College Basketball Best Bets Today:
The first day of college basketball is in the books and what a day it was. We saw some upsets, some blowouts, some games play to expectation, and a whole lot of points. The Over was 78-37-1 to begin the season (I’ve seen this reported a variety of numbers. Mine comes from strong CBB follow @JonFendler).Â
Games tend to trend towards the Over early in the year, as teams are excited to play and every coach in the country wants to push the pace. As the season goes along, things tend to cool off a bit. Referees can also be very whistle-happy early in the season while following through on the mandates they received going into the season.
There are only eight games on the card for tonight, but six of them have seen the total bet up. Only one has seen the total bet down. Something to watch going forward.
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.
Central Arkansas Bears at BYU Cougars (-33.5, 152)
9 p.m. ET
A pair of new head coaches debut in Provo, as Kevin Young leads BYU and John Shulman guides Central Arkansas. Young has an embarrassment of riches, inheriting a great roster from Mark Pope and bolstering it with likely lottery pick Egor Demin. He also has freshman Kanon Catchings, who originally committed to Purdue, but opted to enroll at BYU instead. He is the nephew of WNBA and Tennessee star Tamika Catchings.
Demin is an 18-year-old from Russia who had 13.1 PPG for Real Madrid 2 last season. Dawson Baker is back and healthy. Keba Keita was a 61% shooter on 2s for rival Utah. There are weapons all over the floor for BYU and early reports are that the Cougars will have free reign to put up open looks when they get them.
They should get a lot of open looks against Central Arkansas. While the Bears do have a rebuilt roster and a new head coach in Shulman, opponents shot 38% from 3 against them last season and the team ranked 334th in eFG% defense. Anthony Boone is gone and the roster does look much improved, but I think they’re likely to improve more on offense.
Elias Cato was a 42% 3-point shooter in limited attempts, but also shot 47% on 2s. Glory Etim is a monster on the glass and an efficient scorer down low. His defensive presence at the rim is mitigated a little bit here against a BYU team that I expect to take a lot of jumpers. Their 27.8% shot share on Close Twos was the 11th-lowest in the nation, even though they led the country in FG% on those shots at 71.8%.
Ty Robinson was the Arkansas High School MVP in the All-Star Game last season and he should get to play right away, along with another good freshman in Layne Taylor. These guys are talented and can create shots, but I could see them struggling defensively with the brighter lights against a good opponent. Same thing for Brandon Fagbemi, the Johns Hopkins transfer, who provides some instant offense, but maybe not instant defense.
With a ton of big favorites and underdogs with a lot of transfers, this is the lone play for me today.
Pick: Central Arkansas/BYU Over 152
