The end of the football season does not mean the end of sports by any means, as the focus simply shifts to the other sports that have been going on for a while. It is a bit of a bummer that we only have two significant games in college hoops tonight, but we do have 27 games overall for the Monday slate, including the marquee matchup of Arizona vs. Kansas. We’ve been covering college hoops all along here at VSiN and will continue to do so all the way through March Madness.
Our earliest tip time today is 4 p.m. ET and our latest tip time is 10 p.m. ET, so let’s take a deep dive into the card and find what looks the best for today’s slate.
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.
Texas Southern Tigers at Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (-8.5, 149.5)
7 p.m. ET
The first and only regular season meeting between Texas Southern and Bethune Cookman is tonight as the Tigers trek out to Daytona Beach. It isn’t that far of a trip, as Texas Southern just played Florida A&M and picked up a five-point road win over the Rattlers on Saturday. The Wildcats were victorious for the seventh straight game over the weekend against Prairie View A&M.
The SWAC is not a very efficient conference on either end of the floor, but BC does lead the league in adjusted defensive efficiency and is first in eFG% defense and 2P% defense. If they took better care of the basketball, their offensive numbers would look stronger, as they are also second in eFG% offense by leading the conference in 2P% at 56.2%. They are better than +11 in 2P% differential, which is huge in a game that shouldn’t feature a lot of 3-point shots.
Texas Southern is shooting 37.9%, which is second-best in the conference, but the Tigers are seventh in 3P Rate at 35.8%. But, it should be pointed out that Johnny Jones’ club is shooting 43.8% on 3s at home in conference play, but just 32.7% on 3s on the road. They’re on the road here.
Bethune Cookman’s 19.4% TO% shouldn’t be as big of a factor here, as Texas Southern isn’t big on forcing a ton of turnovers. The Tigers are 10th in the 12-team conference in TO% on defense. In my mind, that should allow the conference’s second-best eFG% offense to be able to make shots and defend the home court advantage in this one.
Pick: Bethune Cookman -8.5
Delaware State Hornets at NC Central Eagles (-7.5, 136.5)
Embed from Getty Images8 p.m. ET
From the SWAC to the MEAC, as NC Central hosts Delaware State in a game that was rescheduled due to Winter Storm Fern a few weeks back. In other words, this was a pretty long trip for Delaware State after losing to Coppin State in Baltimore on Saturday just to head to Durham, NC to take on the Eagles.
We’ve got a huge gap in adjusted offensive efficiency between these two teams, as NC Central is tops in the conference at 103.8 points per 100 possessions, while Delaware State is at just 85.4 points per 100 possessions. While Delaware State does have the better defensive numbers between the two teams, I’m not sure that matters much here. The Eagles are tops in the conference in eFG% offense, 2P%, and 3P%, shooting nearly 10% better on 2s and 8% better on 3s than the Hornets.
The other big thing to me here is that Delaware State is the worst offensive rebounding team in the conference. NC Central is 4-2 in conference play thus far, but two of their losses are Howard and Norfolk State, who dominated on the offensive glass. When NC Central hasn’t had to deal with that shortcoming, they’ve been a lot better.
I think they’ll be in good shape today against a Delaware State team that doesn’t really seem to have any notable edges and won’t get the second chances that other teams have gotten. Also, this is a spot where NC Central should win the turnover battle and get some extra possessions that way too.
Pick: NC Central -7.5
The post College Basketball Picks for Monday, February 9 from Adam Burke appeared first on VSiN.
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