The Tigers are 13-1 ATS in their last 14 games. Just get out of their way. Memphis would still be playing if it the Tigers were in the NCAA Tournament. They have the second best defense in the nation.

Down the stretch during conference play, Memphis turned the corner. In fact, all four of its losses since Jan. 17 have been by three points or fewer. Now the Tigers face a well-balanced offensive team in Boise State, but look for them to take another step forward into the 2021-22 season. Take Memphis to cover.

Memphis is on a nice little ATS run that my simulations say should continue against a Boise team that really fell apart in the finals weeks of the regular season and missed the NCAA tournament. I make Memphis -4.8 favorites and that number balloons up over -5 if Alex Lomax is upgraded to probable. Lay it.

The Tigers have covered seven straight and might still be playing if they had gotten a berth in the NCAA Tournament and not the NIT. They lost two nailbiters to Houston in that stretch. There's a reason they entered the NIT as tournament favorites. The Mountain West got exposed a bit during the NCAA Tournament, with San Diego State and Utah State losing their first-round games by double digits. Lay the points.

No. 2 Boise State vs. No. 1 Memphis in NIT quarterfinals from Texas. I thought Boise State would lose its NIT opener against SMU after the Broncos lost second-leading scorer and rebounder Abu Kigab (11.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and key reserve Max Rice (5.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg) to season-ending injuries before the tournament. Alas, Boise did escape SMU by a point. Memphis, an AAC team like SMU, has won eight of 10, and those two losses were by a combined five points to NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team Houston. The Tigers had little trouble in their NIT opener vs. Dayton and may get back key reserve Alex Lomax (6.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg) for this one. Memphis is 10-1 ATS in its past 11 as a favorite.

Boise State was dominating teams and headed for the NCAAs but ran out of gas at the end of February, losing four straight games, The Broncos fought hard to end the streak beating SMU, 85-84, last week to start the NIT. But Memphis is in a groove right now, covering its last seven games and 13 of its last 14. The Tigers have won eight of their last 10, with the only losses by five points combined. Back them again Thursday.