College basketball best bets today

The Month of Madness has arrived! March comes in like a little bit of a lamb to turn a phrase, as we only have 26 games on the card for tonight, but that is more than we are used to seeing on Friday night. Some of that is because the Atlantic Sun Conference will wrap up its regular season this evening in anticipation of the conference tournament beginning on Monday. The same is true of the Sun Belt, which starts on Tuesday.

I’ll be previewing both of those conference tournaments, but first, we have business with some college basketball best bets today.

 

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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. Check out the Tracking Sheet for this season’s results and our college basketball home page for more CBB content.

Here are two college basketball best bets for today.

Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.

Old Dominion Monarchs at Georgia Southern Eagles (-5, 151.5)

7 p.m. ET

There may be a little bit of inflation in the line tonight for ODU vs. Georgia Southern, but you’re going to have that at this time of the year. The Monarchs are locked into the No. 14 seed for the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Georgia Southern’s seed line is not decided yet, but the Eagles have played well lately, knocking off Texas State and Marshall with a very solid performance against James Madison in a losing effort in between.

Senior Night isn’t much in college basketball anymore with the transfer portal, but there are a few guys that will be honored for the Eagles, so I’m sure we’ll get a good effort for them, including two-year player and leading scorer Tyren Moore.

Situationally, Georgia Southern has something to play for and ODU doesn’t. The Monarchs have had a long season as well, as head coach Jeff Jones stepped away after suffering a heart attack in Hawaii around Christmas time. He announced his retirement before ODU’s game against App State on Wednesday and they lost by 25. I assume they’ll attempt to rally on Tuesday in the Sun Belt tourney, but I wouldn’t expect much here.

Statistically, Georgia Southern is the top team by eFG% offense and 3P% in the Sun Belt. They are second in 2P%. They’re just an awful defensive team, but the Monarchs are brutal on the offensive end, ranking 14th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 12th in eFG% offense and 2P%. ODU is second in the conference in TO%, but still can’t score points.

DK has the highest number in the market at 5, so shop around here for a better number, but I’ve been using DK odds all season as our parent company and I’ll obviously continue through the end of the season.

Pick: Georgia Southern -5

Southern Miss Golden Eagles at Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (-7, 148.5)

8:30 p.m. ET

Admittedly, this might be something of a higher-variance game here. Both teams have enough wins to avoid playing in the first round of the Sun Belt tourney on Tuesday and both of them will be in action on Thursday against a TBD opponent. The winner here gets the No. 5 seed, which is a decent advantage since Arkansas State is not a particularly strong No. 4 seed.

I am looking to fade the Ragin’ Cajuns right now, so that’s why I’ll be on Southern Miss. I faded Louisiana on Wednesday against Troy and they lost by 14 points at home. This line has obviously been adjusted based on Louisiana’s recent performances, but Southern Miss is rolling with an interim head coach right now and I think Juan Cardoza has kept the team highly motivated through a lot of injuries.

Second-leading scorer Donovan Ivory is presumed to be out for the season, but Southern Miss recently got back Andre Curbelo, who has scored 24, 0, 24, and 25 points in the last four games and also benefited from the return of Victor Hart. They have incentive to stay sharp and keep figuring things out with Ivory absent.

As far as Louisiana, they’ve basically played a six-man rotation all season and appear to have run out of gas. They’ve allowed 1.264, .924, 1.155, and 1.140 points per possession during this skid and their 3-point shooting prowess has disappeared.

Also, like I mentioned in advance of Wednesday’s game, they’re experiencing some defensive 3P% regression. They still lead the nation at 28% and lead the conference at 26.9%, but opponents are shooting 41.8% from 3 against them during this four-game skid. They’re just not able to show the same defensive effort and a quick turn with one day off doesn’t seem conducive to laying a big number.

Pick: Southern Miss +7

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