College Basketball Best Bets Today:

We’ve got 16 games on the docket for Friday night, with a couple of Big Ten games taking the top spots on the excitement rankings. Get used to seeing these smaller slates on Fridays, where conferences like the MAAC and NEC are in action. It looks like we’ll get some Big Ten action as well, as that conference likes to play games on Sundays, too.

A lot of teams are shaking off holiday rust, so that’s a factor, but a much bigger factor is that there are some wild strength of schedule discrepancies out there. Some of them kept me off of games yesterday that came through anyway (team with worse schedule won and covered), so it can be tough to determine what’s real and what isn’t based on the non-conference results thus far. Schedules will balance out a bit going forward, but it is just one of many factors to consider.

 

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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.

Wichita State Shockers at Temple Owls (-1.5, 155)

7 p.m. ET

There are a lot of closely-lined games tonight and not a whole lot to choose from. Admittedly, I had a hard time finding anything that I really liked on today’s card, but this is a game that stood out a bit to me. Temple has some advantages here that I find interesting. The first is that they take more 3s and have shot better on them. Both teams get to the rim at pretty similar rates, but I like Temple’s interior defensive depth. Wichita State has Quincy Ballard, who is a monster on both ends of the floor, but he’s only played 30 minutes in a game once this season.

Temple’s Steve Settle has played nearly 88% of the minutes this season and there are some long-limbed 6-foot-8 backups to come in and protect the rim. As a result, I like that Temple shoots more 3s because I think this will be a game where the interior cancels out to some degree. The Owls are at home and hopefully more comfortable in that shooting backdrop.

Wichita State is only shooting 30.6% from 3, while Temple is at 31.8%. It is a pretty nominal difference, but we do have a Shockers squad playing just their third true road game of the season with this trip out to Philly.

In a game that could be a parade to the free throw line, it is worth noting that opponents are only shooting 58.2% at the stripe against Wichita State. There is no way that continues and it has helped their defensive metrics a bit to make them look a little better.

I’ll take the Owls in a game where they could get a more favorable whistle being at home and with a higher chance of success from the perimeter.

Pick: Temple -1.5

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