Seven new college basketball conference tournaments begin Wednesday, adding to a loaded slate of mid-week games. Read on for our college basketball best bets for Wednesday based on the top NCAAB odds.
Four of the Power Five conferences begin their tournaments Wednesday (Pac-12, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC), along with Conference USA, the Big East, and the Mountain West. In addition, two more tickets to the NCAA tournament will be punched as the Patriot League and Big Sky championships tip off later in the day.
Here are our college basketball best bets for Wednesday (odds via FanDuel, BetRivers, BetMGM, and Caesars; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Wednesday's college basketball conference tournament schedule and odds
- Texas Tech vs. West Virginia (-4.5)
- Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State (-1.5)
- Ohio State (-2) vs. Wisconsin
- Stanford vs. Utah (pick'em)
College basketball conference tournament best bets for Wednesday
- Spread: Nebraska -5.5 vs. Minnesota (-112 via BetRivers) ????
- Total: Villanova-Georgetown Under 142.5 (-110 via BetMGM) ???
- Total: Wake Forest-Syracuse Over 153.5 (-110 via Caesars) ???
- Upset: Oklahoma ML vs. Oklahoma State (+112 via FanDuel) ???
College basketball top picks
Nebraska is playing the best basketball in the Big Ten that no one is talking about, winning five of its final six games to end the regular season. That included an impressive road win at Iowa on Senior Night, marking the first time the Cornhuskers swept the regular season against the Hawkeyes since joining the Big Ten.
Nebraska also swept its two regular-season meetings against Minnesota by a combined 13 points. The Golden Gophers had no answer for Cornhuskers forward Derrick Walker in the first meeting (22 points on 9-of-17 shooting), as Nebraska took advantage of Minnesota's lack of interior defense – it allowed the highest percentage of opponents' points (58.5%) in league play from inside the arc.
When Minnesota clamped down on Walker more in the second meeting (10 points on 4-of-12 shooting), the Cornhuskers played outstanding team basketball, with six players scoring in double figures. Thus, this is a four-star play, as Minnesota is in a “pick your poison” state of how to defend Nebraska in this third meeting.
The -112 juice at BetRivers is much more affordable than the -120 at FanDuel for the same point spread and helps avoid the -6 or -6.5 found elsewhere.
For the first time since the new Big East was reconfigured in 2014, Villanova is playing on the first day of the Big East tournament, which means it will be required to win four games in four days to claim its fifth conference tournament championship in the last six iterations.
Though it is undoubtedly a task the Wildcats are capable of now that they have a healthy shooting guard Justin Moore (17-plus points in four of the last five games), Villanova is not known for its depth (ranks 215th in the country in bench minutes), which is something that could significantly hinder its championship chances this week.
To offset the lack of depth, we expect head coach Kyle Neptune to have his team playing even slower than its 339th-ranked tempo to limit possessions as much as possible. And before its latest loss to UConn, Villanova won six of seven games on the strength of a defense that allowed just 61.8 points per game in those wins.
With the Wildcats heavily favored against the Big East-worst Hoyas, we expect the Under to cash for the 14th time in the 24th game that Georgetown has been an underdog.
Wake Forest and Syracuse have the rare benefit of playing consecutive games against each other, as the two met in the regular-season finale. Though the Orange held the Demon Deacons to a season-low 63 points, having the last four days to prepare for Jim Boeheim's menacing 2-3 zone should benefit the latter.
Sight lines can often be difficult in a cavernous setting like the JMA Wireless Dome, and we expect significant shooting regression for a Wake Forest team that ranked second in ACC play in 3-point shooting percentage (36.9%) after making just 25.6% (10-of-39) 3-point attempts in its last game.
The Bedlam rivalry resumes for the third time at the Big 12 tournament, and the Cowboys are looking to make it three straight (and seven of eight) against the Sooners in this matchup.
Oklahoma State has done an outstanding job against Oklahoma leading scorer Grant Sherfield in the first two meetings, holding him to 29 points and 4-of-14 beyond the arc. However, we trust Sooners coach Porter Moses to devise ways to get his star guard more clean looks in a do-or-die tournament setting and expect Sherfield's possession percentage rating (per KenPom) to be north of 30% for just the second time since that first meeting in Stillwater.
Oklahoma is 4-1 against the spread at neutral sites this year, while Oklahoma State has failed to cover any of its three games in neutral-site environments. This has us backing the Cowboys with a three-star play to pull off the outright upset, as it is difficult to beat a team – especially your biggest rival – three times in a season.
College basketball best bets made 3/8/2023 at 6:08 a.m. ET.
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