College Basketball Best Bets for Today, March 16 (Bet Towson, Iona in NIT Action)

The NCAA First Four is going on right now, but I'm looking at the NIT for some betting value.

The NIT Tournament is a mixed bag of teams, some of which are high major conference teams that narrowly missed the 'Big Dance' and the rest are mid majors who don't receive enough attention to to garner any notoriety from the Selection Committee.

I think the matchup between the two aforementioned types of teams generates some betting value for us. Let me explain why:

Odds courtesy of WynnBET Sportsbook:

Column Record:
99-99-3 for -4.6 units.

Towson (+8) vs. Wake Forest

Remember Wake Forest? The team that blew a double digit lead in the second half in an ACC Tournament loss to Boston College to get removed from the NCAA Tournament? Yeah, so all of a sudden the Demon Deacons are pumped to play in the NIT against Towson?

I don't buy it.

Sure, The Demon Deacons have ACC Player of the Year Alondes Williams, but the Tigers have a ton of experience (top 60 per KenPom) and covered twice against the two tournament teams they played on the road out of conference in San Francisco and Ohio State.

Wake likes to run, but Towson is top 100 in transition defense and plays at a bottom 50 tempo, meaning they are going to slow this game to a crawl. Further, the Tigers are top 10 in the country in offensive rebounding rate while their ACC foe is 230rd in forcing turnovers this season. The Tigers can run their methodical offense with little resistance.

With all those factors I land on Towson +8, and will be sprinkling on the moneyline as well considering these games have a ton of variance that can lead to big upset victories given the motivation factors I noted above.

PICK: Towson +8, 0.5 Units on ML (+280)

Iona (+6.5) vs. Florida

I'm going with the same idea as above. Are we sure Florida cares about the NIT? The team lost head coach Mike White to SEC foe Georgia this week after missing the NCAA Tournament and now faces Rick Pitino's Iona Gaels, one of the best mid-majors in the country.

The Gaels were the favorite to win the MAAC Tournament but were stunned by Rider, keeping them out of the NCAA Tournament. Don't sleep on Iona, though, who beat Alabama earlier this season. This team is built to win with a pair of guards in Tyson Jolly and Elijah Joiner and a big man in Nelly Junior Joseph, who can hang with UF center Colin Castleton.

Iona is top 70 in the country in offensive rebounding rate, a sore spot for the Gators defense who is bottom 20 in defensive rebounding percentage, and allow the 33rd lowest effective field goal percentage.

Pitino's club has lost one of seven games this season by double digits, 13 against Kansas on a neutral, and has covered in three of four games as an underdog this season. This spot sets up favorably for Iona, who is still playing for something as a mid major team that has played up to their competition all season.

Meanwhile, the Gators lost their coach, dropped five of their last eight games, and has little to gain by an NIT run. I'm playing this the same way: Iona with the points and sprinkle on the moneyline.

PICK: Iona +6.5, 0.5 Units ML (+240)

You can find all of Reed's bets HERE!

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