Thursday's college basketball slate is loaded with conference tournament action, and we offer our top college basketball player props and best bets based on the best college basketball odds.
The Missouri Valley and West Coast Conferences add their names to the mix of leagues whose postseason tournaments begin Thursday, while the ASUN Conference tournament is already in the semifinals.
Elsewhere, the two ranked teams in action hail from the Pac-12, as No. 18 Washington State hosts in-state rival Washington, while No. 5 Arizona takes on a UCLA team at Pauley Pavilion, a venue where it has lost five consecutive games.
Here are our college basketball player props and best bets for Thursday (college basketball picks based on odds via our best March Madness betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Thursday's college basketball best bets
- Oumar Ballo Under 12.5 points vs. UCLA (-105 via DraftKings) ????
- KJ Simpson Over 5.5 rebounds vs. Oregon (-114 via FanDuel) ???
- Navy +4 vs. Boston University (-110 via Caesars) ????
- Purdue Fort Wayne +3.5 vs. Oakland (-110 via bet365) ???
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Thursday's college basketball schedule and odds
(Odds via Caesars)
- Jacksonville vs. Stetson | Spread: Stetson -6 | Total: 138
- North Alabama vs. Austin Peay | Spread: Austin Peay -4 | Total: 148.5
- Rutgers vs. Wisconsin | Spread: Wisconsin -9.5 | Total: 133
- Washington vs. Washington State | Spread: Washington State -7 | Total: 149.5
- Colorado vs. Oregon | Spread: Oregon -3 | T otal: 150
- Arizona vs. UCLA | Spread: Arizona -9 | Total: 147
Thursday's college basketball player props
During the last two seasons, Arizona 7-foot center Oumar Ballo has gone Over this projected total in three of the four matchups between these teams. However, the ball has not found his way often, as he has totaled six or fewer shot attempts in three of the previous five games, and he now faces a Bruins squad that plays at the Pac-12's slowest tempo and will look to minimize possessions against the more talented Wildcats.
The best way to beat a Mick Cronin defense is typically to shoot over the top, and the Bruins are playing true to that form this season. UCLA allows the second-highest percentage of opponents' points to come from beyond the arc in league play, while it allows the second-fewest percentage (45.6%) from inside the arc.
DraftKings and bet365 offer the same O/U of 12.5 points, but the Under at the latter is juiced slightly higher to -110. FanDuel offers +100 odds for Under 11.5 points, but this is better value.
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Point guards are not typically known for their rebounding prowess, but Colorado's KJ Simpson has stuffed the stat sheet all season, adding an average of 5.6 rebounds per game to his team-high 19.9 points.
Simpson tends to clean the glass at a higher rate on the road compared to at home, securing 6.1 rebounds per game on the road compared to 5.2 in home games. He has gone Over this projected total in four of the previous seven games, and in three of the games he did not, he did not grab a single offensive rebound.
However, the Ducks allow the eighth-highest offensive-rebounding rate in league play, and they rank sixth in effective field-goal percentage, so there should be plenty of misses for Simpson and the Buffaloes to clean up.
Our other best sports betting sites offer -115 odds for Under 5.5 rebounds, so we are saving a bit of money by making this wager at FanDuel.
Thursday's college basketball game picks
On paper, this looks like a quarterfinal mismatch between the No. 2 and No. 7 seeds in the Patriot League, but Navy will be a confident bunch having split the two regular-season meetings with Boston University.
There is no denying that the Terriers are a formidable group offensively, ranking as the league's most efficient offense since the calendar turned to February. However, their defense has not been reliable over that stretch, ranking third-worst in adjusted defensive efficiency, which is concerning when taking into account that BU played four games against the bottom-four teams in the league in that stretch, and just one against the top three (a 74-64 loss to Colgate).
If offense is what is needed to pull off the upset, we have faith in the Midshipmen in that regard, led by point guard Austin Benigni, who has scored in double figures in 20 consecutive games.
Benigni has also averaged nearly four assists per game during the team's five-game winning streak to end the regular season, and Navy has allowed an average of 59.8 points per game during that stretch. Thus, the Midshipmen have an excellent chance to hold BU to that average, considering the Terriers rank 314th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Navy is 7-4-1 ATS after a win this season, while BU has covered just 40% of its games as a favorite this season and is 17-22 ATS as a home favorite since 2021. BU is also just 1-2 SU in its previous three conference tournament games, and we would not put anyone off sprinkling a little on Navy's moneyline odds for a bigger payout.
However, we are happy to take the four points at our choice of our best sports betting apps, as only FanDuel has a point spread slightly lower at +3.5.
In a conference in which most teams use zone as their primary defense, perhaps no team uses it more than Oakland throughout longtime coach Greg Kampe's tenure. However, even though the Grizzlies are the No. 1 seed and were the only Horizon League team to win 15 conference games this season, their zone had leaks and can be exploited by Purdue Fort Wayne.
Oakland allows one of the highest 3-point attempt rates in the country (41.3%), which is why it ranks 46th in opponents' percentage of points coming from 3-point range (34.9%).
Few teams have had as much success against the Grizzlies' zone this season as the Mastodons, who buried 65.4% (17-of-26) 3-point attempts in an early season win against Oakland. The Grizzlies struggle with teams that move the ball well, as they allow the highest assist-to-made-field-goal rate (60.4%) in league play, and the Mastodons had 24 assists on 38 made field goals in that prior matchup.
The key to Purdue Fort Wayne staying close in this matchup will be its ability to neutralize Grizzlies big man Trey Townsend, who averages 16.6 points per game. The Mastodons held Townsend to 24 combined points in those two meetings and are one of just two teams to limit him to single-digit 2-point attempts in two regular-season matchups.
Purdue Fort Wayne gets the benefit of having an off day Wednesday compared to many of the conference tournament setups in which games are played every day.
Oakland has not even performed well with a rest advantage over its opponents, covering the spread in just three of nine such games this season, and going 0-3 ATS in conference tournament games since 2021.
This line has already come down at our best sportsbooks from an opening number of +4.5, and while it is still a play at +3.5, it would be a no-play if it continues to fall.
College basketball best bets made Thursday at 6:36 a.m. ET
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