-6.5) Jan. 4 and has won two of its last four, one of which was in overtime against Duke. Back Wake Forest and with their better recent results, we like Wake Forest to come through with the cover.

These 2 teams split in their meetings earlier this year but BYU is the better overall team.
St. Mary's senior guard Jordan Ford played all 50 minutes in his team's double OT win over Pepperdine. He shot 17 of 30 while scoring a career-high 42 points. I don't expect him to repeat that performance versus BYU, which has won nine straight. Six of the last seven victories have come by double digits and we'll back BYU late Monday night.

These 2 teams split wins on their home court and I'm backing the underdog here tonight.

I’ll take the points with this veteran Illinois-Chicago team in this game. The Flames have been up-and-down all season, but they are peaking at the right time. They have seniors across the board, which is critical in games of this magnitude. Wright State has been sitting at home for more than a week, so I would expect some rust from the Raiders here on Monday night. Illinois-Chicago has covered the spread at a 10-4-1 clip in its last 15 games. The Flames are 14-5 ATS in their last 19 games against Wright State.
Take the points and the dog with Illinois-Chicago on Big Monday.

The Sabres have drifted out of the playoff picture barring a sudden reversal of fortunes in the final month of the season. Buffalo has dropped six straight and they have to deal with a Washington team that finds themselves in a war for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division again as the Flyers have been white hot of late. Washington just saw Philadelphia beat Buffalo on Saturday. The Sabres are reeling at the moment and I give the Capitals the major advantage in this contest.