College basketball best bets today

We’ve got 15 games on the Saturday card, with eight games from the NCAA Tournament and others from the other postseason tournaments, including the NIT. We also have a really quirky game in the CBI, where Chicago State takes on UC San Diego. Chicago State has not played a game since Feb. 19 against Indiana University Northwest and hasn’t played a Division I opponent since losing by 13 to Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 14.

That’s about as unique of a situational spot you will find, especially with that game and the other CBI action being played down in Daytona Beach, FL. We’ve also got a 4 p.m. CIT tip in Norfolk with the semifinals between Alabama A&M and Norfolk State. Not a bad selection for the 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.

Delaware State Hornets vs. Seattle Redhawks (-12.5, 137)

5:30 p.m. ET

The late game in the CBI features Delaware State and Seattle. The Hornets are still excited to be playing and head coach Stan Waterman seems like a really good motivator and a pretty good head coach as well. This is the first postseason appearance in over a decade for the Hornets, who topped out at six wins in a season dating back to 2018 before winning 15 games to this point. This is their first double-digit winning season since 2015.

This is a team that really fights hard on the defensive end and on the offensive glass. They’ve played a really bad schedule, but come in ranked in the top 15 in TO% on defense and top 45 in ORB%. They are also a team that found some extra belief late in the season with wins over South Carolina State and NC Central in the MEAC Tournament before losing the finale in heartbreaking fashion to Howard.

This is a long trek for Seattle out to Daytona Beach and could very well feel like more of a vacation than a chance to keep playing. This is also a team built on defense that allowed over a point per possession in four of the last five games. The Redhawks don’t take great care of the basketball and Delaware State does pressure a lot, much like some of the WAC teams that forced turnovers out of Seattle.

I don’t think the Hornets win, but I expect a max effort game between two teams that are better on the defensive end and I don’t trust Seattle to shoot well enough to win by big margin here.

Pick: Delaware State +12.5

Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (-6, 150.5)

7 p.m. ET

The Buckeyes have been playing with a renewed sense of purpose for a while now and they’ll have the chance to showcase it here against Virginia Tech. They were in a really tough spot on Tuesday against Cornell, who is a tough defensive matchup with a unique style of play. It was a quick turnaround to finding out their assignment and then taking the floor. But, they found a way to survive and scored 88 points in the process.

Newly-minted official head coach Jake Diebler spoke with the media this week about Ohio State playing with a quicker tempo and more transition, not only in this game, but in general. Ohio State site Eleven Warriors noted that the Buckeyes are averaging about six more fast-break points per game under Diebler than they did under Chris Holtmann.

I also ran the numbers on their shot share on Close Twos under Diebler and it’s up to 34.5%, which is a big upgrade from where it was prior to that. Those numbers also include a really low percentage against Purdue with 7-foot-4 Zach Edey in the middle. Take out that game and it’s nearly 37%, which is much closer to the national average.

Under Mike Young, Virginia Tech has had major issues winning on the road. In 16 road games this season, the Hokies ranked 290th in eFG% defense and ranked in the 320s in 2P% defense. They still made some shots, but not at the rate that they made them in Blacksburg. To eliminate strength of schedule bias, I looked just at ACC games. The Hokies had a 57% eFG% at home and shot 58.7% on 2s and 36.5% on 3s. They had a 53.2% eFG% on the road with a 35.4% 3P% and a 53.2% 2P% while losing eight of 10 games.

The Buckeyes are on a bit of an upswing with Diebler and I don’t see the Hokies similarly motivated. I know the optics of the Cornell win were rough for Ohio State, but that was a really tough spot. They’ve had some time to prepare here and it seems like Bruce Thornton’s sprained ankle will be fine for this one.

Pick: Ohio State -6

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