College basketball best bets today
There are 43 games on the college basketball betting board for today, including four conference tournaments. The Atlantic Sun rolls on, while the Sun Belt, Horizon, and Patriot all get underway. Plenty of other conferences are in action, including some that are wrapping up their regular seasons.
Keep an eye on our 2024 College Basketball Conference Tournament Betting Guide with conference tourney previews added on the daily. Also, this article will keep running Monday-Saturday through the end of the regular season, so keep checking back for college basketball best bets today.
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.
Binghamton Bearcats at UMBC Retrievers (-2, 154)
7 p.m. ET
The America East Conference regular season finale for Binghamton and UMBC takes place tonight, as the Retrievers lay a short price at home. The Bearcats and Retrievers just played on Feb. 15 and UMB came away with a comfortable 89-78 victory. What really stood out to me in that game is that Binghamton was 21-of-32 on shot attempts at the rim and still got blown out.
UMBC was 12-of-24 from 3, so maybe that regresses a bit, but this is still a Retrievers crew that is shooting 35.5% from 3 and 52.8% on 2s, so they rank in the top 100 in both areas. They also have their rim protector back in Khydarius Smith, who returned from injury two games ago and had 18 points, four rebounds, and two blocks in 22 minutes last time out against NJIT.
UMBC only has one senior and he actually leads the team in dunks, so it’s not like Senior Night will be a big distraction or take away from the lineup.
Binghamton has won back-to-back games over Maine and New Hampshire, but they are missing assist leader Symir Torrence, who has averaged 7.3 assists per game. Maybe the line move here is a good sign for his availability, but they’ve been without him for five of the last seven games and have had him most of the season while playing to a .500 record.
Pick: UMBC -2
Old Dominion Monarchs vs. Texas State Bobcats (-3, 137)
8:30 p.m. ET
The nightcap of the doubleheader at the Pensacola Bay Center in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament features Old Dominion and Texas State. I genuinely don’t know if Old Dominion will rally and show up here, as it has been a brutal year for the Monarchs. They enter the tourney with a 7-24 record overall and a 3-15 record in conference play. Head coach Jeff Jones suffered a heart attack at the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii and left the team, subsequently announcing his retirement the last week of February.
In two games after the announcement, the Monarchs lost by 25 and 17. A lot of players probably have their eyes on the transfer portal and it doesn’t help that Vasean Allette was dismissed from the team after leading the way with 18.2 PPG up through Jan. 24.
I’m actually looking at the total here. I am a bit concerned about late-game fouling, but these are two poor offensive teams on the whole. ODU ranks 312th in adjusted offensive efficiency, 276th in 3P%, and 294th in 2P%, along with being 343rd in FT%. None of the numbers really look better in conference play, especially in the last 10 games without Allette. In those 10 games, they are 2-8 SU and have shot just 45.7% on 2s and 32% on 3s.
Texas State ranks 318th in 2P% and 3P%. Things got a little better from 3 in league play, but they only took a 3 on 23.5% of their shot attempts. Old Dominion’s 3P Rate against is 42.6%, while their shot share against on Close Twos is 36.7%. I think Texas State will have to take a lot of uncomfortable shots here.
This is a pace war game, where Texas State played at the slowest tempo in the Sun Belt and Old Dominion played at the fastest, but I think the Bobcats will control the pace here. I like this one Under 137 and also think Under 64.5 for the 1st Half is a good look. We have an unfamiliar shooting background in a neutral setting here and what will likely be a pretty empty gym that seats about 10,000.
Pick: Under 137
