Daily Dunk: Best College Basketball Bets Today (Can Wisconsin Cover As Big Favorite?)
It's a short slate of games on Thursday night in the college basketball world, but that doesn't mean we can't find a few bets.
I have three plays locked in, including a bet on the Wisconsin game as the Badgers take on Jacksonville State. Spoiler alert: I think we should fade the Badgers.
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Best NCAAB Bets Today
- Jacksonville State +19.5 vs. Wisconsin
- Drake -23 vs. Grambling State
- Lamar +2 vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Jacksonville State vs. Wisconsin prediction
Wisconsin is a massive favorite in this one against Jacksonville State, and while I have no doubt the Badgers will win this game, I have plenty of doubt they'll cover this spread. A lot of their numbers haven't been extremely impressive this season, ranking 150th in effective field goal percentage and 157th in defensive efficiency.
Jacksonville State hasn't been so good offensively, but the Gamecocks have been great on defense, which I'm banking on being able to keep them in this game. They rank 52nd in defensive efficiency and 142nd in opponent effective field goal percentage.
I'll take the points with the Gamecocks.
Grambling State vs. Drake prediction
Grambling State is a horrific team, and I'll fade it any opportunity that I can. The Tigers are 333rd in effective field goal percentage and 357th in defensive efficiency. Considering there are 362 division one teams, those rankings aren't very promising.
What might be even worse, is they're 352nd in turnovers per possession, coughing up the ball on 21.9% of their possessions. This is an area Drake can take advantage of and can help them cover this massive spread. The Bulldogs do a great job of forcing turnovers, ranking 47th in opponent turnovers per possession.
Not only are they far superior offensively and defensively, but they should be able to force turnovers on a regular basis. If they do, the Bulldogs will be in a great spot to cover as favorites.
Louisiana-Monroe vs. Lamar prediction
A lot of metrics between these two teams are very similar, but much like the Grambling State vs. Drake game, turnovers could be the difference maker and is a big reason why I'm backing Lamar to get the job done and cover the two-point spread.
Louisiana-Monroe ranks 319th in turnovers per possession and now it takes on a Lamar team that's 96th in opponent turnovers per possession and 61st in opponent turnovers per game.
As a cherry on top, Lamar has been the better shooting team so far this season, ranking 192nd in effective field goal percentage compared to Louisiana-Monroe who ranks 344th.
I'll take the two points with the Cardinals.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
You can check out all of Iain's bets here!