FEB. 22, 2009

What an unbelievably tough break yesterday, when Blake Griffin left OU's five-point loss to Texas at halftime. It's certainly not a guarantee that the Sooners would have covered with Griffin in there -- they were down five him -- but I would have liked my chances if Oklahoma were at full strength.

USC, which was up four at the under-four TV timeout, also could have helped us out yesterday. The Trojans, however, had another late-game melt down, getting outscored by 13 down the stretch.

JBP, no doubt, is on the wrong end of some of these breaks, ones that were going our way just a few weeks ago. No worries, it'll turn around; we just have to stay true to our system, which has been pretty successful thus far.

JBP to date: 51-34 (60 percent)
Today's play: Arizona +7.5 @ Arizona State

It pains me to have to try to thread the needle with the Wildcats (as an ASU grad, obviously, I'm pulling hard for the Sun Devils). But considering how strong Arizona has been lately -- winners of seven in a row -- this play is too good to pass up. For the only time, here's hoping this pick is wrong.