Michael Alexander

Rating: 2 Units

The Mavericks tried to do the Thunder a favor last night by resting Luka Doncic. OKC could not take advantage, losing the game and the spread 87-78 in a Festival of Bad Shooting. You’ll recall that last week, the Spurs came off a pause to lose 102-99 in OKC on a last-second corner three-pointer by Lu Dort. San Antonio played that game off a 10-day forced break, without Demar DeRozan, Derrick White, Rudy Gay and Keldon Johnson. Only DeRozan and Johnson have returned since, but that should be enough to turn the tables sufficiently.

Rating: 3 Units

The Pistons are dead last in the Eastern Conference and they have struggled mightily on the road. Detroit’s best player this season, Jerami Grant, has been dealing with a bruised left quad. Detroit faced Toronto on Wednesday and they took advantage of the Raptors being shorthanded in the facile Pistons win. Toronto was missing several key players. The Spurs snapped a 3-game Knicks winning streak on Tuesday but New York was missing some key elements. Elfrid Payton was out with a hammy and Derrick Rose was dealing with health and safety issues. With a win the Knicks would go into the All-Star break a game over .500. Rookie Immanuel Quickley has been a bright spot. He had 26 points off the bench in the Tuesday loss and leads all rookies this season with games of 25 points or more.

Rating: 3 Unit NBA Play of the Day

Not a good set-up for the Warriors. Following last night’s ding-donger defeat in Portland, they face the new "hottest team in the NBA" after a night flight into the Arizona desert, where the rested Suns await with some impressive recent numbers including: +14.8 points differential last eight games, including the second best offensive efficiency (1.24 points per possession) and fifth best defensive efficiency (1.09 points per possession) in that span. During it, the Suns are shooting 52.0%, tops in the league for the stretch, and turning it over only 11 times per game, fewest in the league. On Jan. 28, the Suns beat the Warriors by 21 points here without Devin Booker. 6’7" shooting guard Kelly Oubre (15.5 ppg, 5.7 reb in 30.3 minutes per) didn’t play for the Warriors last night

Rating: 2 Units

Jax State did it all wrong over the weekend, getting season sweeps of Austin Peay and Murray State for the first time in school history. Too many milestones reached already! Although head coach Ray Harper is a wily tournament underdog from way back, we’d have to say that adjustments are now all on Murray State for this one, as well as the emotional edge of being the better-pedigreed program owning double-revenge in the win-or-go-home game. While most people see JSU as heading into this “the right way” with seven wins in last eight games, the only loss by a mere four points at #1 seed Belmont, we’ve long felt that this is closer to the “wrong way” than right.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

Massachusetts did not have the luxury of easing back into play off of their
program pause recently, opening back up on the road against Richmond and
Saint Louis. The Minutemen now are closer to full health, as Matt McCall called
Wednesday’s practice the best they’ve had in a while. While St. Joseph’s has
impressed lately, their recent win streak is a bit hollow. The Hawks knocked off
a poor La Salle team narrowly in two games, defeated a depleted Richmond
and beat a Dayton team that inexplicably changed their lineup for one game.
The Hawks are not likely to be able to defend UMass star big man Tre Mitchell
in this meeting.

Rating: 2 Units

East Carolina was just recently cleared to practice five on five on Monday, meaning the team won’t be anywhere quite near game shape once the ball is tipped off on Thursday night. East Carolina head coach Joe Dooley said his team will be down to nine scholarship players due to Bitumba Baruti being out with COVID-19 protocols, and Tyrie Jackson and Charles Coleman continuing to be sidelined with injuries. The Pirates saw five straight games postponed or canceled during their latest COVID-19 pause as a result of multiple positive tests.

Rating: 2 Units

East Carolina was just recently cleared to practice five on five on Monday, meaning the team won’t be anywhere quite near game shape once the ball is tipped off on Thursday night. East Carolina head coach Joe Dooley said his team will be down to nine scholarship players due to Bitumba Baruti being out with COVID-19 protocols, and Tyrie Jackson and Charles Coleman continuing to be sidelined with injuries. The Pirates saw five straight games postponed or canceled during their latest COVID-19 pause as a result of multiple positive tests.

Rating: 2 Units

The Sooners are stinging off overtime and 4-point losses to Oklahoma State, but that doesn’t earn them the right to beat the avenging Longhorns, who lost to them 80-79 at home despite playing without head coach Shaka Smart, starters Jericho Sims and Courtney Ramey, and 17-minute reserve Brock Cunningham. Three more Longhorns fouled out and they were down to just five scholarship players at the bitter end.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

Rasir Bolton, Iowa State’s leader in points, rebounds, assists, steals – not to mention minutes with 33.6 per game! -- injured an ankle on Sunday and didn’t play in the second half. In Tuesday night’s hosting of Texas, Bolton did not play but two guards who played Bolton-like minutes when they normally don’t shot 2-for-11 and 1-for-8. If Iowa State was a good team, we’d say that these kids would definitely do better next time out. But their only 2 wins have been against low-Major competition. They’re not a good team.

Rating: 3 Unit C-USA Play of the Day

Host FAU is a poor man’s version of the highly ranked Houston Cougars. They hit the offensive glass (11.4 ORs per game) and get many second-chance opportunities after missed three-pointers. But they make an above-average percentage of their threes: 38.0%. They are also in the national top 20 in defensive rebounding percentage. All of this would seem to work well against a 3-11 visitor that can’t shoot straight (.96 points per possession in C-USA games).

Rating: 2 Units

Nashville provided updates Tuesday on three players it will have a hard time replacing, putting the pressure on the Predators' reserves to step in and provide a spark as the club tries to gain ground in the standings. Center Ryan Johansen was placed on the COVID-19 protocol list. Forward Luke Kunin (lower body, two to four weeks) and defenseman Ryan Ellis (upper body, four to six weeks) also landed on the IR. Adding to their injury woes, starting goalie Juuse Saros left after the first period following helmet-to-helmet contact with Carolina's Nino Niederreiter. Consider that Florida is 18-8 in their last 26 vs. a team with a losing record.

Rating: 2 Units

The Islanders have won four of five (4-0-1) and are 9-2-2 since Feb. 6. Goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped the first 28 shots he faced before the Devils' Miles Wood scored with 13.2 seconds left to cost New York a chance at having different goalies post shutouts in back-to-back games. The Sabres snapped a scoreless drought of two-plus games but still lost their fourth straight (0-3-1) and fell to 2-7-1 since resuming play following a coronavirus pause on Feb. 15. Buffalo, which is in the midst of an NHL-worst nine-season postseason drought, has a league-low 15 points. The Sabres, who suffered consecutive 3-0 losses to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and Sunday, have scored two goals or fewer in seven of their last eight losses and have collected 16 goals in the last 10 games. Buffalo hasn't led since it had a pair of one-goal leads in a 4-3 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 25. Consider that Buffalo is 18-53 in their last 71 road games.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Mismatch of the Day

Taking two possessions worth of points on double-avenging Dayton. Not since Eric Maynor in 2009 (22.3 ppg) has VCU’s scoring leader averaged as many points per game as VCU’s Bones Hyland (19.2), who’ll be coming off a two-game absence and foot sprain if he plays. Given that second-leading scorer Vince Williams is playing through an injury and nobody else on the favored Rams averages more than 7.3 ppg, doesn’t Anthony Grant go with a box-and-one against Hyland?

Rating: 3 Unit Missouri Valley Play of the Day

Indiana State will rally around head coach Greg Lansing this week, as rumors that he will not return have surfaced. In what would be a bizarre decision by Indiana State to let Lansing go, the Sycamores can put forth a great effort in Saint Louis this week. They’ll return starting guard Tyreke Key to the lineup after missing games due to injury and Lansing feels this team is ready to break through. “In our tenure, in our earlier years, we did well in the Valley tournament,” Lansing said. “Then we went on a stretch where we weren’t good enough, prepared enough and the guys weren’t competitive enough. We’re not happy not going over any winning games, but this team is different, a special group of young men.”

Rating: 2 Units

Saint Louis easily took care of UMass on Monday, and the two teams now meet again in the quarterfinals of the A10 Tournament. The Billikens featured a bigger look in that meeting with the Minutemen, playing Hasan French more at forward next to centers Jimmy Bell or Martin Linssen. The played a part in Saint Louis dominating the glass, as they collected 46.7% of their own misses, on the way to a 78-57 win.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

Duquesne battled St. Bonaventure in both meetings this season before running out of steam late. Both games were one possession games after 30 minutes but at that earlier point of the season Duquesne’s conditioning was still an issue off of a program pause due to COVID-19. The Dukes are a physical bunch capable of playing a low scoring slugfest against the Bonnies. The Dukes ability to defend the three-point line, where they rank best in the A10, will be key against a St. Bonaventure attack that shot 37.5% from three-point range in conference play.