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1 VOL 49 #26 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019 NOT FOR SALE IN STORES COPYRIGHT PROTECTED MARCH MADNESS COUNTDOWN! TOURNAMENTS ON THE WAY LOTS OF BEST BETS PREFERRED PICKS NBA IS BACK Full Coverage Inside BONUS BEST BETS ONLINE COPYRIGHT 2019 Starpoint Publishing Corp., 1324 Lexington Ave #331 New York, NY (877)

2 Thursday, February 21 *Philadelphia over Miami by 8 The 76ers are strong at home with a 23-7 SU, ATS record and already beat the Heat in Miami, , on Nov. 12. PHILADELPHIA *Cleveland over Phoenix by 3 The bad news here is one of these teams has to win, which could lessen their chances for landing Duke's Zion Williamson. The Cavaliers are 13-5 ATS when meeting foes with a below.400 winning percentage. CLEVELAND Portland over *Brooklyn by 2 Portland begins a seven-game road swing with this matchup. The Nets can't match Portland's starting talent level, but were 10-2 SU, 6-6 ATS in their last dozen home games. PORTLAND *Milwaukee over Boston by 15 The Bucks hold a very strong homecourt edge and would like to erase the stench of having lost their previous home contest, , to Orlando. The teams split a pair of games in Boston with the Celtics winning, , on Nov. 1 and Milwaukee victorious, , on Dec. 21. Boston is 6-14 ATS the past 20 times taking on an opponent with a winning record. The Celtics entered All-Star break 8-10 ATS during their past 18 games. MILWAUKEE Houston over *Los Angeles Lakers by 8 The Rockets were averaging in their last eight games entering break. James Harden has been on a different planet with 31 straight games of scoring 30 or more points entering break. HOUSTON *Golden State over Sacramento by 10 The Warriors should be less rusty than the Kings with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson all selected for the All-Star Game. Problem is the Warriors were just ATS during their past 29 games versus Western Conference foes. GOLD- EN STATE Friday, February 22 *Charlotte over Washington by 15 Charlotte is 9-2 SU, 7-4 ATS in its last 11 home games and has the best player on the court in Kemba Walker. The Wizards are 5-22 ATS the past 27 times on the road going against a winning home club. CHARLOTTE *Indiana over New Orleans by 7 Anthony Davis isn't drawing major minutes anymore with the Pelicans wanting to keep him healthy to trade him down the line and New Orleans' bench is way down with Nikola Mirotic traded to Milwaukee. INDIANA *Orlando over Chicago by 6 Quietly the Magic have posted consecutive home victories and covers against the Pacers, Nets, Timberwolves and Hornets winning those games by a combined margin of 68 points. ORLANDO *Toronto over San Antonio by 7 Gregg Popovich is dangerous with 10 days to prepare. However, so far the Spurs annual rodeo trip has been a disaster. San Antonio has gone 1-4 SU and 0-5 ATS while losing the first four games of the trip by an average of 20.8 points. TORONTO Minnesota over *New York by 10 The Timberwolves are poised to make a move with their point guards healthy again and Dario Saric fitting well into the rotation. The Knicks come out of break a total embarrassment having lost 18 of 19 going 7-12 ATS. MINNESOTA Detroit over *Atlanta by 4 The Hawks can't be trusted not to tank, while the Pistons entered break on an upswing winning and covering four of their past five games. Detroit is ATS during its past seven away contests. DETROIT Los Angeles Clippers over *Memphis by 13 The Clippers have too much offense for the Grizzlies, who rank last in scoring, especially with sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari back healthy. The Grizzlies are 5-20 SU, 9-16 ATS in their last 25 games. Memphis has failed to cover in 17 of their last 25 games versus above.500 opponents. The Grizzlies have gotten worse, too, since dealing Marc Gasol at the trade deadline. LA CLIPPERS Denver over *Dallas by 7 Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap should be in line for big games against a weak Dallas front line that produces few points and no longer has DeAndre Jordan for rim protection. DENVER NBA *Oklahoma City over Utah by 5 Utah has double revenge motivation having lost as five-point road 'dogs to the Thunder on Dec. 10 and getting nipped at home, , by the Thunder on Dec. 23. OKLAHOMA CITY Saturday, February 23 *Philadelphia over Portland by 4 Big revenge spot for the 76ers. Philadelphia didn't have Joel Embiid, nor newly acquired Tobias Harris, when it fell, , to the Trail Blazers on Dec. 30. PHILADELPHIA Memphis over *Cleveland by 3 Even offensively-challenge Grizzlies should be able to take advantage of a porous Cavaliers defense that has permitted at least 100 points in 14 straight games and 25 of their past 27 games coming out of break. MEMPHIS *Washington over Indiana by 1 The Pacers dropped their first four games after losing their leading scorer, Victor Oladipo, for the season with a knee injury. But they entered All-Star break going 6-1 SU, 5-2 ATS during their past seven games. WASHINGTON *Charlotte over Brooklyn by 3 The Nets entered All-Star break 2-5 SU, 4-3 ATS while integrating several returning injured players back into the rotation, including Caris LeVert. It's a huge plus for Brooklyn if Spencer Dinwiddie is able to play by this time after being out with a thumb injury. CHARLOTTE Los Angeles Lakers over *New Orleans by 2 These could be the two most disappointing teams in the Western Conference given their star power. The Lakers are 3-8 SU, 6-5 ATS during their past 11 games away from Staples Center. LA LAKERS *Atlanta over Phoenix by 5 The Hawks met the Suns at the beginning of this month when they also were playing without rest and won, , as two-point road 'dogs showing superior depth. Devin Booker scored 32 points, but Atlanta's reserves outscored Phoenix's bench by 13 points. ATLANTA *Miami over Detroit by 4 The Heat should be extra pumped since this is their first home game in three weeks. Hassan Whiteside averages 14.1 points, 13.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks at home and Dion Waiters is on a hot streak hitting 19 of his last 41 3-point shots coming out of the All-Star break. MIAMI Boston over *Chicago by 19 Boston has now won and covered seven in a row against the Bulls, including defeating them by a staggering average of 42.5 points in the first two meetings this season. Chicago also is 1-6 SU, 3-4 ATS the past seven times when playing in the second of back-to-back games and they are just 6-17 ATS during its last 23 home contests. BOSTON *Oklahoma City over Sacramento by 11 Difficult to step in against the Thunder, who entered All-Star break a blazing 11-2 SU, 10-3 ATS with Russell Westbrook putting up a mind-boggling 11 straight triple-doubles. OKLAHOMA CITY *Golden State over Houston by 8 It's a plus if Clint Capela is able to play after being out 15 games with a thumb injury, but the Rockets' defense has been leaky ranking among the middle of the pack after finishing with the seventh-best defensive rating last season to contain Golden State's multiple superstars. GOLDEN STATE *Milwaukee over Minnesota by 10 The Bucks had little difficulty handling Minnesota in the first meeting between these two, winning, , as two-point road favorites back on October 26. The Bucks have won 23 of their first 28 home contests, while covering 63 percent of those games. MILWAUKEE *Utah over Dallas by 22 Maybe they were before the trade deadline, but the Mavericks certainly are not a beton team now. Trades have stripped away four of the Mavericks starters leaving them a mismatched roster and Rick Carlisle trying to figure out a rotation that has been made up of Luka Doncic, Jalen Bruson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorrian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and a washed-up Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavericks entered the break being outscored by 10 points a game during their last four matchups and face a top-five defense here. UTAH

3 NBA Sunday, February 24 Orlando over *Toronto by 3 There is no tank in the Magic. They proved that going 6-1 SU and ATS in their last seven games before the All-Star break. Orlando has four players scoring more than 14 points a game in All-Star Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross. The Raptors came out of the break with a ATS mark the past 29 times laying points. ORLANDO *Denver over Los Angeles Clippers by 8 Isaiah Thomas is back boosting an already deep Denver backcourt. The Nuggets have covered 70 percent of their last 30 home matchups. DENVER San Antonio over *New York by 7 The Spurs have shown they can't be trusted during their long rodeo road trip and have a more challenging matchup against the Nets on Monday. SAN ANTONIO Monday, February 25 Portland over *Cleveland by 7 Portland had no difficulty covering a 14-point home spread in a victory against the Cavaliers on Jan. 16. However, this is a sandwich spot for the Trail Blazers. They just met the 76ers this past Saturday and have the Celtics on deck Wednesday. PORTLAND Indiana over *Detroit by 10 Detroit usually fails to step up going ATS the past 13 times going against opponents with a winning record. Dwane Casey has a jumbled rotation after the Pistons made several moves at the trade deadline that if anything made them worse. Indiana entered All-Star break giving up the fewest points per game while holding four of its last five foes to fewer than 95 points a game. INDIANA Golden State over *Charlotte by 13 Kemba Walker is the only Hornet who could break into the Warriors' star-studded rotation. Golden State is 9-2 SU, 7-4 ATS in its last 11 games versus Eastern Conference foes. GOLDEN STATE *Miami over Phoenix by 4 Not that the Suns want to win, but they have hope here. Miami has played much worse at American Airlines Arena coming out of All-Star break at home and on the road. MIAMI San Antonio over *Brooklyn by 1 San Antonio entered the All-Star break having surrendered triple-digits in 16 consecutive games and failed to cover in their last eight games. SAN ANTONIO Milwaukee over *Chicago by 13 The Bucks got richer at the trade deadline acquiring underrated Nikola Mirotic, who should be ready to play by this juncture. Milwaukee was ATS in its last 25 games coming out of All-Star break, including defeating the Bulls, , as 11-point road favorites two weeks ago. MILWAUKEE Atlanta over *Houston by 1 The Hawks are an easy team for Houston to overlook. Atlanta has displayed surprising toughness as a road 'dog covering 10 of the past 16 times, including posting SU wins at New York, Detroit, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Chicago in recent weeks. ATLANTA Philadelphia over *New Orleans by 5 New Orleans went into All-Star break with low morale, losses in10 of its last 15 games and with coach Alvin Gentry's job in peril. PHILADELPHIA *Minnesota over Sacramento by 6 Lately, the Kings have been far less effective on the road entering break 3-8 ATS in their past 11 away matchups. Things didn't go well for the Kings either in their last visit to Minnesota. They lost as eight-point 'dogs on Dec. 17 with nine Minnesota players reaching double figures in scoring. MINNESOTA Los Angeles Lakers over *Memphis by 4 Marc Gasol took advantage of the Lakers missing their two centers when Memphis defeated LA, , as five-point road 'dogs on Dec. 23. Now the Grizzlies don't have Gasol and the Lakers have revenge. LA LAKERS *Los Angeles Clippers over Dallas by 8 This marks the Clippers' lone home appearance during the first five games following All-Star break. The Clippers are 1-2 versus the Mavericks with both losses coming on the road. LA has defeated Dallas four consecutive times at home, including on Dec. 20. LA CLIPPERS Tuesday, February 26 Orlando over *New York by 7 The Knicks entered All-Star break with one win in eight games this month. That's the same amount of victories they finished with in 13 January games and one fewer they had in 14 December games. Oh, yes, the Knicks also had failed to cover 10 of the last 11 times they met a below.500 foe entering break. ORLANDO *Toronto over Boston by 5 Toronto defeated Boston, , as three-point home favorites in its second game of the season, but now has double revenge for a pair of road losses and non-covers against the Celtics. TORONTO Oklahoma City over *Denver by 8 The Thunder should prove a live 'dog coming off a January, which was their best offensive month in franchise history with an average of points and 44.1 percent field goal shooting. Paul George has been on fire averaging 37.6 points in his last nine games going into All-Star break. OKLAHOMA CITY Wednesday, February 27 Houston over *Charlotte by 4 Charlotte is much better at home. The Rockets were 2-7 ATS in their last nine road games heading into the All-Star break. HOUSTON Minnesota over *Atlanta by 2 The Timberwolves lack the track record to back as road chalk. The Timberwolves were 7-16 ATS the past 23 times heading out of All-Star break when favored on the road versus an opponent with less than a.400 home winning percentage. MINNESOTA *Boston over Portland by 1 Even though they have revenge for a November loss to the Trail Blazers, the Celtics are in a tough spot having just played the Raptors in Toronto last night. BOSTON Washington over *Brooklyn by 1 All-Star Bradley Beal and Tomas Satoransky give Washington a backcourt edge and newcomers Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis have made the Wizards a faster team. WASHINGTON Golden State over *Miami by 10 The Heat nearly upset the Warriors on the road 17 days ago losing, , while playing their third road game in five days. GOLDEN STATE *Memphis over Chicago by 5 The Grizzlies entered All-Star break covering in their last five home games and have revenge for a road loss to Chicago from two weeks ago. MEMPHIS *San Antonio over Detroit by 8 It has been 25 days since the Spurs last played at home. San Antonio defeated Detroit, , as 2.5-point road favorites on Jan. 7. SAN ANTONIO Indiana over *Dallas by 5 The Pacers had Victor Oladipo when they beat the Mavericks, , as 7.5-point home favorites on Jan. 19. Dallas, though, had four of its now departed starters. INDIANA *Utah over Los Angeles Clippers by 8 Rudy Gobert took advantage of the Clippers' soft front line to score 23 points and pull down 22 rebounds in Utah's road win against LA on Jan. 16 in the team's lone meeting this season. UTAH *Sacramento over Milwaukee by 2 Sacramento has been red-hot at home going 9-1 SU while covering 10 of its last 11 at Golden 1 Center. Picking up veteran Harrison Barnes to to join an impressive list of young talent has the Kings in serious contention to halt their 12-year playoff drought. The Bucks have a marquee matchup on deck against the Lakers on Friday. SACRA- MENTO *Los Angeles Lakers over New Orleans by 15 A bottom-five defense and disinterested superstar Anthony Davis is not a winning combination for the Pelicans. Speculation on Davis getting traded to the Lakers is sure to be a distracting subplot for New Orleans. LeBron James and the Lakers are likely to go all out in this game to help woo Davis. LA LAKERS

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5 NBA ROADTRIP FATIGUE LOG This is the ultimate log for NBA handicappers who emphasize fatigue on extended road trips, as well as the high of returning home. Road Road Road Road 1st Home Home Home Home Home Home Home Road Road Road Road Road Road Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4+ After Fav. Fav. Fav. Dog Dog Dog Fav. Fav. Fav. Dog Dog Dog Road Trip 4 or less or more 4 or less or more 4 or less or more 4 or less or more ATLANTA BOSTON BROOKLYN CHARLOTTE CHICAGO CLEVELAND DALLAS DENVER DETROIT GOLDEN ST HOUSTON INDIANA LA CLIPPERS LA LAKERS MEMPHIS MIAMI MILWAUKEE MINNESOTA NEW ORLEANS NEW YORK OKLAHOMA ORLANDO PHILADELPHIA PHOENIX PORTLAND SACRAMENTO SAN ANTONIO TORONTO UTAH WASHINGTON

6 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Thursday, February 21 Cincinnati* over Central Florida by 9 Beating 20+ win opponents on the road is not what UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins is all about. Cincinnati s bigs will be giving up plenty of height to 7 6 Tacko Fall, but they make up for it in fundamentals. CINCINNATI, Georgia State over Appalachian State* by 1 Since opening Sun Belt play 5-0, Georgia State is 4-4. Since opening Sun Belt play 0-6, App State is 4-2. GEORGIA STATE, Wright State* over Cleveland State by 17 The visitor is #8 on the Worst Of main-board college basketball teams in terms of combined offensive and defensive efficiency. Wright State is the Horizon League s coleader. WRIGHT STATE, Minnesota* over Michigan by 1 Who does Michigan play next? Michigan State. Who did Michigan beat by only at home last month?: MINNESOTA, NC Wilmington over Elon* by 2 In terms of overall efficiency the combined ability to score and get stops -- Elon ain t good. They rank #4 on the bad list. It s San Jose State, Cal Poly, Portland and then, them. NC WILMINGTON, Northeastern* over James Madison by 17 Missing their best defender, guard Shawn Occeus, shouldn t hamper Northeastern in this match-up vs. CAA doormat. NORTHEASTERN, Northern Kentucky* over Youngstown State by 17 YSU is, very quietly, 8-7 in league play, 2.5 games behind NKU and Wright State, and plays both this weekend! Balloon pops. NORTHERN KENTUCKY, Hofstra* over Towson by 22 William & Mary* over College of Charleston by 2 Coastal Carolina* over Georgia Southern by 12 Georgia Southern gives up too many points (76.4 per game) to trust on the road when they have no margin for error. Yes, they did the job for us at home against Troy last Friday night in their ESPN2 showcase, but Troy is Troy, and was also missing Varnado and Norman. Also, GSU and the three-point line are not really friends with each other. Off three straight road losses, if Cliff Ellis can t get his home side to come out and play with their hair on fire, then he should pack it in. Opponents are hitting only 41.6% from the field vs. his kids. COASTAL CAROLINA, Texas State* over UL-Monroe by 3 The host rolled through Arkansas last weekend and returns home 10-3 atop the Sun Belt, by 1 game over Georgia State, 2 over Arlington and Georgia Southern. Monroe is 0-4 on the Sun Belt road but they can score, especially if Daishon Smith has it going. TEXAS STATE, Texas-Arlington* over UL-Lafayette by 2 Unlike their cousins at Texas State, UT-A didn t hack it in Arkansas last weekend, going 0-2 and dropping from first to a 3-4 tie, suddenly feeling some Lafayette/Monroe breath on them in the standings and needing to reel in Bob Marlin to maintain slim separation from those schools. UT-ARLINGTON, BYU* over San Francisco by 10 USF is a 20-win team but they re 0-6 ATS in West Coast Conference road games. What s up, Dons? Provo, UT, for one thing: 4,551 feet elevation and a home side scoring 79.2 ppg in the building. BYU, Gonzaga* over Pepperdine by 33 Although senior forward Kameron Edwards (17-and-7) and starting shooting guard Jade Smith each returned from one-game injury absences, Pepperdine lost their eighth in last 12, at St. Mary s. Romar, don t forget to duck. GONZAGA, Oregon over USC* by 1 It seems like every kid on Oregon is 6 9. They beat the Trojans by 21 points in Eugene last month. OREGON, Arizona* over California by 24 It d be hilarious if the skidding Wildcats (0-7 SU and ATS run) lose to Cal (0-13 in the Pac 12), too. At home, no less. But they re probably not that bad. They re probably closer to being able to kill Cal than they are to losing, or escaping with a narrow home win. Cal s weak interior D is a culprit in creating some of the worst defensive efficiency in the nation. Seems as if Chase Jeter has finally found a match-up where he can excel, aided by Ryan Luther s ability to step out, hit some threes, and scramble Cal s bigs even worse than they normally get. Getting the inside-outside game working makes Arizona look like Arizona for a night. ARIZONA, SMU* over Connecticut by 1 The teams come off 8- and 7-day breaks, entering off losing streaks of five, and three games. Key players have been out for each, yet each has been competitive while coming up short. However, UConn s long trips usually don t go well. SMU, Pacific* over Saint Mary s by 1 Let s jinx St. Mary s by noting how since Pacific moved from the Big West to the West Coast Conference, St. Mary s is 11-0 SU against them! In other words, St. Mary s has never lost to Pacific in the WCC! Not once! All wins! St. Mary s controlled the tempo (slow) and eventually, Pacific couldn t hit enough in the halfcourt to stay with the Gaels in a 12-point road loss earlier this month. PACIFIC, San Diego* over Portland by 25 Portland is just above San Jose State and Cal Poly on the list of bettable teams that have the worst overall efficiency in other words, the combined ability to score and play defense. This is not a good trait to invest in. SAN DIEGO, Hawaii over Cal-Santa Barbara* by 1 Max Hole Digger, er, Heidegger, keeps doin it to his UCSB team, another 1-for-7 and 1-for-6 from three-point range in last week s losses at Cal-Riverside and Irvine. How long will head coach Joe Pasternack continue to give this 21.7% three-point shooter minutes and a green light to heave bricks? HAWAII, Cal-Irvine* over Cal Poly-SLO by 25 Cal-Poly continues to be the second-worst main betting board team in overall efficiency. They are playing the Big West leader on the road. Rosary beads might be in order for road underdog players. CAL-IRVINE, Cal-Davis over CS Fullerton* by 1 The Davis boys recently won three straight conference road games and enter on a fivegame win streak. TJ Shorts, last year s Big West Player of the Year for the conference s regular season champ, led Cal Davis to a 6-2 final eight games a year ago. Fullerton enters with (eight wins in last nine games following a 0-2 Big West beginning. Let s scrap! CAL-DAVIS, UCLA* over Oregon State by 2 Defense, that's what we focus on in practice, says one Oregon State player. Offense will come and go. "I don't think we got [7 1 ] Moses Brown enough touches," said UCLA head coach Murray Bartow after the Bruins lost at Oregon State last month. UCLA, Added Board action for Ultra Sharp members. Game-day posting on the Web in the member area! Friday, February 22 IUPUI* over Wisconsin-Milwaukee by 9 A tree will fall in these Horizon League Also Ran Woods this evening, and won t make a sound. Milwaukee is 1-6 on the conference road, 9-18 overall up against host. The Initial Boys lost this season s initial meeting in Milwaukee, IUPUI, Harvard over Brown* by Harvard eyes 7-1 Yale in tomorrow s 1 vs. 2 Ivy match-up, needs to get past Brown first. HARVARD, Yale* over Dartmouth by 11 Dartmouth s only non-competitive Ivy effort was when they lost home to 7-1 conference leader Yale. All others have been wins, or narrow losses. YALE, Princeton* over Cornell by 10 Making only 2 three-pointers in 45 minutes, and playing without then-suspended leading scorer Devin Cannady, Princeton found a way to win at Cornell. PRINCE- TON, Penn* over Columbia by 10 How Steve Donahue has used analytics and freedom to bring Penn men's basketball back to glory. That was the headline of the 3,000-word article published in Penn s daily paper on Nov. 5, before the season started. Penn is 3-5, fifth in the Ivy League right now. Well, freedom s just another word for nothin left to lose. PENN, Illinois-Chicago* over Wisconsin-GB by 3 Green Bay games have as many possessions as the average North Carolina game (74- and-change). Imagine if Linc Darner had the talent to play that way efficiently on either end? He d really be onto something. We prefer our doses of UIC to come with a plus sign, not tonight s lay. ILLINOIS-CHICAGO, Davidson over Rhode Island* by 5 URI shouldn t have bothered to show up at Davidson earlier this month: 3-for-24 from three-point range, 4-for-12 from the foul line. Geez, they should have lost by more than 15 points, right? But their three-point strokes are pretty horrible. Shooters vs. scrappers. DAVIDSON,

7 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Indiana over Iowa* by 5 The Hawkeyes are riding the high of two recent buzzer-beaters to beat Northwestern and Rutgers. They celebrated while their chalk-playing backers sulked. They figure to pay for those sins by missing some of the prayers that have been going in, and continuing to play so-so defense against an opponent that needs it more than they do. Archie Miller adjusts after losing home to Iowa on Feb. 7; Fran McCaffery does not. INDIANA, Saturday, February 23 Toledo* over Northern Illinois by 14 Eugene German, Northern Illinois leading scorer (20 ppg), had his suspension lifted last week but they lost both games. TOLEDO, Marquette over Providence* by 5 The Friars will ugly it up as much as they possibly can, but they ve really been off the rails lately. MARQUETTE, Clemson* over Boston College by 27 Whatever BC head coach Jim Christian, staff and players are doing between Wednesday night after the trip to NC State, and Saturday morning here, probably won t be enough to matter. The last two ACC clown sides that came through this arena went down and Those were Wake Forest and Pitt. You also had Georgia Tech losing here, and Virginia Tech, no clown show with their #11 national rank, losing here to the Tigers. Boston College s rotation has been unsettled all season with injuries to Chatman, Popovic, Mitchell, Tabbs. CLEMSON, Virginia over Louisville* by 3 The Cavaliers aren t big on getting turnovers, but still, who trusts Louisville s sloppy ball-handling against them in their tenacious halfcourt defense? VIRGINIA, Oklahoma* over Texas by 3 If NCAA Tourney Selection Committee members have been betting games and using Oklahoma, then the bubbly Sooners are sure to receive an At-Large bid because they re ATS. OKLAHOMA, Temple* over Tulsa by 15 Head coach Fran Dunphy is retiring after this season, and he and his Temple Owls are on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Not gonna go against that combo, with senior guards in the mix, to boot! The respective team shooting percentages (55.4% for Tulsa, 30.6% for Temple) were too over and under the top when Tulsa won home. Good sign for Temple is that they got to the free throw line 27 times to only 12 for Tulsa. TEMPLE, LSU* over Tennessee by 5 Must be time for the, Oh, look, this team was #1, but now they re losing games! How could this happen?! period for the Vols. Hey, people voted them #1. It s not like they were certified as being unbeatable for life. LSU, Illinois* over Penn State by 2 Like we said before Illinois did not cover in a home win vs. Rutgers, they are very young and need to prove they can handle games they are supposed to win. ILLI- NOIS, Northeastern* over Towson by 9 A revenge game for senior day at Northeastern. Feel the love, visitors. Northeastern out three-pointed Towson 13-2 at Towson, yet lost the game. NORTHEASTERN, Kentucky* over Auburn by 12 St. Joseph s over Massachusetts* by 1 Eastern Michigan* over Western Michigan by 14 Appalachian State* over Georgia Southern by 5 Georgia Southern is all about ball pressure, transition buckets and hitting the offensive glass. Hard to sustain during a long season, if the home side has the energy and protects the ball. APPALACHIAN STATE, Colorado State* over Wyoming by 1 Mountain West near-bottom dwellers pause to give thanks for the existence of San Jose State below them, then get about the business of Colorado State attempting revenge but having the handicap of the worst three-point defense in the conference. COL- ORADO STATE, Bradley* over Evansville by 11 Evansville is bringing up the rear of the Missouri Valley and is but 1-5 on the road in conference play, 1-11 on the road overall. BRADLEY, Missouri State* over Indiana State by 13 The visitor generally doesn t hurt anyone from the 3-point line, which makes the defensive assignment pretty easy to understand: don t let em score in the red zone! Missouri State has the worst three-point defense in the Valley, not a big liability in this match-up. MISSOURI STATE, Maryland* over Ohio State by 10 Buckeyes 0-fer anyone in the Top 25. Terps: #18. MARYLAND, Miami-FL* over Georgia Tech by 9 Shooting woes plague Tech, particularly those of point guard Jose Alvarado, hitting only 26.8% on his 118 three pointers and challenging UCSB s Max Heidegger for this season s Please, Don t Shoot It! award. MIAMI-FL, Bowling Green over Ohio* by 8 The home side began the week 2-10 ATS in MAC play, while the visitor was ATS in conference. BOWLING GREEN, Ball State* over Central Michigan by 2 Buffalo* over Kent State by 18 Akron* over Miami-OH by 9 If you re gonna take as many three-pointers as Akron does, it helps to defend well against that shot. They do: opponents have hit only 30.3% of theirs, the best defensive three-point FG% in the MAC. AKRON, TCU* over Iowa State by 1 Baylor* over West Virginia by 11 VCU* over George Washington by 22 Coastal Carolina* over Georgia State by 6 A glance at Coastal Carolina s home efforts and results this season will tell you that if Georgia State shows up and doesn t play their best game, then they will get a costly loss. COASTAL CAROLINA, Lasalle* over Richmond by 8 If Lasalle can duplicate the defensive effort at Richmond in which the home side was air-balling three-pointers late in the shot clock during the Explorers winning comeback LASALLE, Creighton* over Georgetown by 10 Defending against an array of good shooters on the road in a packed house of 13,000+ isn t what these Hoyas are all about. CREIGHTON, Wright State* over Youngstown State by 16 Youngstown actually began the week 8-7 in Horizon League play, and playing the two 10-3 first place teams. But, on the road. Youngstown hasn t done anything serious in basketball in many moons. So, this trip is probably the places where their dreams go to die until hope arises again in the CT. WRIGHT STATE, UL-Monroe over Texas-Arlington* by 1 The home side has a relatively low effective field goal percentage, giving cause for pause as favorite vs. visitor that can score (78.3 ppg). UL-MONROE, Oakland* over Detroit by 10 Pacific* over Loyola Marymount by 3 Mississippi* over Georgia by 15 Georgia had their shot to do something at home vs. LSU, blew it, can now recede into the SEC woodwork as a woodshed tool. OLE MISS, North Carolina* over Florida State by 12 Three straight road wins for Leonard Hamilton and FSU! How unusual. Back to the usual. NORTH CAROLINA, Air Force* over San Jose State by 14 George Mason* over Duquesne by 1 Florida* over Missouri by 13 When this season s Florida Gators are on the NCAA Tournament bubble at overall and 0-6 vs. AP and USA Today Top 25, you know it s a weak bubble. FLORI- DA, Notre Dame* over Virginia Tech by 1 Sandwiched between home games vs. Virginia and Duke, does Buzz Williams look like the kind of guy who d have the Hokies kill an Irish team on the road, a foe they ve already beaten by 15 points at home? NOTRE DAME, Kansas State* over Oklahoma State by 11 K-State likes to run a lot of their offense through recently injured forward Dean Wade. Is he in, or out? The home team s slow pace can help keep undermanned Okie State in the game if their offensive efficiency suffers in a Wade absence. KANSAS STATE, Purdue over Nebraska* by 4 A zone at home helped get Nebraska off their seven-game schneid. If they can keep playing every game as if it were a tournament, possession by possession, they ll be in em with a chance to win em in the final 4:00. PURDUE,

8 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Utah State over Boise State* by 1 Losers of four of last five games, Boise enters off a one-week break for this season s only meeting with the Aggies, who hosted New Mexico Wednesday, were tied for second in the Mountain West with Fresno, and are 5-2 on the conference road. UTAH STATE, Dayton* over Saint Louis by 11 Headline on Feb. 5: Saint Louis rules the glass in beating Dayton Dayton head coach Anthony Grant has his practice mantra. DAYTON, Hofstra* over James Madison by 21 Senior night for CAA leader Hofstra, with a chance to clinch at least a tie for the regular season title. HOFSTRA, William & Mary* over NC-Wilmington by 8 Fordham* over St. Bonaventure by 1 Arkansas State* over Arkansas-LR by 1 Drexel* over Delaware by 5 Point guard Kevin Anderson on injury watch for the visitors, at revenge-minded home side. DREXEL, UL-Lafayette over Texas State* by 1 Is the Sun Belt leader for real? We shall see after this weekend visit from the Louisiana schools. Texas State was a bad 0-2 vs. ULL last season. Not our favorite team, ULL, but when the sunspots are aligned a certain way UL-LAFAYETTE, South Alabama over Troy* by 1 Alabama* over Vanderbilt by 11 Mississippi State* over South Carolina by 11 Indefinite suspension for MSU guard Nick Weatherspoon. More minutes for me!, says junior Tyson Carter. MISSISSIPPI STATE, Oregon State over USC* by 1 Houston* over South Florida by 7 Kansas over Texas Tech* by 1 The Red Raiders got off to a fast start, and had visions of being all alone at the top of the Big 12, but Bill Self did this, and then Kansas did that, and the Jayhawks let the air out of the home crowd s balloon. Or, something to that effect. KANSAS, Brown* over Dartmouth by 6 Duke over Syracuse* by 11 Anyone who layed the 17 and lost outright when Syracuse shot the lights out at Cameron Indoor probably will be eager to lay only 8 or so in the Carrier Dome. Who could blame them when the visitor shoots a healthy 48.6% from the field and gets more offensive rebounds per game than anyone else on the main betting board? DUKE, Penn* over Cornell by 9 Northern Kentucky* over Cleveland State by 19 College of Charleston over Elon* by 11 Harvard over Yale* by 1 Nevada* over Fresno State by 15 Eric Musselman has been instructing his highly ranked Wolfpack to keep the pedal to the metal and we re not interested in stepping in front of them and becoming the latest victim of Death Race NEVADA, Pepperdine* over Portland by 17 St. John s* over Seton Hall by 2 Utah over Washington State* by 2 Princeton* over Columbia by 10 Northern Iowa* over Valparaiso by 3 Tulane* over East Carolina by 1 Wichita State* over Memphis by 3 Long Beach State over Cal-Riverside* by 4 Wisconsin over Northwestern* by 7 The Badgers don t allow opponents to have a lot of possessions, and Northwestern is a lousy shooting team, so it should be an exercise in one-and-done for the home side. WISCONSIN, **BEST BET Arkansas* over Texas A&M by 19 On their way to winning this season s NIT, the Razorbacks have this home date where they welcome, with open arms no doubt, A&M guard TJ Starks and his 23.3% make rate on a team-leading 120 three-point attempts. Say, there, coach Kennedy, you, er, may want to think about more efficient shot distribution and selection, eh? Meanwhile, the Razorbacks did everything in their power to lose the SEC opener at A&M but couldn t pull it off, a testament to all that A&M lacks this season. ARKANSAS, San Diego* over Saint Mary s by 5 Senior night, so soon? It s a fourth straight home game for San Diego. The first two were against BYU and Gonzaga, both losses, which were very reasonable outcomes, you d have to say. They ll have had a buffer game against dreadful Portland to get well again prior to this regular season home finale. SAN DIEGO, Hawaii over Cal Poly-SLO* by 10 This was a BEST BET winner for us when Cal Poly visited the Big Island recently and lost by 24 points. Can the Bows maintain form in second road game in three nights, 2,500 miles east of home base? Always worrisome. HAWAII, Gonzaga* over BYU by 25 It s a long time until the NCAA Tourney starts. Gonzaga entered the week 18-8 ATS, but they entered last week 18-6 ATS. However, it s senior night, so the dogs may be allowed to have at it. GONZAGA, San Diego State over UNLV* by 11 They re jockeying for the #4 spot in the Mountain West. The Aztecs can neutralize the rebounding prowess of the visitor and turn the Runnin Rebs into the Chuckin Clangin Rebs, which is not a pretty sight. SDSU s Jalen McDaniels swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer with a 14-point lead in their home win against UNLV last month, and this is supposed to give UNLV incredible incentive for payback. Well, incentive does not equal execution. SAN DIEGO STATE, Oregon over UCLA* by 2 For a late-season meeting between under-performing big names, prefer the coaching of Dana Altman with an athletic bunch, taking points against UCLA s substitute teacher. OREGON, Cal-Santa Barbara* over CS Fullerton by 2 Home side s defense withstands Max Hole Digger s bad shooting to turn back the surging visitor. UC SANTA BARB, Cal-Davis over CS Northridge* by 3 A reliable third scorer behind undersized underclassmen Diane and Gomez hasn t really been there for Northridge. CAL-DAVIS, Washington* over Colorado by 15 Colorado road result we know and love: here last year. WASHINGTON, San Francisco over Santa Clara* by 6 It s senior night at Santa Clara! We got any seniors on this roster? Smokin Herb asks his assistants. Well, coach, none that start, or can score! SAN FRANCISCO, ADDED BOARD ACTION: for Ultra Sharp members. Saturday game-day posting on the Web in the member area! CONFERENCE USA BONUS PLAY: Conference USA s desperate and sure-to-fail attempt to game the NCAA Tournament selection system will be addressed for Winning Points Online members on game-day mornings. Sunday, February 24 Central Florida* over SMU by 11 UCF recently went to Dallas for a workmanlike win against the Mustangs and should do a repeat job. CENTRAL FLORIDA, Southern Illinois* over Loyola-Chicago by 4 Loyola was tied atop the Missouri Valley with Missouri State when the week began, on the strength of being 6-1 home. This ain t home. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS, IUPUI* over Wisconsin-GB by 8 Villanova over Xavier* by 9 Drake over Illinois State* by 2 Drake has 20 wins, been super-good vs. the spread, and very competitive on the road in Missouri Valley play, where they are challenging Loyola-Chicago for first place. DRAKE, Cincinnati over Connecticut* by 8 Kick em while they re down, Mick. CINCINNATI, Michigan State over Michigan* by 8 What happened to the Michigan football team when it went through a season of receiving a multitude of praises for their defense, then had to face the real best team in the conference? Nick Ward has a broken hand for Michigan State! Without him, they won t be able to score or make stops against anybody, never mind Michigan! Maybe. But maybe not. MICHIGAN STATE,

9 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Illinois-Chicago* over Wisconsin-Milwaukee by 11 UIC guards apparently had their shooting dials set on not the basket when they missed 25 three-pointers in a 12-point loss at Milwaukee last month. UIC, Arizona State* over California by 22 Nobody wants to be the first in the Pac 12 to lose to Cal, who, defensively, has the worst effective field goal percentage allowed among main betting board teams. Worse than VMI! ARIZONA STATE, North Carolina State* over Wake Forest by 20 Danny Manning is making Wake Forest hoops fans pine for the dark and dreary days of Jeff Bzdelik. NC STATE, Rutgers* over Minnesota by 4 Playing without leading scorer, forward Eugene Omoruyi, Rutgers nevertheless scored 40 points in the paint at Minnesota. Okay, they gave up 88 points and lost, but Omoruyi wasn t the only kid missing that night, several days after the Scarlet Knights were whooping it up after beating Ohio State on this floor. RUTGERS, Stanford over Arizona* by 2 A switch seems to have been flipped by Stanford, with Daeshon Davis and Cormac Ryan both playing. They face a short-circuiting home team. STANFORD, Monday, February 25 Florida State* over Notre Dame by 21 The Irish are kinda out-athleted here. Bring the rosary beads. Leonard Hamilton can play just about everybody and probably will. FLORIDA STATE, Iowa State* over Oklahoma by 14 Oklahoma has yet to lose the wager as a road underdog, but there is a first time for everything, is there not? IOWA STATE, Kansas* over Kansas State by 7 Of course, here we are in Big 12 crunch time, K-State has probably already peaked, and Dean Wade is hurting. Kansas has had injuries, sent Lagerald Vick home and is still right there in the ol driver s seat! You don t ever want to be that guy who buries Kansas prematurely. KANSAS, Tuesday, February 26 Bowling Green* over Miami-OH by 6 Buffalo* over Akron by 17 Rhode Island* over George Washington by 7 Mississippi State* over Missouri by 22 Oh, no! Guard Nick Weatherspoon suspended for violation of team rules by MSU head coach Ben Howland! Send it in on whoever they re playing! Well, no, thanks. As long as it isn t his brother Quindary that hits the pine, they should be fine. Weatherspoon had been bothered by a knee problem, anyway. Sometimes, a tighter rotation begets more cohesive play. MISSISSIPPI STATE, Dayton over Massachusetts* by 4 Ohio State* over Iowa by 5 Miami-FL over Wake Forest* by 5 Butler* over Providence by 8 Ball State* over Toledo by 1 Eastern Michigan* over Central Michigan by 1 Kent State* over Ohio by 14 North Carolina* over Syracuse by 16 South Carolina* over Alabama by 3 TCU over West Virginia* by 3 VCU* over Saint Louis by 13 Saint Louis has a reputation for good defense but VCU sure makes it hard for opponents to score, too: only.87 points allowed per possession! VCU, Northern Illinois* over Western Michigan by 11 NIU was WMU s first MAC win following an 0-10 start, aided by the suspension of NIU s Eugene German, who has since returned. NORTHERN ILLINOIS, Indiana* over Wisconsin by 8 Sometimes, when you need it more, and have home floor, you make the score. Indiana entered last week 3-11 ATS in Big Ten play. That was bad enough, but they were also a mere overall, 4-10 in Big Ten, losers of 10 of their last 11. And yet, Bracket Boy has them in the Big Dance! People s heads are exploding. But there was a big opportunity in front of Hoosiers, with a succession of games against highly ranked Purdue, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan State (who they ve already beaten), three of them home. INDIANA, Virginia Tech* over Duke by 1 For Duke, this is the sixth in a sextet of Virginia-Louisville-NC State-North Carolina- Syracuse-Va. Tech. They can t play their best game every night against that schedule. After this comes cupcake visits from Miami-FL and Wake Forest, before they visit UNC in the regular-season finale. Buzz Williams can read schedules. VIRGINIA TECH, Kentucky* over Arkansas by 13 LSU* over Texas A&M by 16 Temple over Memphis* by 1 Two possessions worth of points to take with a Temple team that has won 70% of their games, eh? TEMPLE, San Diego State* over Utah State by 3 Utah State is 0-10 SU against the Aztecs since coming into the Mountain West Conference, yet the game will be a near pick em. SAN DIEGO ST., New Mexico over San Jose State* by 14 Wednesday, February 27 Maryland over Penn State* by 10 Using teams destined for the NCAA Tournament, at relatively short numbers against opponents not destined for the NCAA Tournament, will usually get a nod of approval from the Winning Points staff. They cap winning margins at 10 for NCAA evaluation purposes. May as well get there, coach! That ll do it! MARYLAND, Central Florida over South Florida* by 1 Clemson over Pittsburgh* by 7 Virginia* over Georgia Tech by 23 George Mason* over Richmond by 5 Texas Tech* over Oklahoma State by 24 Tech backers needed to lay only 8.5 when they ran away and hid from the Cowboys in Stillwater. They ll be forced to lay twice that here, but depth-shy Okie State isn t getting any deeper. TEXAS TECH, Illinois State* over Missouri State by 1 Mississippi* over Tennessee by 1 Davidson over Lasalle* by 5 Georgetown* over Depaul by 5 Houston over East Carolina* by 15 The Cougars shot a higher percentage from three-point range than on two-pointers when they crushed Tulane on the road. Hard to replicate that! HOUSTON, Southern Illinois over Evansville* by 3 St. Bonaventure* over Duquesne by 4 Bradley* over Valparaiso by 8 Loyola-Chicago over Northern Iowa* by 2 Drake* over Indiana State by 12 Purdue* over Illinois by 22 Efficiency matters. If and when the opportunity arises, coaches of NCAA Tourneybound teams will keep the starters in longer to boost those numbers for seeding purposes. Meanwhile, young teams like Illinois recently on a four-game win streak tend to be the most erratic. Their breakthrough road win of the season at Ohio State could be more like the exception that proves the rule. PURDUE, Texas over Baylor* by 3 Oh, those Baylor guard injuries, eh? TEXAS, St. Joseph s over Fordham* by 2 Boise State* over Colorado State by 9 Florida over Vanderbilt* by 1 Auburn over Georgia* by 6 Louisville over Boston College* by 8 Cincinnati over SMU* by 8 Villanova* over Marquette by 8 CS Northridge* over Cal-Riverside by 6 It was in front of 2,740 down by the Riverside last month! CS NORTH- RIDGE, Nevada* over UNLV by 15 Marvin s menzies lost by 17 in Vegas to the Top Ten-ranked Wolfpack. But Nevada is off two of its nearest challengers to the top spot in the Mountain West, Fresno State and San Diego State, with the other legit challenger, Utah State, on deck. In other words, this could be too many points to lay, given the rivalry and the spot on the slate. NEVADA,