Additional Best Bet College Hoops (2/5/25)
Author: Dylan Lieck | February 5, 2025 | 6:38 P.M. CST
Sorry for the late addition, but this game doesn’t tip for another three hours. We’re going to add one play a little later like we did last night. Last night it didn’t work out too well for us lol. Hopefully we can steal a win back here on the late night ticket.
Best Bet: Washington -1 (1H) vs. Nebraska
We’re going to go to a first half best bet here. This Washington team has really struggled to play a full 40 minutes in some of the games I’ve watched this season. That largely has to do with their lack of depth, as well as the fact that their best player is Great Osobor. He plays a ton of minutes and he’s, well, big boned. And he tends to run out of gas at the end of games sometimes.
Overall, neither of these teams are great. I actually am much higher on Nebraska than others, BUT I only like backing the Huskers in HOME games. They are a completely different team away from home. Now, yes they did just have a big win at Oregon a couple nights ago, but that same Oregon team has been struggling significantly lately; they are not the same team they looked like early in the year. Additionally, Oregon has a very weak home court advantage.
Now, while Washington hasn’t been great early in games, by any means, as a whole they’ve played BETTER in the first half than in the second. We saw them actually LEAD by DOUBLE DIGITS over a top ten Purdue team at halftime a couple weeks ago. There’s been multiple other games this year where the Huskies have hung in the game in the first half or even LED at the break but found a way to LOSE the game late in the contest: both UCLA games, @ Oregon, & vs. Purdue. On the other hand, we’ve NOT seen this team come from behind much this year; if Washington gets down early (or is down at halftime) they have not shown any ability to comeback and win the game outright. Considering we’re basically sitting at a pick ‘em in the game (UW -1.5). Thus, if we are going to back UW in this spot, I’d much rather do it in the first half and only have to win the first 20 minutes. If we’re down at halftime, there’s a high probability we are going to lose the bet anyways.
I also like that this UW is coming off a big win. They had just ONE conference win all season before their last outing. They went into Minnesota and won outright on Saturday. It has zero bearing on post-season tournaments or anything of that nature, but it WILL give this group a confidence boost coming out tonight. Meanwhile, Nebraska has had some really rough starts on the road this season. It looks like they MAY have righted the ship with two straight wins. However, I’m not ready to anoint their road woes fixed with just one away victory. I like Fred Hoiberg, but his Huskers have shown no ability to consistently win on the road the last COUPLE of seasons.
Overall, I like the Huskies in this spot. I think they are going to come out with some confidence and give Nebraska (a POOR road team) all they can handle. I’m just a bit worried about having to hold on for an entire 40 minutes. Also, I tend to lose TWO ways, trailing from start to finish when I’m dead wrong, and leading the entire game and finding a way to lose in the final few minutes (like Northwestern pushing yesterday). So let’s roll with the Huskies in the FIRST HALF ONLY.
Official Pick: Washington -1 (1H)
Play Rating: 2-Star
