NCAA Hoops Odds and Picks
College basketball is in full swing now that college football is winding down. We have about a week of non-conference games left until conference play gets going. Non-conference games are the ones that will usually determine how many NCAA Tournament bids go to the various conferences because that is the way we can see how the conferences match up against one another.
Intertops has odds on Friday’s college basketball games:
Florida Atlantic Owls vs Indiana Hoosiers- FAU is +32.5 1.91. Indiana is -32.5 1.91. Over/under is 145. Obviously this game is going to be a blowout. The only question is will 32.5 points be enough to keep it interesting. FAU lost to North Carolina by 24 points. And we’ve seen that UNC is not that good. So Indiana can easily cover this. The question is will they? Many times late in games like these, the team that is ahead will empty its bench and stop playing defense and that can be dangerous if you bet them. But we will risk it. Take the Hoosiers -32.5 and the over.
Bowling Green Falcons at South Florida Bulls- Bowling Green is +10 1.91 or 5.10. USF is -10 1.91 or 1.18. Bowling Green hung with Michigan State at home their last time out. The Spartans beat them 64-53. Michigan State is much better than USF. But that was a home game and this game is in Tampa. USF lost to top 25 Oklahoma State by 12 recently. Both teams have played Youngstown State. USF won by 18 while BGSU lost by 9. We are going to go with USF -10.
Western Carolina Catamounts at Tennessee Volunteers- WCU is +13.5 1.91 or 7.75. Tennessee is -13.5 1.91 or 1.09. Over/under is 134.5. WCU has played two teams ranked in the top 25 in Illinois and Georgetown. They lost to Illinois by eight points 72-64 and the Hoyas by 13, 81-68. Tennessee lost to Georgetown by one point, 37-36. Both teams have also played UNC Asheville. WCU lost 71-61 while UT won 75-68. WCU has shown they can hang tough with better teams than Tennessee. We will take the Catamounts +13.5 and the under.
Stanford Cardinal at Northwestern Wildcats- Stanford is -2 1.91 or 1.74. Northwestern is +2 1.91 or 2.15. Over/under is 129. Stanford lost to #13 Missouri 78-70 and to #25 NC State 88-79. They have also lost to Minnesota 66-63 and Belmont 70-62. Northwestern has lost to Maryland 77-57, Illinois-Chicago 50-44 and Butler 74-65. They haven’t played any of the same teams. This is a pickem game. We’ll take Northwestern at home at 2.15 and the under.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Vanderbilt Commodores- MTSU is -5.5 1.91 or 1.44. Vandy is +5.5 1.91 or 2.85. Over/under is 126. MTSU has a win over Ole Miss from the SEC 65-62. They also lost to Florida from the SEC 66-45. Vandy has won three in a row including a nice win over Xavier. We are going to take Vandy +5.5 and the over.
