Daily Dunk: Best College Basketball Bets for Friday, February 23rd (Target Two Home Teams in Ivy League Action)

March Madness is drawing closer, and one of the mid-major conferences takes center stage on a condensed Friday night slate.

As is custom, the Ivy Leagues plays its games on the weekend in back-to-back fashion, setting up some intriguing setups through the weekend. Last year's Sweet 16 team Princeton takes its elite offense on the road to face rival Harvard as the Crimson look to avenge a 31-point loss to the Tigers last month.

Meanwhile, Columbia continues to be the dark horse in the Ivy, can it build on its success and score a home win against Brown?

I'm eyeing the Ivy League for my two favorite bets on Friday.

College Basketball Season Long Record: 119-92-5 (+20.23U)

New FanDuel users, sign up below and get $150 in bonus bets when you win your first $5 wager.

Best College Basketball Bets Today

• Brown vs. Columbia (-3.5)
• Princeton vs. Harvard (+6.5)

Brown vs. Columbia Prediction and Pick

These two met back on February 10th, an 83-69 win for the Lions. I'm going back to the well with the home team to win by a few possessions on Friday night against a porous Brown defense.

Columbia is paced by the 10th-best three-point percentage in the country that has carried over to the Ivy League, where the team is shooting north of 39% from beyond the arc in conference play. However, what makes me bullish on the favorite on Friday was the team's ability to get inside and score.

Brown made two more threes in the first meeting, each team made about 37% of its three-point attempts, but Columbia could shoot nearly 64% from two-point range which led to the road win.

The key in this one will be Columbia's transition attack. According to ShotQuality, the Lions play in transition on about 13% of its possessions, 61st in the country. While the team isn't all that potent in the open court, 243rd in points per possession, the team gets a favorable draw against Brown, who is willing to run and terrible at stopping it. Brown is 341st in points allowed per possession, according to SQ.

Don't sleep on free throws determining this one either. Brown is the worst team in the Ivy from the chairty stripe at about 67% while Columbia is 72% on the year.

PICK: Columbia -3.5

Princeton vs. Harvard Prediction and Pick

Princeton smashed Harvard back in January to the tune of 89-58 in South Jersey, but that's a departure from the typical fashion of this rivalry.

These teams meet again in Boston on Friday night, where no game has been decided by more than two points since 2020. Yes, this isn't the best Harvard has been under Tommy Amaker, but there is some evidence to expect a better performance than the blowout loss last month.

In the first meeting, Harvard didn't have star big man Justin Ajogbor, who has been imposing defending the rim all season. According to Hoop-Explorer, the Crimson are allowing nearly nine points fewer per 100 possessions when Ajogbor is on the floor and holding teams to 50% shooting at the rim, down from 61% when he is off the floor.

Further, the team had Malik Mack available in the first meeting after the freshman missed three games due to an illness. Mack is the team's most dynamic playmaker, second in the Ivy League in assist rate.

Princeton plays incredibly slow and takes 50% of its shots from beyond the arc. If the team isn't an on from the perimeter, this can become a grind quickly, and tough for the visitors to get the margin. It's worth noting, according to SQ, that Harvard allows the 17th lowest 'open three rates.' If the Crimson can shut down the perimeter, Princeton's offense may be in for a tough go on the road Friday night.

I think we get a more spirited performance than the January blowout, and the Crimson keeps this close.

PICK: Harvard +6.5

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Track Reed's bets here!