It’s the last week of the regular season in college hoops and the dog days of the NBA.  Most of these items will help you battle the sportsbooks on Wednesday, but admittedly, there is some meandering.

1.  Tuesday night appeared to be Christmas week in the Evergreen State, as Washington beat the Seattle Redhawks and Gonzaga beat the South Carolina-Upstate Spartans in contests that had the look and feel of those played in December.  The combined scores totaled 177-100 in “why are they playing?” games properly ignored by the Vegas and offshore sportsbook rotation.

2. Playing their last home game tonight, Georgia Tech is quietly having a dreadful season.  Paul Hewitt has won 7 ACC games or more in 7 of his first 8 years on The Flats, but the Jackets are 1-13 in ACC play.  Both the team and the player would be better off had the talented Jarvaris Crittendon hung around and learned to play basketball instead of averaging less than 4 points per game in his second year with the Wizards.   Much has been made of the Jackets losing some close games, which they have, but the pointspread doesn’t lie, and Tech is 7-16 to the number, including 4-10 in conference play.

3. Oklahoma at Missouri is the game of the night in college hoops, and I was looking to play the Tigers after their blowout loss to Kansas Sunday.  The Tigers were never in that one, trailing 45-19 at the half.  But a bounceback will have to happen without my money, as Vegas and offshore sportsbooks have the Tigers laying 4 points into an Oklahoma team that has only a single loss with Blake Griffin in the lineup.   Tough to buck either team in that one.

4. The NBA game of the night isn’t Memphis at the Clippers.  And it isn’t Washington at Oklahoma City.  Maybe it’s Houston at Utah.  But the Rockets are in a tough situation, playing in altitude after throttling Toronto at home last night.  That’s why Vegas and offshore sportsbooks opened Utah at -7.5 only to see bettors push it up to -8.5 and beyond.

5. The NBA betting markets are frequently ahead of the  injury reports, so the fact that the Mavericks have been bet from -1 up to -3 against the Spurs suggested the Josh Howard will be playing tonight.  Or maybe people just think that Mark Cuban’s disgust at the no-show by the Mavs in the OKC will spur them on to glory this evening.  Not that all that much glory is available in midweek games in early March in the NBA.

Good luck tonight, and be careful.