Only a pair of NBA games and 35 main board college contests on Thursday night, but the pro games are a pair of beauties, while the top college affair won’t finish until Midnight or later for over three-quarters of us.

1. The Cavs are only favored by a point at Houston, which may seem a little short.  But nobody defends opposing superstars like Shane Battier and the Rockets are 23-6 at home.  Yao Ming is expected to be back in the lineup tonight, and he matches up with Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is averaging 13 points and nearly 8 rebounds since returning in late January for the Cavs.

2. The Suns visit the Lakers in the late game.  Phoenix has won 4 of 5 since going uptempo, and have shot a mind-boggling 247-436 (56.6%) in those games.  But the 4 wins have been against lottery teams and of course now they’re lacking injured forward Stoudemire, while Steve Nash has a bad ankle. Nash is a game-time decision, and most of those suit up in a game of this magnitude.  But if you’re thinking of playing this one it will be worth having your ear to the ground after Thursday’s shootaround.

3. Bob Huggins return is huge news in the Queen City, with The Enquirer even picking the All-Huggins era team (first, second, and third teams).  Despite graduation rates and DUI’s, Huggins was always favored by Bearcat fans over his antagonists in the UC administration.  But despite all the hype, the real news is that both of these teams can play.  WVU and UC are lost in the Big East clutter, but the Mountaineers are one of the best defensive outfits in the country, and could’ve been elite if point guard Joe Mazzulla hadn’t been lost for the season early.  Huggins would want this badly even if it wasn’t his grand return to Cincinnati, as his Mountaineers got waxed 62-39 at home last year by UC, shooting 10-50, including 1-22 from 3-point land. Cincinnati had won and covered 7 of 9 before consecutive losses to Pitt and Louisville.

4. Memphis’ 54-game conference winning streak would be about a season shorter had UAB’s apparent game winning shot not been after the buzzer in Bartow Arena last season. Memphis returns to the scene of their monster comeback (9-1 in the last 1:23) that spurred a near-brawl between UAB fans and Memphis players. Speaking of streaks, that heartbreaker was the only home loss for UAB in their last 27 outings.  Earlier in the season UAB hung around for a half but lost by 13 in Memphis.  UAB’s a thin team, not going much more than 6 deep with their starters playing over 80% of the minutes ordinarily. UAB’s Robert Vaden deserves more pub, but can he carry his Blazers against the much deeper Tigers?

5. A quartet of teams have 4 or 5 losses in Pac 10 play, but the winner of the Arizona State/Washington game will get some separation and will be in first place all by themselves.  The Huskies walloped the Sun Devils 84-71 in Tempe earlier this season. In that one Huskies had the edge from both lines, 50%-26% from 3-point land while notching 26 points from the charity stripe.   UW opens as a 4-point favorite, and it should be a good one for those with Fox Sports Regional access who don’t mind staying up until 1AM Eastern, Midnight Central. Tough for the Pac Ten to complain about East Coast bias when over 75% of the people in the US have to stay up until the wee hours to watch.

Good luck in your personal battle with the sportsbooks on Thursday night.