Sunday's 18-game college basketball slate packs plenty of punch, and we have you covered with our daily college basketball player props and best bets for Sunday based on the best college basketball odds.
The weekend kicked off with plenty of competitive games, especially among ranked teams. The No. 19 vs. No. 24 matchup between TCU and Iowa State was decided by one point, and six other ranked teams played games decided by four or fewer points.
Texas continued the trend of unranked home favorites beating top 25 opponents straight up, and Creighton and Seton Hall played the first triple overtime game of the season involving a ranked team.
What is in store on Sunday to close out the week?
Here are our college basketball player props and best bets for Sunday (odds via our best March Madness betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-sta r scale).
Sunday's college basketball schedule and odds
(Odds via DraftKings)
- Michigan State (-1.5) vs. Maryland
- Memphis (-3) vs. Tulane
- Rutgers vs. Illinois (-12.5)
- Wichita State vs. South Florida (-4.5)
- Florida Atlantic (-16) vs. UTSA
- Oregon vs. Utah (-6)
Sunday's college basketball best bets
- Jahmir Young (Maryland) Over 22.5 points vs. Michigan State (-115 via DraftKings, bet365) ???
- Branden Carlson (Utah) Under 7.5 rebounds vs. Oregon (-140 via DraftKings, bet365) ???
- Quinnipiac -1 vs. Iona (-110 via DraftKings) ???
- Central Connecticut -7.5 vs. LIU (-108 via DraftKings) ????
Not intended for use in MA
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Sunday's college basketball player props
Jahmir Young has practically been Maryland's entire offense the last two games, scoring 64 combined points. That lofty point total has come without him even being a real threat from the perimeter, as he's shooting 62.9% (22-of-35) from 2-point range in that span, while making just one of his last eight 3-point attempts.
Young was held to 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting in a road loss against Michigan State last year, but he still accounted for nearly 30% of the team's scoring.
Young ranks first in the Big Ten in percentage of his team's shots taken (34.6%) and second in amount of possession (33.0%), so we expect another lofty scoring output when facing a defense that ranks in the bottom half of the Big Ten in effective field goal percentage allowed.
Bettors have their choice to head to DraftKings or bet3 65 for this wager, as each has the same -115 odds for an O/U of 22.5 points.
Utah's Branden Carlson ranks tied for sixth in the Pac-12 averaging 7.1 rebounds per game. He has alternated going Over and Under this projected rebound total in every conference game this season (4-3 to the Over), which means he is due to secure seven or fewer rebounds today.
Oregon is one of the few teams in the league that can match Carlson's size with multiple frontcourt players, especially now that the 6-foot-11 N'Faly Dante has played the last two games after missing 14 consecutive games with a hamstring injury. Oregon also ranks in the top-two of the conference in 2-point and 2-point shooting percentage in league play, meaning there should be fewer misses for Carlson to clean up. And the Ducks also rank 93rd in offensive rebounding rate allowed, which lowers Carlson's ceiling from a rebounds perspective.
Once again, DraftKings and bet365 offer the same odds for this wager.
Sunday's college basketball game picks
Iona disappointingly won just one of its first four MAAC games, but is riding the momentum of back-to-back home wins against Mount St. Mary's and Canisius by an average of 14.5 points. However, until the Gaels prove they can win consistently on the road, we will back a Quinnipiac team that has won six of its last seven games, five of which were by double digits.
In a game that projects to be this close, the charity stripe could be the biggest decider, and the Bobcats have a huge edge on that front. Quinnipiac shoots 77.6% from the line as a team (17th-best in the country), while Iona ranks in the bottom 30 of all D-I teams at 64.9%.
In addition, while the Gaels force turnovers at an elite rate (22.6% ranks 11th), they are also prone to fouling, allowing the MAAC's wors t free throw rate per field goal attempt (44.1%). That plays right into Quinnipiac's strength, and we expect it to cover for the fifth time in the seventh game that it has had equal rest as its opponent.
DraftKings is the only one of our top sportsbooks offering a line of -1, as all others are a half-point higher at -1.5. And with FanDuel charging -128 to back the Bobcats on the moneyline, the best value is to lay the one point with the favorites and hope to not push with a one-point victory.
Central Connecticut is coming off a disappointing 75-73 home loss to Le Moyne, a team that was picked to finish ninth out of nine teams in the NEC preseason poll. However, the good news is that the Blue Devils have only had one day to stew about it, and they are excellent on short rest, covering both games with one day off this season and going 16-6 ATS with one day off since the start of the 2021 season.
Central Connectic ut can expect a better game out of preseason first-team All-Conference forward Kellen Amos, who shot 6-for-20 from the floor in the loss to Le Moyne. Amos averaged 14.8 points per game in the team's five-game winning streak before the latest loss, and we expect Central Connecticut to find positive regression from 3-point range, as it has made just 27.2% of its shots beyond the arc in league play. This is a four-star play, as LIU ranks seventh and eighth in adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency, respectively, in four games against NEC competition.
All of our top sportsbooks are in unison with the -7.5-point spread, but DraftKings is the only one charging less than the standard -110 juice to back the favorites.
College basketball best bets made 1/21/2024 at 12:06 a.m. ET
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