College Basketball Best Bets Today:
We have 27 games on the college basketball card for Monday, but there are a lot of day games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We also have the CFP National Championship Game tonight, so some teams are trying to get out of the way of that if they are getting some TV coverage.
Obviously the early games are off limits with the lead time of the article, as I like to give as much lead time as possible. That does cut the card down to 15 games with 4 p.m. ET or later start times. After looking through those games, here is what I found for today.
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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.
Idaho Vandals at Montana Grizzlies (-5, 150)
9 p.m. ET
The rematch between Idaho and Montana is one of two games in the Big Sky tonight, as the Grizzlies play a third game in five days. The Big Sky schedule is quirky like that sometimes, as there will be teams that play Thursday, Saturday, and then again Monday. Montana is in that spot here. Idaho is not, as they went a week between games from January 11 to January 18 and came back refreshed with a nice 83-76 win over Eastern Washington.
Montana won the first meeting 73-71 in Moscow, and the box score reflects how close of a game it truly was. The Grizzlies were 20-of-26 on Close Twos, which is one of their best performances of the season. Idaho is typically a bit better defensively in that department and I’d expect them to make some adjustments tonight.
The Vandals did hold an edge of 11-4 in offensive rebounds in that one. They did take a few more 3s and finished below their season average, so they could upgrade a little bit tonight. Overall, though, I think there could be some tired legs for Montana here after playing a couple of road games and now playing back at home with the quick turnaround.
Despite a higher TO%, Idaho grades better in the adjusted offensive efficiency numbers because they make a lot more shots. Montana is better on 2s at 54%, about 25 spots better than Idaho at 53.1%, but the Vandals are shooting 2.7% better from 3. The Vandals actually rank 100th in eFG% offense, so this is a pretty good unit and Montana struggles to force turnovers, coming in at 15.6%, which ranks 292nd.
Pick: Idaho +5
