College Basketball Best Bets Today:

We start the week with a busier Monday than normal, as there are 27 games on the college basketball betting board. This is a really important week for paying attention to and catching up on the smaller conferences because conference tournaments start on Sunday. We’ll have you covered with previews of all 31 conference tourneys here at VSiN, but it’s still the regular season across the board for now.

We do have four major-conference games today, with Houston vs. Texas Tech as the biggest game of the night, but Michigan, North Carolina, and Kansas are all in action as well. Most of the games, though, come from the Atlantic Sun, SWAC, MEAC, and Southland.

 

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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.

Bellarmine Knights at Stetson Hatters (-1.5, 151.5)

7 p.m. ET

Regardless of what happens tonight and Wednesday, Bellarmine’s season will end with the game against Florida Gulf Coast. After starting 0-14 in conference play, the Knights are going to finish in 11th or 12th place in the Atlantic Sun Conference and fail to qualify for the postseason tournament.

Over the weekend, they played very well at home, knocking off Austin Peay 94-68 and Eastern Kentucky 80-74. This is a Knights team that hasn’t played a lick of defense most of the season, but they’ve still been able to score at a high rate, playing a ton of high-scoring games. Now that they are resigned to this season’s fate, I assume we’ll get a lot of guys playing for numbers on offense and eschewing defense even more in these last two games.

Bellarmine actually did play some defense against Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky last week, but I can’t see that carrying over to the road. Stetson is shooting worse than usual this season, yet has still made over 35% of 3-point attempts and over 51% of 2-pointers in conference play.

Stetson has already beaten West Georgia twice, so they’ll make the tournament in some fashion, whether they are the ninth or 10th seed. Bellarmine has nothing to play for. I think we could see more tempo here and the first game had 157 points with Stetson’s parade to the free throw line and Bellarmine’s shot-making.

Pick: Over 151.5

Michigan Wolverines (-1.5, 151.5) at Nebraska Cornhuskers

8 p.m. ET

Michigan heads from Ann Arbor to Lincoln to take on Nebraska in tonight’s lone Big Ten contest. This is a game where shot attempts at the rim should be at a premium. For the season, Michigan has held opponents to a 29.5% shot share on Close Twos, which ranks 10th. Nebraska, though, has held them to a 27.7% shot share, which ranks fourth. 

Michigan’s interior defense is a little bit stronger, so that could be a key here when those chances do arise. The Wolverines have held B1G opponents to 48.9% on 2s, which ranks third. Nebraska, meanwhile, is 12th in that department.

The other key difference here is the 3-point offense and defense. Michigan is 11th at 33.4% and Nebraska is 15th at 32.3%, but the Wolverines are better on defense by a wider margin, holding opponents to 32.6% from beyond the arc, while the Cornhuskers are 14th at 36.5%.

In a game where both teams likely have to take a lot of jump shots, Michigan has the edge in my estimation. Also, Nebraska isn’t overly adept at forcing turnovers, so Michigan’s issues with ball control should be mitigated a little bit here.

Pick: Michigan -1.5

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