College Basketball Best Bets Today:
Six college basketball games are on the betting board for Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean that they are all available where you live. There was controversy yesterday in the betting world when College Basketball Crown games were taken off the board and bets were voided. Gaming regulators in certain states did not approve wagering on the tournament, as there is some grey area about the amateurism of the tournament given the financial prizes for the top four finishers.
So, I’ve decided that because CBC games aren’t available to everybody, I’ll only be looking at the two NIT semifinal games for today’s article. Those games will both be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis after being played on campus sites up to this point. North Texas vs. UC Irvine and Chattanooga vs. Loyola Chicago are the games in question.
It’s a great time to sign up as a VSiN Pro subscriber, which you can become for the low cost of $9.99 for the first month. We have previews of every NCAA Tournament game coming your way as things progress.
Tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference is here.
This article will run every day with CBB games through the end of the season. 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.
Chattanooga Mocs vs. Loyola Chicago Ramblers (-2.5, 148.5)
9:30 p.m. ET
The nightcap of the NIT action in Indy features Chattanooga and Loyola Chicago. Both teams have had impressive runs to get here, especially Loyola, who went all the way out to California and beat San Jose State and San Francisco before returning home for a win over Kent State. Chattanooga has beaten Middle Tennessee, Dayton, and Bradley.
But, I’ll put an asterisk next to a couple of Chattanooga’s wins. They’re missing one of their top interior players in Frank Champion and they’ve been fortunate to get Bradley without Darius Hannah, who suffered an injury, and also beat Dayton without Posh Alexander. If the Braves had Hannah, they’d have likely won the last game, as they lost by a bucket and didn’t get to the rim nearly enough to expose the loss of Champion and the inexperience of the interior replacements.
Well, the Ramblers have Miles Rubin. A 6-foot-10 monster with 79 dunks on the season. Chattanooga, as a team, has 12. Three Ramblers have more dunks than that, though we’ll see if Kymany Houinsou can make it back for this one after reinjuring his leg a couple weeks ago.
Either way, when Chattanooga narrowly outlasted Middle Tennessee in overtime to start this run, Essam Mostafa had 30 points and 16 rebounds. I could see Rubin really doing some work on the inside and he’ll be a big focal point for head coach Drew Valentine as he directs traffic on offense.
Loyola Chicago has the better 3-point defense, which is important against a Chattanooga team that will fire from anywhere. The Mocs rank ninth in 2P% offense, but Loyola is a top-50 defense. They’ve also played a much tougher strength of schedule, which is likely a factor in this line move.
Pick: Loyola Chicago -2.5
