To say that it is a light college basketball card on Friday is an understatement, as we only have nine games on the board, spread across the Big East, Missouri Valley, A-10, and Ivy League. We’ve got 155 games tomorrow, so 310 of the 365 games will be in action. That’s one of the reasons why we have such a small card for today.
For those staying in on a Friday night, UConn vs. St. John’s has some serious potential, while Belmont vs. UIC is another game that looks to be one of the more interesting matchups of the evening. There are definitely some nice mid-major games tonight and opportunities to get eyes on some teams that you wouldn’t normally watch with games on FOX, ESPNU, ESPN2, and CBS Sports Network.
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.
Bradley Braves at Northern Iowa Panthers (-4.5, 133.5)
Embed from Getty Images8 p.m. ET
A good one in the Mo Valley tonight between Bradley and Northern Iowa has seen a pretty significant move towards the Over. I agree with that line move, as we saw these two teams play a 67-possession game back on Jan. 10 that resulted in 144 points. There weren’t any huge shooting outliers in the game either and the line on this one is certainly in that “foul fest” type of range as teams try to extend games late and give themselves a better chance at catching up.
Collectively, the teams were 15-of-49 from 3, so that’s not any sort of wild number. I do think that some negative regression is coming for UNI on the defensive front. They are currently second in the nation in 3P% defense at 26.7% and conference opponents are only shooting 25.8% over 12 games. On the whole, the MVC is 18th in the nation at 33.6% from 3, so it is not a great shooting conference, but I don’t know that the Panthers can keep this rate up.
The Braves were without Demarion Burch against Valpo last time out under some odd circumstances, as he only played seven minutes in the 14-point win over Drake and then missed the 72-65 win over the Crusaders. Burch has averaged 10.6 PPG, but he’s also not the most efficient shooter and just a 58% guy at the free throw line. So if he doesn’t play tonight or still has a diminished role, I’m okay with that.
On the UNI side, there’s some hope that Tristan Smith (10.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG) will return tonight. The Panthers have lost six of eight since he left the Jan. 4 game against Evansville. If he does return, he’s another scoring option for the Panthers, but he had a 24.9% Usage Rate when he got hurt, so he’s a big part of the offense. But, it could hurt with some defensive rotations as well.
Picks: Bradley +4.5; Over 133.5
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