The short of it, small NBA favorites - Are small NBA favorites worth a look both home and away? That is today's question. If an NBA team is a 4-point home favorite, by normal standards they would just be considered a favorite only because they are playing at home. If the odds are less then four points, the oddsmakers would probably consider the visiting opponent a slightly better team, since they are decreasing the home team's home court advantage. If a team is a small road favorite, it is easy to comprehend they are the better team. When a team is a 3-point or fewer favorite, the oddsmakers is telling us the visitor is four to seven points better then the home opponent. However, does the familiarity of the home court translate into better performances for home underdog? Conversely, is the small home favorite also able to use the energy of the home crowd to their advantage, to win and cover more often then expected? Read the full story here.

You would have to go way back to find the last time that neither North Carolina (11-5) nor Arizona (13-6) was ranked in the AP top 25. However, that is the exact situation these two teams find themselves in heading into Saturday's showdown in Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels have struggled badly, attempting to overcome personnel losses of key players like Sean May, Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants from last season's championship club. They appeared to right their ship with a key road comeback win at Florida State on Sunday night. However, any momentum they gained from that victory was squandered in their home loss to Boston College on Wednesday. At this point, you have to question whether or not Roy Williams' crew will even make the tournament for a chance to defend their crown.

Arizona has simply underachieved, as their 7-12 ATS record indicates. It has been an up and down season for Lute Olsen's Wildcats. They opened the season by losing 3 of their first 5 games, including a shocking upset at Houston on national TV. After a 7 game winning streak which gave Arizona fans hope, they were upset at home by UCLA as an 11 point favorite. They proceeded to lose 3 of 4, before turning it around again with three consecutive wins over Pac 10 foes. Despite their struggles, they still have the most talented team in the Pac 10 conference this side of Washington.

Get all the key game handicapping information you need by accessing the FREE College Basketball FoxSheet of the Week! Tip-off for the Arizona-North Carolina game is scheduled for 1:00 PM ET on Saturday.

Super Bowl XL may mark the end of the NFL season, but it certainly doesn't mean the end of football! The Arena Football kicks off its 20th season this weekend with several key games that you can watch on NBC! This week's free FoxSheet a team with high hopes and a high profile owner against one of the league's annual powers. Jon BonJovi's Philadelphia Soul club plays host to the Tampa Bay Storm, a team one year removed of an Arena Bowl XVIII title.

Tampa Bay: The nucleus of the Storm offense returns with QB Shane Stafford, OS Freddie Solomon and WR/LB Lawrence Samuels all back in '06 in addition to free agent WR/DB Bobby Sippio from Dallas. Sippio caught 61 passes for 863 yards and 22 TDs with the Desperados last season and joins an emerging Storm offense. According to many AFL insiders, Stafford is a true star in the making and the Storm first line offense of Solomon, Samuels and Sippio is as good as any in the league. Defensively, Jonathan Ordway returns to anchor the secondary along with veteran DS Tramain Jones and newcomer DS Jeff Sanchez. Sanchez spent the last few seasons in the NFL and comes to Tampa with high expectations. Assistant head coach Dave Ewart will take over the coaching duties for Tim Marcum this week against the Soul since Marcum is serving a two-game suspension mandated by the League.

Philadelphia: New head coach Bret Munsey, who learned from Jay Gruden in Orlando and Mike Neu in Carolina, will bring a young defensive mind to the Soul. Munsey was busy in the off-season, inking one of the league's top free agent classes with defensive specialist's Kevin Gaines (Georgia) and Reggie Doster (Orlando), and linemen E.J. Burt (Orlando) and Ernest Allen (Dallas). On paper, the Soul will have one of the AFL's top pass rushes, led by Burt, Allen and returnee Dwayne Missouri. The secondary is significantly stronger with the addition of Gaines and Doster, along the return of Eddie Moten. Offensively, QB Tony Graziani returns for his second season in Philly. Marcus Knight is penciled in to move from WR/DB to OS, giving him more scoring opportunities. WR/LB Sean Scott (6-2, 200) returns as a top red zone threat, along with rookie J.J. McKelvey (6-4, 220) who starred in AFL2 last season. Click here to view's this week's free AFL FoxSheet.

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