The top two teams in the country, Houston and Alabama, are in action Wednesday, as each looks to cement its status as No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Read on for our college basketball best bets for Wednesday based on the top NCAAB odds.
It is not a matchup of top 25 teams, but arguably the most important game of the day is in the Mountain West between New Mexico and Boise State, two teams squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. Elsewhere, Kentucky is also in danger of missing the tournament and needs a big road win at Florida to bolster its resume.
Here are our college basketball best bets for Wednesday (odds via DraftKings Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, PointsBet, and WynnBet; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Check out our top college basketball picks and our best March Madness betting sites.
Wednesday's college basketball schedule and odds
(odds via DraftKings)
- Kentucky (-3.5) vs. Florida
- Iowa (-1) vs. Wisconsin
- Providence vs. Connecticut (-7.5)
- New Mexico vs. Boise State (-5.5)
Check out our best March Madness odds and Wooden Award odds.
College basketball best bets for Wednesday
- Spread: New Mexico +6 (-105 via WynnBet) vs. Boise State ???
- Moneyline Parlay: North Carolina ML vs. Notre Dame/ Virginia ML vs. Boston College (-137 via DraftKings) ????
- Total: Iowa-Wisconsin Under 139.5 (-110 via Caesars) ????
- Moneyline: Kentucky (-150 via PointsBet) vs. Florida ???
College basketball top picks
New Mexico was fading fast with four consecutive losses, the last two in the absence of second-leading scorer, guard Jaelen House (16.9 points per game). Though House scored only seven points on 3-of-10 shooting in his return in the last game against San Jose State, his return jolted a struggling offense. The Lobos took what was a coin-flip game and made it a rout early, scoring 50 first-half points and finishing with a blistering 1.43 points per possession.
New Mexico beat Boise State in an overtime classic at “The Pit” earlier this season, as the Lobos overcame 28 points from Broncos leading scorer Tyson Degenhart (14.4 points per game). Outside of Degenhart, the rest of the Broncos shot 2-for-19 from 3-point range. This is a three-star play, as we expect New Mexico to stay close on the strength of a Mountain West-leading 38.7% team 3-point shooting percentage.
WynnBet is the only sportsbook charging less in juice to back the underdogs at +6, while most others are offering +5.5.
This moneyline parlay involves the top two first-place vote-getters in the ACC preseason poll. North Carolina needs to avoid a bad loss to remain in the conversation for an NCAA tournament berth, but that's something the Tar Heels have avoided all season. North Carolina may have difficulty beating elite teams (0-8 in Quad 1 games), but the Heels are a combined 11-0 in Quad ¾ games.
With the other leg of our parlay, we're backing Virginia, who has won 10 of the previous 11 meetings against Boston College. Virginia's only loss since Jan. 7 was an excusable road loss in a rivalry game to Virginia Tech. A Boston College offense that ranks 13th in ACC play in adjusted offensive efficiency will struggle to score against one of the country's best defenses.
Iowa entered its last game against Northwestern with a 4-7 road record and was averaging 69.9 points per game away from home w ith a 41% road shooting percentage. Unfortunately, things numbers not get much better for the Hawkeyes, scoring just 60 points against the Wildcats and shooting a putrid 3-for-24 from 3-point range.
However, this is a solid four-star play because of our lack of confidence in Wisconsin's offense. The Badgers faced a Rutgers team that was missing its two best on-ball defenders, Mawot Mag and Caleb McConnell, but still mustered just 57 points and shot 33.3% from the floor. Wisconsin has not topped 65 points in its last 10 non-overtime games, and we don't expect the Badgers to do so in this game.
Kentucky slogged its way to a 72-67 home victory over Florida earlier this season despite playing with two injured point guards. Neither Cason Wallace nor Sahvir Wheeler was 100% in that game (Wheeler turned his ankle the game prior against Ole Miss), and neither played more than 27 minutes. In addition, Kentucky's win was even more impressive considering it lost the battle of the big men, as Gators center Colin Castleton outscored reigning Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe 25-4. Castleton scored 66 points in the previous three meetings with Kentucky, but the Wildcats have done an excellent job defending the rest of the Gators, as everyone outside Castleton shot 8-for-21 (38.1%) from 2-point range in the first meeting.
PointsBet is one of the only sportsbooks still offering the opening number of -150, as the Wildcats have crept as high as -159 elsewhere. Jump on the favorites now before they soar even higher.
College basketball best bets made 2/22/2023 at 6:15 a.m. ET.
Here are our best March Madness betting sites:
- FanDuel: No Sweat First Bet up to $1,000 | Read our FanDuel Review
- Caesars: Earn Up to a $1,250 Bet Credit | Read our Caes ars Review
- DraftKings: Bet $5, Get $150 in Bonus Bets | Read our DraftKings Review
- PointsBet: Earn Five Second-Chance Bets Up to $50 Each | Read our PointsBet Review
- BetMGM: Get a Bonus Bet of Up to $1,000 | Read our BetMGM Review
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