Monday marks the first day of full postseason action in college basketball, and we offer our top college basketball player props and best bets based on the best college basketball odds.
History was made during the three conference tournament finals on Sunday, with Stetson beating Austin Peay 94-91 in the ASUN final to punch its first ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Elsewhere, Longwood completed a tremendous turnaround from losing two of its first 10 games in Big South play to earn its second automatic bid to the Big Dance in the last three seasons. And Drake is in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years after beating Indiana State in the Missouri Valley final.
Two more automatic bids will be clinched on Monday, as the Sun Belt and SoCon Championships round out a solid Monday slate of postseason college basketball action.
Here are our college bask etball player props and best bets for Monday (college basketball picks based on odds via our best March Madness betting sites; Pick confidence is based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Monday's college basketball best bets
- Trey Townsend Under 16.5 points vs. Cleveland State (-120 via bet365) ???
- Marcus Williams Over 3.5 assists vs. Gonzaga (-110 via DraftKings) ????
- Milwaukee +1.5 vs. Northern Kentucky (-110 via Caesars) ????
- Weber State -6 vs. Montana State (-110 via Caesars) ???
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Monday's college basketball schedule and odds
(Odds via Caesars)
- Arkansas State vs. James Madison | Spread: James Madison -5.5 | Total: 153.5
- East Tennessee State vs. Samford | Spread: Samford -10.5 | Total: 149.5
- Santa Clara vs. Saint Mary's | Spread: Saint Mary's -9 | To tal: 134.5
- San Francisco vs. Gonzaga | Spread: Gonzaga -8 | Total: 149
Monday's college basketball player props
Trey Townsend was named Horizon League Player of the Year after leading Oakland to the regular-season conference title. Townsend is averaging 16.3 points per game, but he's been held under this projected total in four of his previous six contests, including a six-point output against Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday. That was his second-lowest total of the season.
Cleveland State will likely take a page out of the Mastodons' defensive playbook after they limited Townsend to eight shot attempts while also forcing him into four turnovers (his second consecutive game with that many).
Townsend scored 13 and 18 points over the two regular-season meetings against the Vikings. But Cleveland State was successful in attacking him defensively in the second ma tchup, racking up four fouls against Townsend. We expect Cleveland State to combat Townsend through a heavy dose of Dylan Arnett defensively, the league's leading shot blocker with a blocked shot percentage of 7.1% in league play.
DraftKings charges slightly higher -125 juice for this wager, so we're heading to bet365 for the best value.
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San Francisco point guard Marcus Williams totaled nine assists in the two regular-season meetings with Gonzaga during 2023-24, and he's finished with four-plus assists in four consecutive games and five of the previous six.
San Francisco owned the highest points per possession rate at the rim in the country entering the Jan. 25 meeting, according to Synergy. It covered the 8.5-point spread during a 77-72 loss largely because the Bulldogs struggled with the Dons' cutting and off-ball movement.
Gonzaga did lower San Francisco's offensive output from 1.01 points per possession in the first meeting to 0.92 during the rematch. HOwever, Williams ranks 10th in the WCC in possession rate and sixth in assist rate (23.4%), and he figures to be involved plenty in the Dons' scoring during a game with a high projected total of 149.5 points.
bet365 is asking for a little more juice at -115 to back Williams' Over, so DraftKings is our preferred shop.
Monday's college basketball game picks
Milwaukee enters this matchup on a five-game winning streak, with two of the victories coming against its biggest rival, the No. 3 seeded Green Bay.
Some will argue the Panthers are lucky to be in the semifinals, as they played Green Bay in the third meeting with Noah Reynolds, the best play on the Phoenix, still dealing with an ankle sprain. However, the point guard didn't look hobbled after sitting out five games while exploding for 27 points on 11-of-20 shooting. Thus, the Panthers earned every bit of their spot in the semifinals, and they're a great bet to keep busting the Horizon League bracket.
Northern Kentucky is a worthy favorite as the defending champions of the league, but Milwaukee has done well to overcome its deficiencies, namely a defense that ranks 317th in adjusted defensive efficiency and 330th in offensive rebounding percentage allowed. The Panthers rank 62nd in effective field-goal percentage and 24th in free-throw rate during their five-game winning streak, according to Bart Torvik. Additionally, their seventh-ranked tempo in that span has been difficult for opponents to handle, and the Panthers have attacked the rim with reckless abandon, paying their aggressiveness off with the 13th-best 2-point shooting percentage (59.8%).
Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky split the two regular-season meetings, and a Norse squad that's won 20-plus games in back-to-back seasons entering this campaign won't intimidate the Panthers. They covered two of their last three conference tournament games, while Northern Kentucky is just 2-4 against the spread in neutral-site matchups since 2022. The Horizon League has always been unpredictable during the confe rence tournament, and Milwaukee gets a good chance to add to that chaos while covering at the very least.
Wager on the spread as long as you're getting more than one point with the underdogs. Otherwise, take Milwaukee on the moneyline, but only if plus-money odds are still available.
These two teams meet for the second time in a week after Montana State beat Weber State 76-64 in a raucous Senior Night atmosphere in Bozeman, and the game nationally televised on ESPNU.
There was a lot for Montana State to play for in that matchup with its conference tournament seeding in flux. Meanwhile, Weber State was resigned to the No. 4 seed, and likely kept some of its game plan close to the vest knowing a potential rubber match with the Bobcats was looming.
Weber State opened up a nine-point halftime lead before outscoring the Bobcats by 13 in the second half for an easy 22-point victory. The W ildcats were dominant on the backboards while outrebounding Montana State 42-26 and assisting on 16 of 28 field goals.
Montana State recorded assists on 22 of its 29 made field goals in that contest, but Weber State is due for positive regression, as its defense was the league's best in adjusted defensive efficiency and defensive rebounding rate. This is only a three-star play, as the Wildcats have covered just nine of their 12 games on extended rest this season (four-plus days off), but are 3-1 ATS in their last four conference tournament outings since 2021.
Caesars is alone among our best sports betting sites while offering a spread of -6 at the standard -110 juice, while most other competitors are already at -6.5. We would play this number up to -6.5, but pass if it gets to -7 or higher.
College basketball best bets made 3/11/2024 at 6:36 a.m. ET
Here are our be st March Madness betting sites:
- Caesars Promo Code: SBRBONUS1000 | Read our Caesars Review
- BetMGM Bonus Code: SBRBONUS | Read our BetMGM Review
- bet365 Bonus Code: SBRBONUS | Read our bet365 Review
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- FanDuel Promo Code | Read our FanDuel Review
- DraftKings Promo Code | Read our DraftKings Review
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