College Basketball Best Bets Today:

It is a very light slate in college hoops tonight with 19 games to choose from. There are seven more Division I teams in action against lower-division foes, something that will stop shortly, as teams start to get into the meat of the non-conference schedule.

There are a couple of games with higher-profile teams tonight, but not many, as it is the type of day where bettors have to look pretty hard to find something to wager on. College basketball is very much a sharp-driven market right now, as public players don’t care much unless it’s a big game, like the Champions Classic we had on Tuesday. Respect the line moves, or at least take them under heavy consideration, as these are positions by people that the books respect in the early going.

 

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Tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference is here.

This article will run Monday-Saturday. 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.

Lindenwood Lions vs. New Orleans Privateers (-1.5, 149)

4 p.m. ET

This is a neutral-site game played on the campus of Robert Morris University. Lindenwood and New Orleans start the day and Stonehill and Robert Morris finish it.

Lindenwood is a team that I really don’t like offensively. Their shot selection is quite poor, as they took more mid-range jumpers than Close Twos last season for Kyle Gerdeman, who starts his third season off of a 9-22 campaign. Not only were they inefficient on 2-point shots at 43.2%, which ranked 357th in the nation per Torvik, but they also shot 29% from 3, which came in 346th.

New Orleans was only 10-23 themselves with similar shooting problems, but they have a new head coach in Stacy Hollowell. So far, in two games against far better competition, New Orleans has 53 Close Two shot attempts compared to 36 mid-range jumpers. The 49-year-old Hollowell was most recently an assistant at Texas Southern and spent nine years at Loyola (LA), where he was the NAIA Champion in 2022 and then became the assistant athletic director of men’s hoops at Ole Miss.

I think he’s an upgrade and the talent is definitely upgraded for the Privateers. Lindenwood is down Keenon Cole, who had the most shot attempts at the rim last season, and Isaac Ondekane, who was the team’s best rebounder.

Pick: New Orleans -1.5

LSU Tigers at Kansas State Wildcats (-8.5, 149.5)

9 p.m. ET

It is rare for me to take a position in such a big game, but there are a lot of things I like about Kansas State in this matchup against LSU in Manhattan. It will be the first road game of the season for LSU, as they beat UL Monroe and Alabama State at home. Those overmatched opponents shot 45% on 2s, which isn’t bad all things considered. But, they were 4-of-34 from 3. Matt McMahon’s team may have better coverage of the perimeter this season, but they were 149th in 3P% defense last season, so better than average, but Top 100 opponents did shoot 35.6%.

Kansas State transfer Cam Carter has a 25.6% Usage Rate this season and this is his Super Bowl against his former team, but he’s been a pretty inefficient shooter throughout his career and has had more turnovers than assists, so I think he’s addition by subtraction for the Wildcats. I feel like he’ll be out to prove something here and that’s a detriment to LSU.

Dji Bailey from Richmond was a great add, but he’s going to find more resistance going to the rim here, where he’s 9-for-9 this season. Kansas State has tremendous size with Illinois transfer Coleman Hawkins and they will get 6-foot-9 Samford transfer Achor Achor in the lineup tonight. Achor was a 61% shooter on 2s and a 44% shooter on 3s last season for the Bulldogs, plus he was a menace on the glass and on defense.

Kansas State has played New Orleans and Cleveland State, so this is a big step up in class for them as well. They’ve actually struggled to defend the 3-point line, but they were a top-35 team last season, holding opponents to 31.2%, as Jerome Tang’s team plays some aggressive defense.

I like Michigan transfer Dug McDaniel running the point with a high career assist rate and he’s a 36% 3-point shooter. I think this is a showcase of how talented Kansas State is and their interior presence will win the game and push them to the cover.

Pick: Kansas State -8.5

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