College basketball best bets and projections
Conference tournaments are beginning to get underway and it is officially the best time of year for college basketball. Something about betting higher-stakes games always feels more exhilarating, too, or maybe that’s just me. Nonetheless, VSiN has you covered with full conference tournament previews from a betting perspective, and I’ll have you covered with projections on every game as well.
Follow me on X, @TShoeIndex, for today’s top women’s bets.
Compare my odds to the college basketball odds (Vegas odds) and also take a look at the college basketball betting splits for additional info.
These “College Basketball Best Bets and Projections” pieces will be occurring Monday-Thursday on VSiN.com, so buckle up and get ready to take advantage of having the T Shoe Index at your disposal from now on.
As a refresher, the T Shoe Index (TSI) is my proprietary rating system that I use for college football, NFL, men’s and women’s college basketball, and WNBA. It is a tempo and opponent-adjusted rating that allows us to answer the question, “How many points would team A be expected to score and allow vs Team B”, based on a myriad of statistical factors.
Here are the TSI projections for today, March 5th:
How to read this sheet: the “TSI Projected Spread” is the projected point margin based on TSI ratings. If the number is positive, that indicates Team 1 is projected to win by that margin, if the number is negative, that indicates Team 2 is projected to win by that margin.
Men’s
| Team | Team | TSI | TSI O/U |
| Air Force | Wyoming | -5.9 | 141.3 |
| Akron | Eastern Michigan | 13.8 | 136.9 |
| Alabama | Florida | 4.7 | 170.0 |
| Albany (NY) | Bryant | -1.8 | 158.1 |
| Army | Holy Cross | 5.8 | 134.8 |
| Auburn | Missouri | 14.6 | 147.9 |
| Austin Peay | North Florida | 6.6 | 145.3 |
| Ball State | Kent State | -3.5 | 144.2 |
| Binghamton | Maryland-Baltimore County | -4.9 | 154.2 |
| Boise State | Nevada | 4.8 | 146.6 |
| Bowling Green State | Western Michigan | -2.7 | 143.5 |
| Buffalo | Ohio | -11.0 | 149.0 |
| Central Michigan | Northern Illinois | 1.0 | 141.3 |
| Cincinnati | Oklahoma | -3.6 | 143.5 |
| Clemson | Syracuse | 7.8 | 150.8 |
| Coastal Carolina | Louisiana-Monroe | 3.0 | 144.8 |
| Dartmouth | Harvard | -7.1 | 137.0 |
| Dayton | Saint Louis | 9.5 | 149.8 |
| DePaul | St. John’s (NY) | -18.6 | 145.8 |
| Detroit Mercy | Milwaukee | -13.6 | 150.1 |
| Duquesne | Virginia Commonwealth | -5.7 | 139.3 |
| Eastern Kentucky | Jacksonville | 7.6 | 143.9 |
| Florida State | Pittsburgh | -9.0 | 147.3 |
| Georgetown | Providence | -6.4 | 146.3 |
| Georgia | Mississippi | 1.7 | 147.0 |
| Georgia Tech | Wake Forest | -12.4 | 148.6 |
| Illinois | Purdue | 1.1 | 161.9 |
| IUPUI | Cleveland State | -20.5 | 143.5 |
| Kansas | Kansas State | 7.7 | 145.3 |
| Liberty | Middle Tennessee | 3.1 | 139.5 |
| Lipscomb | North Alabama | 10.4 | 154.1 |
| Louisville | Virginia Tech | -9.2 | 150.1 |
| Loyola (MD) | Navy | -7.3 | 138.7 |
| Massachusetts-Lowell | Maine | 1.9 | 142.2 |
| Miami (OH) | Toledo | 1.3 | 148.6 |
| Nevada-Las Vegas | San Diego State | -1.0 | 142.3 |
| New Hampshire | Vermont | -12.3 | 141.7 |
| North Carolina | Notre Dame | 11.9 | 142.2 |
| Oklahoma State | Texas Tech | -1.4 | 147.1 |
| Old Dominion | Texas State | -1.9 | 137.4 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Robert Morris | 14.3 | 148.9 |
| Queens (NC) | Stetson | -4.3 | 153.9 |
| South Florida | Tulane | 10.2 | 155.1 |
Bets:
Western Michigan +1.5
Coastal Carolina +2
Women’s
| Team | Team | TSI | TSI O/U |
| Boise State | Colorado State | -4.2 | 126.8 |
| Charlotte | East Carolina | 2.1 | 127.2 |
| Coastal Carolina | South Alabama | 7.7 | 132.7 |
| Dartmouth | Harvard | -23.7 | 119.4 |
| Detroit Mercy | Robert Morris | 12.2 | 118.8 |
| Fresno State | New Mexico | -1.5 | 127.0 |
| Georgia Southern | Texas State | 1.2 | 133.0 |
| IUPUI | Youngstown State | -9.8 | 129.1 |
| Memphis | North Texas | -8.8 | 137.7 |
| Nevada | San Jose State | 10.2 | 126.9 |
| Nevada-Las Vegas | Utah State | 35.2 | 141.5 |
| Northern Kentucky | Oakland | 1.6 | 144.1 |
| Rice | UTSA | 0.2 | 127.9 |
| San Diego State | Wyoming | 0.3 | 127.3 |
| South Florida | Southern Methodist | -1.1 | 129.9 |
| Southern Methodist | South Florida | 1.1 | 129.9 |
| Tulane | Tulsa | -4.7 | 133.1 |
| UAB | Wichita State | 6.5 | 140.1 |







