College Basketball Best Bets Today:
It is a busier Friday night than usual on the college basketball slate with 20 games, so 40 teams will take the floor before we get another massive Saturday slate. There are a couple of major-conference clashes in the Big Ten and Big East that highlight the night, so those will be the games that most are focused on.
It is a pretty compact night in that our first game tips at 6 p.m. ET and the last game tips pretty early at 9 p.m. ET, as none of today’s games feature teams from out west.
Tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference is here.
This article will run Monday-Saturday (not next week, see exception above). 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.
Oakland Golden Grizzlies at Fort Wayne Mastodons (-3.5, 152.5)
7 p.m. ET
Horizon League action between Oakland and Fort Wayne caught my eye for tonight, as the Mastodons look for revenge from their 76-72 loss back on Jan. 22. Both teams had 28 shot attempts at the rim in that contest, but Fort Wayne was just 13-of-28 on those attempts, while Oakland was 21-of-28.
Fort Wayne did go 10-of-15 from 3 in that one and while I don’t expect that type of performance again, I do think that they’ll fare better on their shots close to the rim. Fort Wayne was just 18-of-44 on 2-pointers in that one, a rare off night for a team that ranks 63rd in 2P% per Torvik. They’re also 32nd in 3P% at 37.4%.
In conference play, Fort Wayne is the top team by adjusted offensive efficiency and also has the best TO% margin, as they are tops in taking care of the basketball and third in TO% on defense. Oakland has had some problems taking care of the ball and they’re very likely to lose the 3-point battle in this matchup.
I like the Mastodons in this one, as they had a really awful 2-point performance the first time around and it was still a close game in the final seconds.
Pick: Fort Wayne -3.5
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