How about a day where basketball starts at 11:30 a.m. ET and doesn’t end until well after midnight? That’s what we’ve got today, as 38 conference tournament games are on the schedule and eight new tournaments get underway. We’ll have games in the A-10, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, SWAC, Mountain West, Big East, Southland, MEAC, Conference USA, American, Patriot, WAC, Big West, and Big Sky. Not a bad day.

Click the links for the conference tournament previews for the ones that get underway today. These are tough days for me with the article because of the number of early games and the lead time for the article, but that’s why Peterson and Shoemaker are super valuable resources for you when college basketball games are on the 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.

McNeese Cowboys (-2.5, 134.5) at Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

Embed from Getty Images

5 p.m. ET

The Southland Conference champ will be crowned tonight as McNeese comes off of a triple-overtime game against UT Rio Grande Valley to face Stephen F. Austin. In a lot of cases during conference tourneys, we’ve seen money come in almost immediately against the teams that are coming off of an overtime game, let alone the situation we have tonight with McNeese. And yet, this line has actually grown a bit at some shops.

I’m not going against McNeese solely because of the 3OT game, though it is definitely part of the reason. These two teams played very tight games during the regular season, with SFA winning 67-60 on Feb. 2 in a game that was extremely close with five minutes left and beyond. McNeese won the first game 66-64 on Jan. 5, as both games were defensive wars.

That’s where the 3OT thing comes into play, as it takes a lot of effort to play defense in what should be a physical game. Guys get a little extra jump with the basketball, but moving and rotating without the ball becomes a little more arduous. As it is, McNeese was second to SFA in adjusted defensive efficiency during the regular season in conference play, even with a spectacular 24.5% TO%. The Lumberjacks had the best 3P% defense in the conference, holding opponents to just 29.3%. They also led the conference shooting 36.1% from deep.

It takes additional effort to shoot 3s and close out to defend them. The Lumberjacks didn’t shoot very well last night in a war against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, but they’ve got a game under their belts in this venue now and that should help, plus we saw the margin for error that their defense can create.

This game, even with McNeese’s potential fatigue, is a coin flip through and through, but the Lumberjacks have enough edges here to me to take the shot at a short price.

Pick: Stephen F. Austin +2.5

Delaware State Hornets vs. Morgan State Bears (-2.5, 143.5)

6 p.m. ET

Let’s talk about the quarterfinals in the MEAC between Delaware State and Morgan State. The Bears swept the regular season series with an 80-79 win on Jan. 17 in a game that they led by as many as 18 in the second half and then won the follow-up by 14 on Feb. 21, finishing off the game in strong fashion.

Morgan State actually played really well late in the year. From Feb. 1 through the end of the regular season, they were the third-best team in the conference overall, were second in 3P% offense and defense, and were really only held back by the lowest TO% in the conference. In a conference like this, that’s a fairly big deal, as a lot of teams don’t take care of the basketball. Delaware State among them, as they had a 21.3% TO% from Feb. 1 on.

Morgan State should be in good shape here. Delaware State is a terrible shooting team and they don’t take a lot of 3s. Morgan State will have the proper shot volume on 3s and they also were the stingiest team at allowing 3-point shots. Morgan State will also want to push the pace here, something that goes against what Delaware State wants to do.

Everything about this game just feels uncomfortable for the Hornets and both regular season games should have been blowouts. One of them was. Not sure if this one will be, but with this line, it’s not like we need it to be.

Pick: Morgan State -2.5

The post College Basketball Picks for Wednesday, March 11 from Adam Burke appeared first on VSiN.