Multiple times each week, The Gaming Juice’s resident action seeker, Brad Evans, will attempt to blast the ‘books with his favorite selections on sides, totals, props, teasers or parlays. As always, fade or follow Brad’s picks — fading is encouraged — but that’s up to you.
Sledgehammer Special — SGP: Washington State +15.5, Game OVER 141.5 (+100, MGM)
Two ounces of reposado tequila. Two ounces of sweet and sour mix. One ounce of Cointreau. One half ounce of prickly pear syrup. And the juice of one lime. Shake, pour the goods in a margarita glass with an appreciably salted rim, kick up your feet and get properly seduced by the JUICE.
The prickly pear margarita is a relaxing adult beverage on a warm February day. (It was 66 in Chicago on Wednesday!) Whether in Tucson or Toledo, it’s also a mighty fine companion when you’re sweating out action, coincidentally enough, on the Arizona Wildcats.
As shown on the latest iteration of The Bracket Big Board, Tommy Lloyd’s squad is trending to a No. 1 seed. Despite an odd misstep in late January in an 83-80 loss at Oregon State, Arizona has exhibited the needed characteristics of a team at the top.
The Wildcats have played a rigorous overall schedule (No. 11), including challenges in non-conference play (No. 21 SOS), and with their seven Quad 1 wins, they rank handsomely in the NET at No. 3. In its final act, the Pac-12 may be generally average (No. 6 in KenPom power rankings), but the conference front-runner owns deep-run qualities.
Arizona has performed at a top-five level since its shocking derailment against the Beavers. Over the last month, the Wildcats are No. 25 in eFG offense, draining 56.1% on 2s and 37.1% on 3s. Though somewhat pedestrian defensively (No. 154 in eFG D over the last 30 days), they’re unblemished at home with a 13-0 record.
Seven-footer Oumar Ballo is a load inside and the primary reason why Arizona is elite in rebounding. Also, UNC transfer Caleb Love and sophomore Kylan Boswell have netted a combined 112 3-pointers. With six 100-point games to its name this season, AZ ignites offensively.
Without a doubt, Washington State is an out-of-left-field story. Few, if any, expected it would be nationally ranked, let alone stringing together enough wins to warrant a NCAA Tournament at-large berth. Kudos, Kyle Smith. You, sir, are a damn wizard.
Wazzu is a laudable 5-3 in true road games this season. Even better, the Cougars rank No. 12 overall since January 21, according to BartTorvik. During that span, they’ve drilled 38.6% from distance and allowed only 0.972 points per possession, the 24th-fewest in the category. Winners of seven straight, they’re peaking at the right time.
For the above ticket to cash, Washington State must crank the old-school Jodeci. It must dictate what it prefers — slow jams (No. 348 in adjusted tempo). If the Cougs can halt the pace and splash successfully from outside, they’ll hang. Keep in mind that Jaylen Wells, Myles Rice and, a name perfectly crafted for gunning trey bombs, Andrej Jakimovski shoot a combined 37.5% from beyond arc.
Bartender, another prickly pear and a SGP winner, por favor.
Season record: 5-3, +2.43 units
BONUS TIME — Minnesota -3.5 vs. Ohio State (-108, DraftKings)