College basketball best bets today
It seemed rather fitting that we had 64 games yesterday with four weeks to go until the first round of the NCAA Tournament. As yet another reminder of how close the Madness of March is to arriving, there are 16 games on the docket for Friday. Of course, there are very few teams with NCAA Tournament prospects taking the floor, but nevertheless, there’s some measure of coincidence to that number.
The Ivy League, MAC, A-10, MAAC, Mountain West, and Atlantic Sun are the conferences in action and the ones I surveyed for the college basketball best bets today.
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 a look for these or any other college basketball games today have your interest. Check out the Tracking Sheet for this season’s results and our college basketball home page for more CBB content.
Here is one college basketball best bets for today.
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.
Fairfield Stags at Quinnipiac Bobcats (-3, 158.5)
9 p.m. ET
A MAAC matchup caught my eye with a late start for this one up in Hamden, Connecticut. Quinnipiac and Fairfield draw an ESPNU time slot, hence the late start, as they square off at M&T Bank Arena.
These two teams are just 31 miles apart, so this is a rivalry game and the price of tickets on the secondary market looks suggestive of a pretty amped-up crowd. The first game for this season didn’t disappoint, as Quinnipiac went south down CT-15 to beat Fairfield by a deuce. A lot of things went right for the Stags in that game, but they were still unable to secure the win.
Fairfield had a 13-7 edge on the offensive glass and was the benefactor of 16 Quinnipiac turnovers for a +6 margin. Fairfield even had four more free throw attempts and three more made free throws, but the game still fell in favor of the Bobcats.
One reason why is that there is a big difference in interior defense for these two teams, as Fairfield has allowed a 61.4% FG% and a 40.8% shot share on Close Twos, while Quinnipiac has allowed a 52.1% FG% and a 37.9% shot share.
Fairfield is shooting over 40% from 3 in conference play and 43.2% over seven road games in league action. I don’t really see a lot of sustainability to that number and the Bobcats were able to hold the Stags to 5-of-26 from 3 in the first meeting. I like Quinnipiac to have success here at home and take care of this one as a short favorite, especially with a strong 76.9% FT% in league play.
Pick: Quinnipiac -3
