Bryan Power

8* Wake Forest (8:00 ET): These are certainly two teams trending in opposite directions with Georgia Tech coming in on a 5-game SU win streak (also 6-0 ATS L6) and Wake Forest now 0-6 ATS its last six games and 0-5 SU its L5. Furthermore, the Yellow Jackets already own a 70-54 win (at home) against the Demon Deacons. That game took place back on January 3rd. You may recall I used GT two weeks ago when they travelled to Va Tech and won 69-53. They’ve since prevailed against Duke and Syracuse, both of those wins coming in Atlanta. The key here is the Yellow Jackets aren’t this big of a favorite very often. 

This point spread is a clear byproduct of recent form as Wake Forest is off five consecutive double digit defeats. It’s admittedly been a BRUTAL stretch as both Clemson and Va Tech held them under 50 points, then came a loss to a bad Pitt team (on Tuesday) that had one of its best players just recently transfer. But I don’t think the Demon Deacons are as bad as some of these scores show. They’d actually covered seven of eight before the 6-game ATS slide, showing how volatile the point spread can be. That 7-1 ATS stretch included them taking Florida State into overtime. 

Georgia Tech is now firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble after snapping a 14-game losing streak to Duke. The Yellow Jackets won that game 81-77 in overtime after blowing a seven-point lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation. They’ve now clinched a first round bye in the ACC Tournament, which is huge. But this just REEKS of a letdown game and the only time they’ve been favored by this many points in ACC play is when they HOSTED Wake in early January. The fact the line is basically the same on the road means there’s value on the home dog and I’m going to take it. Ga Tech is just 3-5 SU on the road this season. 8* Wake Forest

10* Hawaii (7:00 ET): I’ve got Hawaii rated as the better team here and I don’t think whatever “home court advantage” exists in 2021 is enough to justify UC Davis being a slight favorite in this Big West matchup Friday night. UC Davis is on a five-game win streak, but three of the last four victories have been by two points with two of them coming in overtime. Hawaii has also been successful in close games recently as their last three victories have been by a total of six points. But they are 0-6 ATS L6 and I think they’re due to end that unusual streak. 

Hawaii swept its two games with Long Beach State last weekend, winning 78-76 and 79-76. Those games took place out in Honolulu and both times the Warriors had to rally from halftime deficits. This will be just the second trip to the mainland since the end of January. The other one resulted in a split of two games with CS Northridge. Having been favored in each of its last four games, I see some value on Hawaii here against a UC Davis team that often struggles to defend. 

The host Aggies are allowing opponents to shoot 49.3% for the year when they are at home. Now the defense has gotten a bit better during the five-game win streak as they’ve allowed more than 66 just once. At the same time though, they’re not shooting the ball that well, which has been an issue throughout conference play (40.9 FG%). Hawaii has taken 7 of the last 10 meetings, including all four the previous two seasons. A case of the better team getting points here tonight. 10* Hawaii