ASA

CBB PLAY ON Washington State +1.5 over Utah, Saturday at 8:00 PM ET - WSU is flying a bit under the radar right now due to their overall season record of just 11-15.  First off, four of those losses came when the Cougars were without Robert Franks who is one of the top players in the Pac 12.  Franks is back and playing his best basketball of the season averaging 25 PPG over his last 5 contests.  He leads the Pac 12 in scoring at 22 PPG and the 6’9 senior also averages almost 8 RPG.  The Cougs are 4-9 in league play, however Franks missed the first 3 conference games due to an injury so with him in the line up they are a respectable 4-6 in Pac 12 play.  WSU is playing their best basketball of the season right now winning 3 of their last 4 games.  They’ve done so playing against some of the top teams in the league beating ASU (#2 rated team in the Pac 12) on the road, beating Arizona on the road, losing to Washington (by far the #1 team on the league) by just 2 points and they topped Colorado here on Wednesday.  Over their last 5 the Cougars are averaging 78 PPG and winning by an average margin of 6 PPG.  They are also well rested as they had a full week off from Feb 9th to Feb 16th and have only played 2 games since.  Utah comes in trending downward losing 4 of their last 7 games.  They are one of the youngest teams in the Pac 12 starting 3 freshmen who seem to be hitting a wall.  That includes 2nd leading scorer Timmy Allen (12 PPG) who was out due to a back injury in the Utes 62-45 loss @ Washington on Wednesday.  He will be a game time decision for this one.  Utah, unlike WSU, is not rested as they will be playing their 4th game in 10 days.  When these two met in January, the Utes rolled to an 18-point win shooting 55% to just 35% for WSU.  Keep in mind, Franks, who was spoke about above, was out for the Cougars in that game.  He makes a huge difference on both ends of the court.   The host has covered 13 of the last 16 meetings in this series and these are two completely different teams than the ones that met over a month ago.  Washington State keeps playing well and they get the win at home.

ASA 10* play on: Sacramento Kings +6 @ Oklahoma City Thunder, 8PM ET – The Kings have been very good to us this season and continue to be under-valued by the oddsmakers (35-23 ATS). Sacramento is making a push for a playoff spot and the young talent of Bagley, Fox and Hield are starting to pay dividends for their draft status. The Kings and Thunder have similar numbers offensively when it comes to efficiency ratings, but OKC is quite a bit better in offensive efficiency. Sacramento makes up for their lack of efficiency on offense by playing fast (4th) and score 113.6PPG which is 9th in the NBA. The Kings defense has been much better of late as they’ve held their last five foes to just over 44% shooting and that includes two games against the other two best teams in the West, Denver and Golden Stage. The same can’t be said for Oklahoma City who has allowed opponents to hit nearly 47% of their attempts in their last five.  The Kings were recently a 7-point dog in Denver (who we rate better than OKC) and lost by just 2 points. Sacramento was just +12 in Golden State and took the Warriors to the wire, losing by just 2. The Kings last four road games have been decided by 2, 2, 4 and a 3-point win. OKC is coming off a double OT game last night versus Utah which saw Westbrook play 42+ minutes, George 50+, Adams 47+. The Thunder were a 4-point favorite last night and their isn’t much difference between the Kings and Jazz currently. The Kings 6-1 ATS steak versus the Thunder improves by a ‘W’ tonight. Grab the points!

ASA 9* PLAY ON Philadelphia Flyers over Pittsburgh Penguins, Saturday at 8:05 PM ET

Hopefully the rain showers will stay away (yes this is an outdoor game played at The Linc in Philly). We like the Flyers as a home dog here. Will be a crazy atmosphere as there is no one player (Sidney Crosby) or team (Penguins) that the Philly fans would rather jeer. There is real hatred in this rivalry and the Flyers "owe one" to the Pens for sure. Philadelphia has playoff revenge from April and the Flyers did win the first match-up (4-2) this season at Pittsburgh. However, earlier this month the Flyers lost at home despite a 51 to 28 edge in shots on goal! Now, in Saturday's Stadium Series outdoor game, it is payback time for the home dog. The Penguins have lost 6 of their last 9 games. The Flyers are off back to back losses but had previously won 12 of 14 games. Pittsburgh has lost 11 of 17 Saturday games this season. Bet PHILADELPHIA tonight