College Basketball Best Bets Today:
We’ve got 103 games on the college basketball schedule for Saturday, but only 16 here on Friday as teams gear up for the weekend. A really good game between Cincinnati and Dayton highlights the evening, as most of tonight’s games come from smaller conferences or feature good teams as massive favorites.
Check the venues for tonight’s games, as we have the start of the Sun Bowl Invitational in El Paso with Akron, Yale, Jackson State, and hometown UTEP. El Paso has a bit of elevation to it, which could be a problem as those teams play games close together. The aforementioned Dayton and Cincinnati game is in Cincy, but at Heritage Bank Center, not where the Bearcats usually play. There are also games at Mohegan Sun Arena between Norfolk State, Grambling State, Delaware State, and Alabama State.
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- NCAAB Expert Picks
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Just a heads up that there will be no college basketball articles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next week. I’ll do Monday, Friday, and Saturday and go back to the regular schedule the following week.
Tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference is here.
This article will run Monday-Saturday (not next week, see exception above). Lines will be from DraftKings, as they are widely available to readers. Shop around for the best prices.
Shout-outs to Bart Torvik, Erik Haslam, and Ken Pomeroy, as those are my three primary resources for information when handicapping.
Check the latest college basketball odds for legal U.S. sportsbooks across the country and our Vegas odds if you share a state with us here at VSiN. Also, give the college basketball betting splits a look for these or any other college basketball games today have your interest.
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.
Appalachian State Mountaineers at North Texas Mean Green (-11.5, 123)
8 p.m. ET
What a difference a year makes in college basketball. App State was 27-7 last season and 16-2 in Sun Belt play as the regular season champion. App State is just 6-5 this season after losing a ton of talent and production, but they’re still playing really well on defense and I think the scoring will come as head coach Dustin Kerns gets more time with his transfer-laden roster.
The Mountaineers have held opponents to 28.2% on 3s and rank 64th in eFG%. In a game that should be played at a very slow tempo, those are good numbers. Kerns had a stout defense last season and a quality unit in most of his seasons with the Mountaineers. Last season was the year when the offense took off.
And even though key pieces are missing, CJ Huntley and Myles Tate are still there and both guys are playing below expectations to this point. JUCO transfer Dior Conners has been very hit or miss and Jackson Threadgill, who is second in Minutes% has been downright awful, but his track record suggests some potential improvement as well.
On the North Texas side, the Mean Green are only shooting 46.8% on 2s. They’ve offset that with a lot of 3-pointers and extra possessions due to takeaways. In eight games against Division I opponents, North Texas has been under 1 PPP in four of them and one game they were over was against Mississippi Valley State, who might as well be a D-2 program. I don’t think their offense is efficient enough to cover this number against a stingy defensive opponent in what will be another slow-paced game.
Pick: Appalachian State +11.5
