College Basketball Bets
The calm before the college basketball storm is what Fridays are going to be more often than not. There are 14 games tonight, well 15 if you count Youngstown State playing against the Bryant & Stratton College Bobcats. I don’t, so we have 14 games, with the MAC, Big Ten, Horizon League, Mountain West, and MAAC all on the docket.
There are 149 games tomorrow, so nearly 300 teams will be in action. That’s a big reason why we only have 28, well, 29, teams on the floor here tonight. The first tip is at 6 p.m. ET and the last tip at 10 p.m. ET, so it’s a pretty condensed window as well, with nine of the games at 7 p.m. ET.
For more college basketball best bets today, check out Greg Peterson’s daily article and Tyler Shoemaker’s TSI Projections/Best Bets on weekdays.
As always, I want to give a shout-out to Bart Torvik (BartTorvik.com), Erik Haslam (Haslametrics.com), and KenPom, as they provide a lot of great data.
This season, we’ve also connected with CBBAnalytics.com to access their data and I’ll be working that into my article. Use promo code VSIN for $30 off at CBB Analytics and find your betting edge.
This article will run Monday-Saturday. Lines will be from DraftKings, as they are widely available to readers. Shop around for the best prices.
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 (DraftKings) and Circa CBB Betting Splits a look for these or any other college basketball games today have your interest.
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.
Northern Kentucky Norse at Milwaukee Panthers (-2.5, 156.5)
8 p.m. ET
Milwaukee head coach Bart Lundy deserves a lot of praise for keeping this Panthers team together. They’ve been ravaged by injuries and absences, as Seth Hubbard and another big presence from last season in John Lovelace Jr. are both out for the season. Freshman Stevie Elam is out indefinitely. Super senior Faizon Fields missed the last game and I didn’t see if he’ll be back tonight or not, but this is a team being held together with duct tape and toothpicks.
I’m not sure that’s a good thing against a Northern Kentucky team that loves to pressure. Darrin Horn’s crew has a 21.1% TO% on defense this season. While Milwaukee has done a really good job taking care of the basketball, they are a bad defensive team, so a game where they don’t take care of the basketball as well as they need to becomes quite problematic. The Panthers are 294th in eFG% defense, 291st in TO% on defense, 279th in 2P% defense, and 275th in 3P% defense.
Outside of forcing turnovers, NKU isn’t very good on defense, but they are good on offense, sitting in the top 100 in eFG% offense and 2P%. Their intention is basically to outscore teams by getting a higher volume of shots and more offensive opportunities by taking away possessions. If they’re successful tonight against Milwaukee, they’ll win this game. Even if they’re not, they’re a better team from 3, a better team at the rim, and a far superior team at the free throw line.
Pick: Northern Kentucky +2.5 (-102)
