College Basketball Bets
The 2026 NCAA Tournament gets underway tonight with the First Four games in Dayton featuring UMBC vs. Howard and NC State vs. Texas. The 2016 NIT also begins tonight and there are some fascinating matchups in that, as well as some best bets that I’ll be writing up here. I’ve got a full tournament preview and some futures for the NIT as well.
Check out our NCAA Tournament Betting Hub for all of our game previews and get your hands on the 2026 March Mania Betting Guide for $19.99 or as part of your VSiN Pro subscription.
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.
UNC Wilmington Seahawks at Yale Bulldogs (-5.5, 147.5)
7 p.m. ET
One thing that you’re going to see early in the NIT is the total getting bet up. That’s going to happen in virtually every game and has in every game today, with the exception of South Alabama vs. Auburn, which is a wild handicap given that over 60% of shot attempts against the Jaguars are 3-pointers.
This total has moved up as well and continues to climb. The situation is obvious here. At least Yale is at home, but the Bulldogs lost on Sunday in devastating fashion to Penn, giving away a game that they had won with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Now they have to turn around a little over 48 hours later and play a UNC Wilmington team that they don’t want to play and probably haven’t studied at all. UNCW head coach Takayo Siddle said he watched the Yale/Penn game live and rewatched it the next morning thinking there was a chance his team would draw the Bulldogs.
Also, this will be the first weekday game for Yale since Feb. 9 when they needed overtime to beat Howard. Ivy League schools play a lot of Friday and Saturday games because of the emphasis on academics. So, it’s a weird situation all around and Yale has to try and crack a UNCW defense that enters the NIT ranked 24th in eFG% and fifth in 3P%. The Seahawks were also one of the best overall rebounding teams in the country and they got to the free throw line a lot.
UNCW won’t get outworked here. They’re not the better team, but they’re getting a 5.5-point head start and this situation for Yale is really, really brutal, so I’ll take my chances with the Seahawks.
Pick: UNC Wilmington +5.5
Wyoming Cowboys at Wichita State Shockers (-6.5, 148.5)
7 p.m. ET
Every total has moved up, but this is one that hasn’t moved up as much as others. It seems like it was just a play on principle and not one based on a strong opinion on the game. This will be a third game in four days for Wichita State, who lost to South Florida on Sunday with a chance to go to the Big Dance. That was on the heels of getting a fortunate matchup against a Tulsa team that prevailed in three overtimes the day prior.
Despite some high-scoring games late in the season, Wichita State was a much better defense than offense. They rank 27th in the nation in eFG% defense entering the tournament and 34th in 3P% and 40th in 2P%. Wyoming shot just 29.6% from 3 in road and neutral settings and they’re a team that played below the national average in adjusted tempo this season. Both Wichita State and Wyoming played at similar tempos and I’d be surprised if they stepped it up here given the situation for the Shockers, who have to be pretty emotionally drained.
The Cowboys had the highest Block% in the nation on offense in their road and neutral games, as they really had a hard time converting at the rim. Wyoming also really struggled badly with top-100 teams, going just 2-12 overall while shooting 28.5% from 3. Wichita State’s late-season surge pushed them into the top 100.
I’m just not sure we’ll see much of a spark from Wichita State and Wyoming’s awful road shooting efforts make me wonder if this game can reach the 150s.
Pick: Under 148.5
