BlackJack’s 3 Favorite NBA, College Basketball Plays for Wednesday

It's a new year, new you. If you had a winning year last year, be better. If you had a down year, get on the right side of things. This is the time to start on the right foot.

We've got NFL playoffs and the College Football National Championship coming quick, but on Wednesday we have lots of basketball, so let's take advantage and sharpen our teeth on prospective winners in these three games:

• Tulane Green Wave at Cincinnati Bearcats: 6:30 p.m. ET
• Dallas Mavericks at Charlotte Hornets: 7 p.m. ET
• Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Lakers: 10:30 p.m. ET

Let's cash some tickets, baby!

Tulane Green Wave at Cincinnati Bearcats (-22)

Cincinnati is clearly the better team here. No question. But the Bearcats have been off for longer than a week and now have a relatively easy game against the Green Wave.

The issue is this many points in a conference game — it's too many for a Bearcats team likely to be on cruise control for most of the second half.

We might need to back-door this thing, but I still think we get there.

THE PICK: Tulane +22

Dallas Mavericks at Charlotte Hornets (-2)

This is a play based almost solely on location.

The Hornets are a solid home team this season, going 14-7 and winning by an average of seven points per game. The Mavericks, on the other hand, are a dreadful 2-16 on the road.

These trends should continue tonight, even with some minor injury issues for the Hornets.

THE PICK: Hornets -2

Oklahoma City Thunder (-6) at Los Angeles Lakers

This game has every making for a play on the total.

The Thunder have been a solid defensive team all season and the Lakers could still be without LeBron James. But even with him, every metric points to an under.

Both teams trend under on the season, particularly the Lakers at home. Both also trend under against similar offensive teams, and with totals at this number.

Everything points to an under.

THE PICK: Under 229