CAA Total of the Year - Rickenbach CBB Rotation #601 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Hofstra Pride vs Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens @ 6:30 ET - The Fightin' Blue Hens shoot the ball very well including on the road. The Pride are not a good team defensively. Delaware's games are on an 8-2 run to the over in their past 10. Hofstra has averaged scoring 87 points per game in its last 3 meetings with the Fightin' Blue Hens. Additionally, the Pride have scored an average of 90.5 points per game in their last two home games against Delaware. Hofstra enters this game having averaged 76.5 points per game in its last 4 games and 3 of those were on the road. At home this season the Pride are averaging 81.9 points per game. Delaware is making 47.3% of its shots from the field on the road and even is hitting 36% of three pointers on the road as well. The Pride are hitting 45.6% of their shots from the field at home and they like to play with pace and will dictate an uptempo game here on their home floor. The Fightin' Blue Hens have allowed an average of 79 points per game in their past 3 games. The Pride have allowed 81.5 points per game in their last two home games. Hofstra's shooting is red hot their last 4 games. Delaware has also been shooting the ball well (as their shot has traveled well this season) in road games including knocking down 57.4% of its shots at Villanova last month. Last 5 road games the Fighting Blue Hens hitting nearly 50% from the field. When Delaware is off an ATS loss they've gone 24-11 to the over including 6-1 this season. When the Pride are off a loss they've gone 14-6 to the over including 3-1 this season. 10* OVER the total in Hofstra

Game of the Week - Rickenbach CBB Rotation #604 Thursday 10* Top Play Ohio State Buckeyes (-) vs Minnesota Golden Gophers @ 6:30 ET - Situations mean a lot in the outcome of games. The last time the Buckeyes faced the Golden Gophers it was at Minnesota and Ohio State was off a huge home blowout win over Penn State. The Buckeyes ended up getting blown out by the Gophers by double digits. This situation, which of course also now includes a revenge angle for Ohio State, is entirely different. This time the Buckeyes are off a double digit loss at Penn State and are now back home looking to bounce back strong. Ohio State is 10-1 SU in home games this season and allowing just 56.4 points per game there. I know they have struggled overall in recent weeks but look for home cooking to get them back on track in this game. It helps that they're facing a Minnesota team which is just 1-6 SU in road games this season and has allowed 70.9 points per game in those match-ups. Prior to the blowout loss at Minnesota last month, the Buckeyes won the prior two meetings each by 18 or more points! The Golden Gophers were held below 40% from the field in each of those meetings and Minnesota is not going to shoot a ridiculous 54.4% from the field again like they did in last month's meeting. The Buckeyes defense, known for being tough at home, will be in full-on lock-down mode here. 10* OHIO STATE

Total of the Week - Rickenbach NBA Rotation #555 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cleveland Cavaliers vs Washington Wizards @ 7:05 ET - The Wizards are off an OT loss at Miami last night. However, when you look at minutes played, Washington actually spread the workload quite well. You don't see excessively heavy minutes for anyone really and, in essence, that makes this a normal back to back situation. The over is 22-12 (including 4-1 this season) when the Wizards are playing the 2nd game of a back to back. As for the Cavaliers, they are off an embarrassing home loss on Monday in which they had a horrific shooting night and scored just 86 points. Note that the over is 10-4 this season when Cleveland is off a home loss. Also, prior to that under, the Cavaliers had been 8-2 to the over so far this month. The Cavs are fired up after their embarrassing performance against an equally bad Knicks team. Their game plan tonight, coming in rested and with the Wizards in the 2nd night of a back to back, is to try and run Washington right out of the arena. Of course the Wizards do like to play fast so the result is a game with a ton of points that will look like a track meet with guys running up and down the floor and trying to get quick open shots in transition. Yesterday's Washington game had a total of 229 and that flew over the total (in regulation too) and plus the Wizards entered that game having gone 8-2 to the over this season in road games with a posted total of 230 or more. Tonight's Cavaliers game falls into that category and I look for another high-scoring match-up. Washington plays this game with revenge from a home loss to the Cavs and the over is 8-4 this season when playing with same season revenge. 10* OVER the total in Cleveland