8* LA Lakers (10:05 ET): Roughly halfway through the third quarter Monday night, I thought I had an easy winner with Charlotte +12. After all, they were leading the Jazz outright by 11 points! But Utah, as they are apt to do, stormed back to win for the 21st time in the last 23 games. Not only that, they covered the 12-point spread rather easily as the final score was 132-110! I’m not joking here when I say they made 28 of 55 three-point attempts. That was a franchise record for makes and 19 of them came from bench players. Utah has already made 500 threes this season, needing just 31 games to do so, a league-record.

Elsewhere on Monday night, the Lakers blew all of a 17-point lead and fell to the Wizards 127-124 in overtime. That was the third straight loss for the NBA Champs, the first that’s happened this season. Obviously, missing Anthony Davis hurts and LeBron James is playing a lot of minutes as a result. James has now logged the third most minutes of any player in the league, something Lakers’ fans certainly don’t want to see from the 36-year old. Before everyone starts overreacting though, I’ll point out the Lakers were off to 22-7 start before this losing streak began. They’ll be fine. They’re still a top four team in net efficiency.

Utah is #1 in all categories right now and tonight will mark the 30th time they’ve been favored in 32 games. So it really shouldn’t be THAT big of a surprise to see them doing so well. Still though, it is shocking to see them laying this many points to the Lakers. I’m going to grab the points here as LA certainly isn’t accustomed to being an underdog, especially one of this size. The only previous game this season where they were getting points was at Milwaukee (+1.5) and they won outright. This is the most points they’ve gotten in any game since the end of the 2018-19 season. 8* LA Lakers

10* Tennessee (9:00 ET): I’m going all in on the Vols Wednesday as they visit in-state rival Vandy. Tennessee is off a loss here (to Kentucky) and is just 3-3 SU in its last six games. This slide has dropped them to #25 in the rankings, but I’m not that worried as they remain much higher in my own power ratings and are a top five team in defensive efficiency. It would certainly appear as if we’re getting a real “discount” on UT tonight considering they were 21.5-point favorites the first time they faced Vandy, a game they won comfortably, 81-61. I’ll gladly lay the number on the road here.

Vanderbilt is last in the SEC with a 2-10 SU conference record. After recording that second win on February 13th, 72-51 at Mississippi State, the Commodores have subsequently dropped B2B games by the same 82-78 score. They were against Kentucky and Alabama. But note they actually trailed UK by as much as 17 and while they were more competitive vs. Bama, they were also down double digits in the 2H there. The fact the Commies come in having not suffered an ATS loss in their L7 games (6-0-1) has obviously played a significant role in this line being shorter than it should. I’d pump the brakes on calling Vandy “competitive.”

Tennessee shot poorly vs. Kentucky (35.3 FG%) with leading scorer Springer finishing with only four points. They also were outworked on the glass with Josiah-Jordan James sitting for a second straight game. Whether or not James returns, I expect the Volunteers to improve in all areas tonight. Not only did they shoot well in the first game vs. Vandy, they scored 93 against South Carolina (with James sitting) last Wednesday. Meanwhile, I can’t see Vandy shooting 10 of 23 from 3-point range again, like they did vs. Bama. I know this game is in Nashville, but the line shouldn’t be 15 points off from where it was when the teams played in Knoxville. 10* Tennessee

2/23 UPDATE: Wednesday's Champions League play on Manchester City was released two weeks ago. Since then, the line has skyrocketed. If you do not feel comfortable playing that large of a favorite, I'd recommend passing rather than the goal line. 

7* Manchester City (3:00 ET): Man City has been the most dominant side in all of Europe this season and thus enters the Round of 16 as the favorite to win this year’s Champions League. I just took them on Sunday when they rolled to a 1-0 win over Arsenal in the Premier League. They scored the lone goal just two minutes in. It was a surprise that they failed to find the back of the net again, but at the same time it was the Citizens’ 23rd clean sheet this season and 13th in the last 17 EPL matches. 

It’s not just the Premier League that Man City is dominating. They’ve won 18 straight across all competitions, outscoring the opposition 47-6 during the run! Here in the Champions League, they topped Group C with 16 points, winning five and drawing once. They conceded only one goal in the six matches, the fewest of any side in the Group Stage. They finished tied with Bayern Munich for the best goal differential at +12.

Drawing Man City here in the Round of 16 was a bad break for Gladbach, but their own recent poor form gives even more reason for pessimism. They’ve fallen to eighth in the Bundesliga following a 2-1 loss to Mainz (a side that will almost surely be relegated) and now nine points adrift of the top four, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see them back in the Champions League next year. Even worse is that they’ve become a bit of a “lame duck” with manager Marco Rose already announcing he’ll be heading to rival Dortmund this summer. Gladbach may have been the best side in Group B, but they finished just 2-2-2 and they enter Wednesday’s 1st leg having won only once in their last five fixtures. This is their 1st ever appearance in the knockout stage and it’s likely to be a short stay. 7* Manchester City