A 19-game college basketball slate is the perfect appetizer for a loaded weekend of games. Read on for our college basketball best bets for Friday based on the top NCAAB odds.
Finishing atop the Ivy League standings is not as cutthroat as it once was now that the top four teams in the league are guaranteed spots in the Ivy League tournament. However, the top six teams are separated by just two games. That means this weekend's Friday-Saturday doubleheaders will go a long way in determining who gets those coveted four spots.
Here are our college basketball best bets for Friday (odds via BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, and PointsBet; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Check out our top college basketball picks and our best March Madness betting sites.
Friday's college basket ball schedule and odds
- New Mexico vs. San Jose State (-1.5)
- Yale (-2.5) vs. Penn
- Quinnipiac vs. Siena (-3.5)
Check out our best March Madness odds and Wooden Award odds.
College basketball best bets for Friday
- Spread: Brown +6.5 (-110 via Caesars) vs. Princeton ????
- Moneyline: San Jose State vs. New Mexico (-114 via FanDuel) ???
- Total: Detroit Mercy-Oakland Under 152.5 (-110 via BetMGM) ????
- Upset: Air Force (+175 via PointsBet) vs. Wyoming ???
College basketball top picks
There are few opportunities for lookahead games in the Ivy League, with the schedule so compact and the standings as bunched as they are. However, Princeton has a massive game with Yale looming on Saturday. With each tied atop the league standings at 7-3, and the Tigers might not give Brown their full attention in this game as a result.
In a two-point home win over Princeton on Jan. 14, Brown overcame the Tigers' 12-for-26 onslaught from 3-point range (46.2%) and 55.6% shooting inside the arc by slowing the pace, as Princeton's offensive numbers were much better than the 1.04 points per possession suggests.
The Bears have the perfect recipe for staying close to the Ivy League leaders on the road. Brown has the league's second-ranked defensive efficiency, in large part because the team plays defense without fouling (Brown allows the fewest free throw attempts per field goal attempt) and should have a significant advantage behind the arc, with the conference's best 3-point shooting percentage (38.1%) facing Princeton's last-ranked perimeter defense (36.5% allowed).
This is a solid four-star play, as Brown is in the top 18 most profitable te ams against the spread this season (14-7-2 ATS).
New Mexico is in the midst of its worst stretch of the season, having lost four straight games and three by double digits.
The Lobos have been heavily impacted by point guard Jaelen House's hamstring injury, as he ranks first on the team in assists (4.6), steals (2.7), free-throw percentage (85.4%), and second in scoring (17.3). House was a game-time decision in their last game against Wyoming and, in his absence, the Lobos assisted on fewer than half of their made field goals.
We would make this a more confident four-star play if House were to ultimately be ruled out again, as San Jose State has won four consecutive home games by an average of 16.3 points.
When slowing down Detroit Mercy's offense, the singular focus has to be limiting D-I leading scorer Antoine Davis (27.7 points per game). Oakla nd did just that in a 76-67 road win over the Titans on Jan. 23, holding Davis to a season-low 14 points and 16 total shot attempts. Davis made just three shots from the floor and got to the line just six times, as the Grizzlies were willing to live with 40 combined points from forwards A.J. Oliver and Damezi Anderson.
This is a solid four-star contrarian play as Oakland is one of the most profitable Over teams at home (8-2), but its Over/Under is 8-9 in 17 conference games.
The Wyoming basketball program has been under much scrutiny over the last week, as head coach Jeff Linder dismissed former USC transfers Ethan Anderson and Max Agbonkpolo and UCLA transfer Jake Kyman from the team. While none of those players averaged more than 25 minutes per game, the moves hurt the Cowboys' depth and weakened a bench that was a strength (the Cowboys had been 13th in bench minutes).
T he decisions looked like they immediately paid off in a win at New Mexico, but having all four starters play 29+ minutes is not sustainable, especially on short rest against an Air Force team that makes opponents guard for a full 20 seconds on average per possession (353rd-longest average possession length in the country).
This is a three-star play as Air Force is the third-most profitable ATS team (16-11) in the Mountain West facing the league's third-least profitable team (Wyoming is 9-14-1 ATS), which has us liking the chances of the Falcons pulling off a road upset.
College basketball best bets made 2/17/2023 at 6:18 a.m. ET.
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