Our college basketball player props and best bets for Thursday based on the best college basketball odds believe the college basketball chaos will continue with conference play in full swing.
We promised upsets in Wednesday's college basketball best bets, which finished 2-1, and the slate certainly delivered. No. 3 Kansas became the latest top-tier team to fall on the road, when it lost as a 7.5-point favorite at UCF. Four of the top-five teams in the sport have now lost a game in the last 48 hours.
While only a few ranked teams are in action for Thursday, we do have plenty of matchups to choose from as bettors. Will home teams continue to win at a near-60% clip, as has been the case for the last week?
To go along with our UMBC vs. Vermont prediction, here are our college basketball player props and best bets for Thursday (odds via ou r best March Madness betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Thursday's college basketball schedule and odds
(Odds via FanDuel)
- No. 24 Florida Atlantic (-7.5) vs. Tulane
- Michigan vs. Maryland (-5.5)
- UMBC vs. Vermont (-18.5)
- Michigan State vs. No. 10 Illinois (-2.5)
- UCLA vs. Utah (-8.5)
- No. 23 Gonzaga (-7.5) vs. Santa Clara
- Stanford (-4.5) vs. Oregon State
- Arizona State vs. Washington (-6.5)
Thursday's college basketball best bets
- Vladislav Goldin (FAU) Over 6.5 rebounds (-138 via FanDuel) vs. Tulane ????
- St. Thomas ML (-125 via DraftKings) vs. South Dakota State ????
- UCLA +8.5 vs. Utah (-110 via Caesars) ???
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Thursday's college basketball player props
We are limited to FanDuel's -138 price on this prop, as it's the only one of of our best sportsbooks to offer player props for Thursday's matchup between Florida Atlantic and Tulane. This would be a five-star play at -130 or better, but we are willing to pay as much as -145 juice to take the Over on Vladislav Goldin's rebounds prop.
Goldin, a 7-foot-1 center for an FAU team coming off a Final Four run, is averaging 6.9 rebounds per game so far this season. He has cleared this rebound prop in eight of his 15 games this year, which includes double-digit boards in four dif ferent contests.
There is a chance that Goldin is set for another big day on the glass, as Tulane ranks 359th in offensive rebound rate and 301st in defensive rebound rate. The Green Wave's tallest player is just 6-foot-8.
As long as FAU doesn't blow out Tulane too quickly, we like Goldin's chance of getting seven-plus rebounds.
Thursday's college basketball game picks
There is a huge Summit League showdown taking place on Thursday between the St. Thomas Tommies and South Dakota State Jackrabbits. Both teams are projected to finish 11-5 in league play, per Kenpom, so these head-to-head matchups could end up mattering quite a bit.
If home teams are going to continue to have this much success, the Tommies are in good shape. They have been given a 63% chance of victory, according to Kenpom's metrics, which is much better than the 55.56% implied proba bility on these moneyline odds.
St. Thomas, which is in its third season at this level after making the leap from Division III, has won six in a row since its five-point loss to Marquette in mid-December. The Tommies (12-5) want to slow the game down and shoot the 3-ball. That doesn't bode well for a Jackrabbits (8-8) squad that ranks 298th in the country in defensive 3-point percentage.
Have we reached rock bottom on UCLA's market value? That is the question we must ask ourselves ahead of Thursday's matchup against Utah, in which the spread touched as high as +9.5 at one point. We still like the Bruins in a buy-low spot at anything +8 or better.
Not much has went right for UCLA of late, with the team riding a three-game losing skid and dropping seven of its previous eight games. The Bruins, who entered the year ranked as high as No. 26 on Kenpom, are now 107th after a 6-9 start and 1-3 clip in league p lay.
Utah (11-4, 2-2) should ultimately prevail at home to end a two-game skid, but it's tough to imagine the Utes winning by three full possessions. The Utes have just one win over a Power Five team by nine-plus points on the year.
ShotQuality projects this game to be a toss-up in what could be a low-scoring affair. We will bet on a hungry Bruins squad to keep this within striking distance.
College basketball best bets made Thursday at 12:05 p.m. ET.
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