Bryan Power Premium Picks

10* Missouri (9:00 ET): A little surprised my power rankings are now saying Mizzou is a bit underrated here after earlier in the year, they (the power rankings) seemed to be lower on the Tigers than the market was. Do I think they are the #12 ranked team in the country (as they are in the latest AP/Coaches Polls)? No. But they are better than Tuesday’s opponent, Auburn, a team that has come on strong of late (5-0 ATS L5) but still doesn’t even crack the top 65 of my power rankings. Take the points here. 

Missouri has won and covered three straight, the latest win being very impressive as they went to Knoxville and beat Tennessee 73-64 as a 6.5-point underdog. That’s why they moved up to #12 in the polls. The Tigers have lost just twice all season, one of those being to Tennessee, so that’s now been avenged. The last three wins have been by a total of 36 points. Missouri shot very well in the 1H against Tennessee and played excellent defense throughout, holding the Vols to 35 percent in the 2H and forcing 18 turnovers. 

Auburn just hung 109 points on South Carolina Saturday, which is probably the reason they come in favored over a ranked team. Admittedly, the Tigers have looked much better since #1 recruit Sharife Cooper became eligible. Him playing coincides with the team’s 5-0 ATS run, but they are just 3-2 straight up in those games. They were actually the underdogs in Columbia on Saturday. This will be just the third time they’ve been favored in SEC play (if the line holds). Missouri has won four of the six games they’ve been an underdog. 10* Missouri

8* Western Michigan (6:00 ET): Western Michigan isn’t very good, but this number has grown far too high vs. Ohio Tuesday night. The last time the Bobcats were favored by double digits was against the worst team in the MAC (Northern Illinois) and they didn’t come close to covering as they won by just three points. While a solid 4-2 this month, the Bobcats have won just once by more than 10 points and I don’t think they’ll do that here as the team is only 8-6 SU on the year and 1-4 ATS off a SU win.

WMU has lost five in a row, four of them at home. While it sounds bad, be aware that the Broncos’ last four opponents are who I’d rate the top four teams in the conference. During the five-game losing skid, WMU has led or been tied at the half in three of them. That includes Saturday vs, Akron, whom they led 38-31 at the break. Eventually, this team is going to have a breakthrough. They are 2-0 ATS as a road underdog of 12.5 or more points this season. 

Ohio was dreadful from three-point range Saturday vs. Ball State, making only 5 of 22, but they compensated for it by taking 35 free throw attempts, which was a lot more than the 19 Ball State took. That advantage at the charity stripe is how the Bobcats won by eight. The game before, OU scored a season-low 26 pts in the 1H (at home) in a game they basically trailed wire-to-wire vs. Kent State. Just not convinced that this is a squad that belongs in this price range. In two of the last four games, the Bobcats have allowed 57% (or higher!) shooting. 8* Western Michigan

10* Over Knicks/Jazz (9:05 ET): The Knicks, on average, have produced the LOWEST scoring games in the league this season. The good news is that they are allowing the fewest number of points per game in the league at 103.6. The bad news is their own scoring average of 101.9 is also - by far - a league low. That combined game scoring average of 205.5 is a full 7.6 PPG lower than the next lowest team (Cleveland). I guess it shouldn’t be surprising then that the Under is 12-6 in all Knicks games this season. 

Utah has won eight in a row, the longest win streak that the league has seen so far in 2020-21. The Jazz have also covered the spread in all eight wins, so this is a team playing very well right now. They’ve clearly established themselves as the third best team in the West, behind only the two hailing from LA. In the last two games, they’ve scored 129 and 127 points. All but one of those eight consecutive victories have come by double digits. Shockingly, the Knicks are the last team to defeat Utah, having done so on January 6th at MSG by a score of 112-100. They were eight-point home dogs. 

Despite the score of the first meeting and the Knicks in general, I see tonight’s game “sneaking Over” the total. Utah is at home where they are averaging a very solid 114.6 PPG. They only shot 44% for the game on Jan 6 and missed 30 of 44 three-point attempts. That won’t happen again here. It is worth mentioning that despite only losing by three on Saturday to Portland, the Knicks trailed by as many as 25. They also trailed Utah by 18 before coming back to win. This is a really low total and while it matches the total # of points scored in the first meeting, it’s difficult to imagine there won’t be more points scored this time around. 10* Over Knicks/Jazz