Two 5-7 teams battle it out in the ultra competitive Big 12 where 7 of 10 teams are within 2 games of each other, occupying the 3rd through 9th positions. Texas is coming off a humbling 87-71 loss to TCU that marked their 2nd loss in a row and 3rd in their last 4. Baylor has been trending the other way, with 3 wins in a row and an emotional win over Kansas that saw the Bears break an 11 game losing streak to the Jayhawks. With Baylor on a short turnaround following their home upset, we have to like the Longhorns chances to catch them off guard in a tough environment. Predictably, the Longhorns are much better at home (11-3) than on the road (2-5) and we believe they will take advantage of the Bears' weak perimeter defense to a comfortable win.

Both teams perhaps expected more this season but will have to settle for a lower-tier tournament bid as neither look poised to win the conference with just 5 wins against Southern opponents. Samford sits at 5-9 in conference play and have lost 8 of their last 10 games coming into tonight. Mercer has turned their fortunes a bit with 2 consecutive wins but at 5-7, are still very inconsistent and have been unreliable on the road. The Bulldogs' defense ranks in the bottom 50 but they've proven to be capable at home with a 4-2 record and 5-1 ATS against conference opponents. We have to take the hosts with the head start!

East Tennessee St is on an incredible run, having won their last 16 games and 20 of their last 21. The Buccaneers have brushed aside all opponents with perhaps their toughest recent challenge surprisingly coming from The Citadel. UNC Greensboro has been on a roll as well, winning 8 of their last 9 and sit in 2nd place in the Southern Conference, behind the Buccaneers. The Spartans have been impressive but the Buccaneers edge them out in nearly all categories. Home court is not enough in our opinion and this is at worst 50/50. Visitors with the small head start.

BEST NBA PICKS CAN BE FOUND IN OUR SUBSCRIBER BUFFET SECTION ----- Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek kept to his word and gave more playing time to the youngsters last game against the Pacers. New arrival Emmanuel Mudiay got the bulk of the minutes at PG along with rookie Frank Nkilitina and veteran Jarrett Jack was reduced to just 8 minutes of playing time. The Knicks played noticeably faster, uptempo and with more energy than before although their defense still left a lot to be desired. The Sixers won their 3rd in a row against the Clippers on Saturday and have held their last 5 opponents to 102 points or less. Still we like the newfound energy from the Knicks' youngsters and don't believe they'll lay down against a rival here. While the ultimate goal is to tank, that doesn't mean the game can't be competitive and 12 points gives us plenty of buffer.

Duke enters this game having lost 2 in a row and 3 of their last 4 although there is really no shame in losing to Virginia and UNC at Chapel Hill. Georgia Tech has struggled mightily, losing 6 of their last 7 and sit in a tie for 12th place in the highly competitive ACC. The Yellow Jackets' shooting has improved recently but they still lack enough scorers to pose any consistent threat to the Blue Devils team that's loaded with talent and will be wanting to take out their frustrations after back to back losses. Marvin Bagley has been ruled out which is the reason for the move but the Blue Devils have plenty of talent to compensate against a poor Yellow Jackets team.

WE PLAN ON HAVING SOME BIG BETS IN THE FIRST ROUND OF DOHA - YOU CAN GET ALL OUR TENNIS BETS BY E-MAIL FOR JUST €100 PER MONTH - JOIN TODAY AND WE WILL GIVE 2 MONTHS FOR THE PRICE OF 1 - JUST €100 FOR TWO MONTHS INFO@BETTING-ANALYST.COM ———————— PREVIEW: Ekaterina Alexandrova won their only meeting at the beginning of 2016, but Anna Blinkova was just 17 at the time. Nevertheless, we are less interested in that than current form, and the fact is the girl from Moscow has impressing us the most. In fact, she defied the odds to blow Jana Fett off court in the first round of qualification, and that alone suggested she’s well suited by the courts here. EKATERINA ALEXENDROVA VS ANNA BLINKOVA

Abdullah Avci would have been gutted to see his team concede during injury time during last weeks 1-1 draw in Konyaspor. Furthermore, salt was rubbed into the wound when silly boy Belozoglu got a yellow card on 94 mins, followed by a red for complaining a few seconds later. That of course means he’s suspended today, but other than that the league leading hosts look in good nick. In the last round here Basaksehir won 5-0 against Kardemir Karabuk, and earlier on in the season they beat Galatasaray 5-1 at the Fatih Terim stadium. The fact is the hosts are 8-1-0 at home, and they have already beaten todays opponent Fenerbahce (2-3) in the reverse match! Basaksehir should be odds on, plenty of value here!

Juergen Klopp had a right to feel aggrieved by the referee’s decision to award Tottenham a penalty and a late draw in last weeks fixture. With that said, he couldn’t argue that his team were unlucky to only get a point from that match, because ultimately their opponents did a lot more for the game. In fact, we thought it was an horrible performance from the Reds, and it just went to remind us how inconsistent they can be! Southampton might be hovering near the relegation zone, but that’s mainly down to drawing eleven games. On a positive note, the visitors won their last match at bottom of the league West Brom, and they do come into this on the back of four league games and six overall unbeaten. And, to be fair the Saints have at least stop top sides Tottenham (1-1), Manchester United away (0-0) and Arsenal (1-1), and even the likes of Manchester City (2-1) struggled to break down a well organised defence.

A look at the table shows Club Brugge are running away with the regular league season. However, bare in mind this is Belgium Jupiler, and following 30 games of the regular season the top six teams will have their points halved. What follows is another ten matches, so Club will want to start that campaign with the maximum number of points. On that note, lets point out that the visitors won just one of their last four league matches and in midweek they were knocked out of the cup at the semi final stage. The other thing that stands out is Club are just 6-3-3 on the road, and they only took one more point away than their opponents at home. Waasland come into this match on the back of a fine win in Antwerp (1-2), and they are unbeaten in four. One of those games was a 2-2 in Anderlecht, so playing big teams hardly phases Sven Vermant. And, further proof of that is last seasons 1-0 win over todays opponent.

GILGAMBOA is clearly a very good horse for this category, and to be fair he ticks more boxes than our selection BURNING AMBITION. With that said, the latter has just turned seven, and he’s won his last five races in impressive style. The new kid on the block will need to be at his best again today, but the thing is he can only improve with experience.

RIVABODIVA is a strong stayer who’s a CD winner on soft ground. Lucinda Russell is wisely using a claimer to reduce the mares top weight, so the main concern has to be recent form. With regards to the trip LETEMGO ticks the right box, but he doesn’t have a 7 pound claimer today and on top of that he’s up another 4 pounds. If GREEN TIKKANA wins this on his h’capping debut i will feel like the trainer pulled the wool over our eyes. In any case, he’s got something to prove. We want to take a chance with bottom weight SORY, because he shapes like an out and out stayer and he’s receiving lots of pounds from the others.

KESSELRING was rated a decent 80 on the flat for Richard Hannon, so in theory he should be able to do better than on his hurdling debut. However, whether he’s a natural for this game remains to be seen, and he might lack a bit of scope. HIGH SPARROW ran really well to finish a close second in a point to point, and he followed up with a win on his bumper debut. The thing that stood out about both those races is he’s a strong stayer, so it’s a good thing seeing Joseph O’Brien go straight in at 2M4F. We fancy the son of Shantou to win on his hurdling debut!