College Basketball Bets
Lock in for one of the busier college basketball days we’ve had lately, as there are 44 conference tournament games on the card. The only conference tournament starting today is the MAC and the only other one left to get underway is the Ivy League, which starts on Saturday and only has four teams. Tip-offs go from 11 a.m. ET to 11:30 p.m. ET, so it’ll be an all-day affair for hoops heads.
Sharp Week is coming quickly for us here at VSiN and we’ll have wall-to-wall coverage of the NCAA Tournament for our subscribers and readers. Our March Mania Betting Guide (turns out March Madness is strictly protected by the copyright holders) comes out on Monday evening.
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 VSIN30 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.
Ohio Bobcats vs. Kent State Golden Flashes (-4.5, 158.5)
6:30 p.m. ET
The final game of the day in the MAC Tournament features Ohio and Kent State. This is usually a well-attended tournament with so many alums from the MAC schools, especially the Ohio ones, still in the Cleveland area, but it should be a pro Kent State crowd for sure. They should be treated to a win for the Golden Flashes and a third crack at Akron.
Ohio hasn’t beaten a decent team since early January. Their wins in 2026 are Eastern Michigan (just fired their coach), UMass (the decent win), Buffalo x2, Northern Illinois x2 (just fired their coach), Western Michigan (just fired their coach), and Ball State (just fired their coach). So, that’s not exactly an impressive set of teams. Not that Kent State has gone out and balled against good teams, since there aren’t many in the MAC, but they have beaten Bowling Green and Toledo recently, both on the road.
Only Bowling Green posted a lower adjusted offensive efficiency in conference of the tournament teams than Ohio. Toledo, UMass, and Buffalo were all worse on defense, but Kent State wasn’t. The Golden Flashes were third in eFG% defense, while Ohio was seventh. Kent State did struggle to make shots on offense, but so did Ohio, especially from 3-point land, where they were nearly -6% in 3P% differential.
Kent State should have a massive advantage on the glass in this game, especially the offensive glass. That’s a huge deal playing in a big venue like Rocket Arena, as getting back missed shots for easy putbacks may really help the cause.
The Golden Flashes won the first meeting by 15 at home and that’s even with a really poor 20-of-53 performance from the floor, including 9-of-25 on shot attempts at the rim. That seems promising.
Pick: Kent State -4.5
Florida State Seminoles vs. Duke Blue Devils (-16.5, 149.5)
7 p.m. ET
To Charlotte we go for the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, where Florida State is getting a hefty head start against Duke. The Blue Devils won the only regular season meeting 91-87, as Florida State’s 1.248 points per possession were the most that Duke allowed during the season. Not just in ACC play. The season as a whole.
After a rough 7-11 start, including 0-5 in conference play, the Seminoles finished with a winning record overall and in conference, regardless of what happens the rest of the way. They got a game under their belts yesterday with a 95-89 win over Cal and this offense has been really, really good for a while now. Since Feb. 1, Florida State is 20th in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency and 43rd in eFG%. First-year head coach Luke Loucks is doing a tremendous job.
Duke is missing Patrick Ngongba and Caleb Foster here. They could lose by 100 and still be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Cameron Boozer has played 81.6% of the available minutes. Nobody else has played more than 68.3%. This seems like a time for Jon Scheyer to play the long game and prioritize being ready for next week. While the guys who get elevated playing time in place of Ngongba and Foster are focal points for Scheyer, I’m not sure going out there and destroying Florida State is a priority.
Statistically, Duke is obviously elite, but Ngongba is a 66.4% shooter on 2s, the best shot blocker on the team, and the second-best rebounder. Foster is a 40% 3-point shooter. That’s a lot to lose and try to win by 17 or more.
Pick: Florida State +16.5
