There’s always some unexpected money winner coming out of the MVC and this year the award goes to Drake. At 13-3 against the spread, they’re the best bet in college hoops up to this point and this week’s win over Creighton cemented their status as the conference alpha dog. In reality, that win was closer than the 75-65 final score made it appear and Drake actually trailed by two with seven minutes left, but a deft scoring touch – particularly from three-point range – allows the Bulldogs to continually claw their way out of tough spots. As Creighton coach Dana Altman said afterward, “They make plays and they finish.” As long as they can keep it up, we say fire away on this team.

2) New Mexico Lobos (14-5 ATS)

Although they have an impeccable ATS record, it’s probably not the best idea to run out to the sportsbook and get down on the Lobos. That window has closed. New Mexico looked unstoppable early in the season when they covered in 11 of their first 13 opportunities, but take a look at that non-conference sked. St. Bonaventure? Presbyterian? Weber State? The more unforgiving Mountain West competition has cast this team in a much less flattering light. Their current 3-3 SU conference record looks even worse when you consider two of those wins came in overtime. If you took away those OT wins, New Mexico would have only one payday in MWC play. Despite the presence of J.R. Giddens, maybe the best guard in the league, this looks like a team that’s about to fall out of the Tournament picture – fast.

3) Niagara Purple Eagles (13-5 ATS)

The MAAC is a tough neighborhood this year. Although Niagara has the best ATS record in the league, you might want to look elsewhere in the conference for winners as the season rolls on. Niagara has already lost to a couple of the MAAC big dogs (Sienna and Marist) but more disturbingly, they dropped a 70-62 decision to last-place Canisius as 14-point favorites. That’s not a good sign. It might be that they just got through playing nine of their last 11 games on the road or it might be that their conference-mates know all about the talents of Charron Fisher and wisely won't allow him the kind of freedom he got in non-conference play. It was a good sign that someone other than Fisher led the scoring in their last game when Tyrone Lewis had 27. Freshman point guard Anthony Nelson also got back on track with eight assists against Fairfeild. It will be worth watching what happens in their upcoming homestand starting with Loyola on Friday.

4) Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (11-4 ATS)

Now here’s a team you should be betting on. The Ragin’ Cajuns’ 5-4 conference record isn’t going to raise any alarms, but at 11-4 ATS with nine paydays in their last 10 games, maybe we should all be paying attention. The best thing about this team is that they are so young, you can only expect improvement. Of the 13 players on the ULL roster, 10 are underclassmen. There were some bumps in the road, but a dominating 87-66 win over Troy last week shows that this team is pulling together and headed in the right direction.

5) South Alabama Jaguars (11-5 ATS)