8* California (6:00 ET): It would appear as if these two teams are trending in pretty different directions coming into Sunday, but the reality of the matter is that neither is really heading anywhere of note. Arizona State has won four in a row, including an upset at Stanford on Thursday, but the Sun Devils are still aren’t considered a NCAA Tourney team (nor should they be). Cal, who no one expected to do much this year, has lost three in a row. But save for Thursday’s loss to a very good Arizona team, the Bears have proven to be a pretty tough “out” here in Berkeley. 

I consider Arizona to be the Pac 12’s best team, so I won’t put much stock in the fact California lost to them by a score of 68-52. That non-cover (were +10.5) snapped a 5-0 ATS run in Pac 12 home games for Cal, which included three outright upsets. The only two conference opponents to come in here and win are Arizona and Oregon, the two best teams. This is simply a much better team when at home and it’s a benefit that ASU is playing its second straight road game. 

While in the midst of (arguably) their most successful stretch of the season, Arizona State is mostly winning close. The last two games have seen them prevail by a total of seven points and four of their last five wins have been by five points or fewer. That leaves them on “shaky ground” as a road favorite as far as I’m concerned. This will be just the third time the Sun Devils have been a road favorite this season and they are 0-2 ATS the previous two occasions with a two-point win over Princeton (2nd game of the season) and an outright loss at Washington State last month. 8* California

10* Under IPFW-South Dakota St (3:00 ET): Out in the Summit League, South Dakota State is tied with North Dakota State for first place (both teams sporting 10-2 SU records in conf play). The Jackrabbits have won five straight and 10 of their last 11 as they remain perfect on the year at home (14-0 SU). They’ve enjoyed a strong season at the betting window as well, going 17-8 ATS overall including 12-4 when favored. They tend to put a lot of points on the board, especially at home where they average 82.4 PPG.

IPFW is facing a pretty tough “ask” from the schedule makers here as they just played at North Dakota State Thursday. They lost, 80-70, but at least got the cash as 12.5-poingt dogs. The loss snapped a two game win streak for the Mastadons, who now have to travel to face the other co-leader in the Summit. The first meeting this season with SD State yielded a 70-61 loss, at home obviously, as IPFW had a dreadful shooting night (32.4% overall) which included them missing 22 of 26 three-point attempts. 

As you may have guessed, South Dakota State shoots the ball well here at home. They shot the ball well vs. IPFW in that first meeting, making over 52% of their FG attempts. They figure to shoot it pretty well again this afternoon, but let’s not discount the defense the Jackrabbits are playing either. Before the 90-78 win over Denver on Friday, they’d held three straight opponents to under 37% shooting. IPFW generally does NOT shoot the ball well. Neither team ranks in the top 200 in adjusted tempo. 10* Under IPFW/South Dakota St

8* Connecticut (3:00 ET): As it stands now, the American Conference may be sending as few as 2-3 teams to the NCAA Tournament and Memphis won’t be one of them. Anfernee Hardaway’s Tigers came into the 2019-20 season with plenty of promise, but things have been marred with controversy from the start as top recruit James Wiseman was quickly ruled ineligible. The team has still managed to go 17-7 SU, but comes into Sunday off B2B losses (to South Florida and Cincinnati), the latter of which coming in a game that went to OT.

UConn’s glory days seem like a long time ago, but the Huskies have proven to be a tough out lately by going 3-0 ATS their L3 games. Two of those were also SU wins, one of them against the AAC leader (at the time) Tulsa. That was followed by a minor upset of Cincinnati here at home (also an overtime game)) and then on Wednesday the Huskies gave SMU all they could handle in an eventual 79-75 loss. The Huskies still covered the spread (+5) even though they allowed SMU to shoot 55% from the field. 

This is a revenge game for UConn as they lost 70-63 down in Memphis on Feb 1. That was a tie game w/ under three minutes to go, but Memphis uncharacteristically hit most of its free throws down the stretch (9 of 10) to get the win and cash as five-point chalk. While UConn is 0-5 ATS its L5 times hosting the Tigers, I see them getting revenge this afternoon as they are simply a much better team at home where they are 10-3 SU/9-4 ATS. They shot poorly in the game at Memphis, something I don’t see happening today. Memphis makes less than 41% of its FG attempts on the road. 8* Connecticut

10* Winnipeg (8:35 ET): Chicago is coming off an 8-goal effort last night in Calgary. That sounds all “fine and dandy,” but let’s consider for a moment that the Blackhawks had lost five in a row going into last night and had scored a grand total of eight goals in those five losses. They remain buried in last place of the Central Division with 60 points and while they are still viable for a Wild Card spot, I wouldn’t expect to see this club still playing hockey when the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in April. 

Winnipeg also needs to make up some ground in order to make the playoffs. They are only three points ahead of Chicago in the standings, but are in fourth place in the division and only three points back of the Wild Card. The top three teams in the Central (St. Louis, Dallas, Colorado) have really solidified themselves, so the only way another Central team is getting into the postseason is through the Wild Card. This game is quite important for both sides.

The Jets recently defeated the Blackhawks, 5-2 here in Winnipeg, which at the time gave them their fourth three-game win streak of the season. Unfortunately, they haven’t won since, dropping two straight at home. Look for this to be the proverbial bounce back spot though. Losing three in a row, all at home, is something that hasn’t happened since October. 10* Winnipeg

8* Boston (3:35 ET): For the balance of the season, Boston has been out in front in the Atlantic Division. They still lead the league with 84 points but Tampa Bay (83 pts) is now hot on the Bruins’ heels, making them probably rue the fact they are a league-worst 0-7 in shootouts. Still the Bruins keep on winning as yday’s 4-1 triumph over league worst Detroit was their eighth win in the last nine contests and avenged the only loss during that time (last Sunday in Detroit). Today they head to MSG where they’ve won three straight times.. 

New York is having an okay season as they are over .500 and have a positive goal differential. They’ve won four straight coming into Sunday. However, they remain in a tough spot as they’re still only in seventh place in the Metro and would need to jump at least three teams in order to get into playoff position. The gap between them and the second Wild Card is currently seven points. The Rangers did not play yesterday.

This is NY’s longest win streak of the season. While they did just beat Columbus (despite facing 37 shots), most of the wins have come against the inferior Western Conference. The Bruins simply have too much offense here as they’ve scored 4+ goals nine times in a 12-3-1 stretch that goes back to early January. I already mentioned the success they’ve had playing in this venue (3-0 L3) and they are 17-8 L25 times taking the ice as a road favorite. The Rangers are 7-18 SU vs. opponents with a .600 or better win percentage. 8* Boston

8* UC Irvine (11:59 ET): UC Irvine continues to lead the Big West (8-2 SU in conf play) and should be considered - by far - the best team this league has to offer. The Anteaters’ overall record may be just 16-10. But they took on a tough non-conference schedule. It was last Saturday when they suffered their second loss in Big West play, 64-61 at UCSB. But they wasted little time in rebounding as they went to rival UC Riverside and won 63-59. The next goal is ending a 3-game ATS losing streak. 

Hawaii host UC Irvine tonight. The Warriors have not covered the spread in any of their last seven lined contests. They’ve also lost the last three on the court. The most recent was by a single point, 50-49, to Long Beach State right here at home. While that was only their third home loss of the season, the Warriors definitely still deserve to be underdogs tonight. They lost at UC Irvine by 14 last month and were never really in the game. 

It’s pretty crazy that three of the last six meetings between these teams have been decided by exactly one point. But the other three have all been comfortable victories for UC Irvine. Hawaii is one of only three teams besides UC Irvine in the Big West to have a winning overall record. But that should also say something about the Warriors inability to get the cash. Wednesday’s 4-point  win by UC Irvine was their first all year in the Big West by less than seven points. They cover the spread here. 8* UC Irvine