College Hoops Best Bets (1/9/2024)
Author: Dylan Lieck | January 9th, 2024 | 4:51 P.M. CST
We crowned a National Champion last night in Houston, Texas, as the Michigan Wolverines claimed their first college football undisputed national title since 1948. Now that the college football season is over, we can transition to one of my favorite sports to handicap: College Basketball. We’ve been off to a BLISTERING hot start here on the website, with a 17-4 record (81%). Let’s see if we can keep it going tonight as there are some great spots for some wagers on the slate. Enjoy the #1 sports handicapping in the world for college basketball.
Play #1: Iowa State +3 vs. Houston: This is a great spot for the Cyclones, coming off a loss, now back at home where it’s really tough to win. You have a Houston team coming in with that #2 ranking beside their name, which skews the view of each team. We’re backing the dog in this spot every single time. Give me the Cyclones, as I believe they pull off the home upset over the Cougs tonight.
Play #2: Georgetown +7 vs. Seton Hall: Seton Hall has been playing some great basketball. In the past few weeks they’ve upset both UCONN and Marquette, both top 10 teams in the nation. However, both those wins were at home. Now they hit the road to take on a Georgetown team who has been very underwhelming this season. It’s a classic let down spot for Seton Hall here, and although Georgetown isn’t very good, Ed Cooley is still a very good coach. We’ll back the home dog here as well. Give me Georgetown all day here. There is a chance Georgetown struggles to shoot the ball here, and this one gets away from them, but 7 points is too much to pass up against a Seton Hall team that is inconsistent offensively.
Play #3: West Virginia +2 vs. K-State: Speaking of underwhelming teams, that is exactly what West Virginia has been this season. They are 5-9 and they are taking on an 11-3 K-State team. So why is the line just 2? Because K-State’s record masks a lot of problems that the Cats have had this season. They have a couple of bad losses, and they have relied heavily on winning games at home. Now they have to go on the road to a hostile environment against a conference opponent. Fans should be back in the stands here as schools start to get students back from Winter Break. Once again we will take the home dog here.
Pick #4: Nebraska +7.5 vs. Purdue: I’m just going to continue fading Purdue on the road until they drop another one. They dropped their first true road game against Northwestern (who’s been awful since), but they’ve rebounded with back-to-back road wins (and covers). It’s just too difficult to continue to go into hostile environments in conference, against teams that are familiar playing you, and continue to cover big numbers. Nebraska looks to be at full strength, and that gym will be PACKED for the #1 team in the nation coming to town. Once again we’re backing the home dog here (see the trend). I think Nebraska has a shot to pull the outright upset. Let’s hope we see a court storming in Lincoln tonight.
Pick #5: Pittsburgh +5.5 vs. Duke: So, yeah we’re going to take another home dog tonight. And it’s another ugly one in the Pittsburgh Panthers. Look when the Panthers are bad, it’s really bad. When it’s good, it’s really good, largely because they rely so heavily on the three-ball. Pittsburgh has lost a couple of home conference games already this season (Clemson & UNC) and they really struggled to shoot the ball in both games. However, the crowd should be back at full strength tonight (which it was not in those two games). Pittsburgh last season under Jeff Capel had some big upsets at home, and I think we see one tonight over Duke. The Blue Devils have been pretty underwhelming as a whole this season, but especially on the road. They struggled to pull away against ND on the road on Saturday night. They pulled out the win, but never had a chance to cover against a ND team that’s much worse than this Pittsburgh team. Once again, we have a live dog here in the Panthers, with a shot to get a big win in ACC play.
Pick #6: Baylor -4 vs. BYU: Alas, we finally took a favorite!! But let’s not stray too far, as we are sticking with a home team in conference play. BYU has been really solid this season, and I’ve actually been unimpressed with Baylor so far this season. That said, they picked up a big road win at Oki State last week. DJ Dennis has been absolutely outstanding so far this season, and that should continue tonight, at home against a less than stellar defense for the Cougars. The Bears also are the best 3-point shooting team in the country, but they had a terrible night from beyond the arc in the win over Oki State. I think they will bounce back in front of their home crowd tonight. I would not be surprised to see north of 10 threes made (maybe 15) for the Bears. They love the three-ball and the Cougars are significantly worse defending the perimeter on the road (See Utah game). The Cougars have only seen one road game this season with a crowd similar to this one, and they struggled mightily. I think 4 is too short of a number. I make this closer to 7. Give me the Bears to win big here. I see a double digit victory here.
All Units are 1 for these plays. However, I would say my favorite play is Iowa State. I did put a little bit more on that play than the others, just because I love the Iowa State home court so much, as well as the fact that it’s just hard to win as a highly ranked team on the road in conference. Good luck to all who tail!!
