College Basketball Best Bets Today:

The harsh realities of a post-football world are starting to set in. Ironically, the Super Bowl actually started off a week in which the NHL will take a break for the 4 Nations Face Off and the NBA leaves for the All-Star Break. So, college basketball will get a lot of attention, and maybe baseball a little bit, too, as the college baseball season starts this week and MLB teams report to Spring Training.

For now, the focus is on college hoops and the 19 games we have on Monday.

 

***Top College Basketball Betting Resources***

*Join thousands of other sports bettors and unlock access to picks, public betting splits data, & the VSiN live video broadcast by upgrading to VSiN Pro. Grab your first month for less than $10.*

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.

Southern Jaguars (-3, 142) at Alabama State Hornets

7 p.m. ET

A little SWACtion on a Monday, as Southern hits the road to take on Alabama State. Alabama State is a team I went against last week, as Florida A&M got there as a 1.5-point underdog in a one-point loss. A one-point loss here won’t do it, so hopefully Southern, who is a perfect 10-0 in conference play, is able to take care of business and grab the victory by four or more.

Southern is second in conference play in adjusted offensive efficiency and leads the conference by a sizable margin in adjusted defensive efficiency. They’ve got a 22.5% TO% on defense and rank second in 2P% defense. They’ve held opponents to 31.1% from 3 and are shooting 37.1% themselves, so they’ve got some big advantages thus far.

Alabama State ranks eighth in adjusted defensive efficiency out of the 12 teams, but what I want to look at closely is the offensive set of numbers. The Hornets are listed as fourth in the conference in adjusted offensive efficiency, but that’s not because they make a lot of shots. They’re actually ninth in 2P% and eighth in 3P%. They just have the lowest TO% of any team by a wide margin at 13.2%.

Southern forces a lot of turnovers. Alabama State had their highest TO% of conference play at 17% when they faced Prairie View A&M, who leads the conference in TO%. While the Hornets won that game 66-63, they only had .937 points per possession.

I’d expect Southern to shoot better, win the turnover battle, and they’re also a vastly better team on the glass.

Pick: Southern -3

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR