College Basketball Best Bets Today:
There are 24 games on the college basketball betting board for Tuesday, with the start of some of the major conference tournaments. The ACC and Big 12 are the ones that get underway, but we also have the Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary’s West Coast Conference Tournament final. It is an all day affair, with a 12:30 p.m. ET start to the day and an 11:30 p.m. ET finish to the day.
Be sure to check out all of our conference tournament previews and take full advantage of this free week of VSiN Pro access. If you haven’t done so yet, head to VSiN.com/champweek and register to use all of our tools and get unfiltered access to articles.
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.
Nicholls Colonels (-1, 136.5) vs. Lamar Cardinals
9:30 p.m. ET
By virtue of two head-to-head losses during the regular season, Nicholls wound up the No. 3 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament and Lamar grabbed the No. 2 seed. As a result, the Cardinals got a bye all the way to the semifinals, whereas Nicholls had to play last night in the quarterfinals.
The Colonels narrowly outlasted Incarnate Word in overtime 74-70 to set up a third meeting with the Cardinals. While Nicholls lost both of them, I’ll trust that they have some positive regression on offense. In the two games, Nicholls had 63 shot attempts at the rim, including 37 in the first game, which they lost by four. They also took 41 3-pointers compared to 32 for Lamar.
We’ve seen a lot of teams come in on a back-to-back and play well in these conference tournaments so far. They’ve gotten a chance to see the sightlines on the floor and get out any conference tourney jitters. Also, they’re playing teams that might be a little bit rusty. Lamar hasn’t played in over a week, so that could play to Nicholls’ benefit in this game.
Nicholls was the better team on offense in conference play and Lamar was the better defensive team. But I think the Colonels have the slight edge tonight with a game under their belts and the better shot selection.
Pick: Nicholls -1
