Strap in because we have a jam-packed day of college basketball ahead of us.
Conference champions will crowned and NCAA Tournament bids will be sealed.
If you’re looking for picks for today’s action, you’ve come to the right place. I’m going to break down my three best bets for Saturday’s slate.
Let’s dive into it.
Best college basketball bets today
- Texas A&M -6 vs. Vanderbilt
- Xavier/Marquette OVER 154
- Virginia +3.5 vs. Duke
Texas A&M -6 vs. Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt did a great job getting to this point, but I think the tournament run ends today for the Commodores. Their numbers don’t jump off the page offensive or defensively. They rank 218th in effective field goal percentage and 254th in defensive efficiency.
Texas A&M should dominate them from a defensive perspective, coming in at 55th in defensive efficiency.
It’s worth noting that Vanderbilt is a three-point shooting team, coming in at 61st in three point shot rate. But, the Aggies have a great perimeter defense, ranking 69th in opponent three point field goal percentage.
Texas A&M also does a formidable job of creating extra scoring chances for themselves, ranking 31st in college basketball in extra scoring chances per game at +3.8.
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt has turnover issues which causes them to rank 201st in that stat at -0.5.
I’ll lay the points with Texas A&M in this spot.
Xavier/Marquette OVER 154
The Big East Tournament final should be a fast-paced and high scoring affair.
The two teams are two of the best shooting teams in the entire country. Heading into today’s final, they rank sixth and ninth in effective field goal percentage. In the same breath, they both rank outside the top 100 in defensive efficiency.
So, we have great offenses and bad defenses. The final ingredient for a strong OVER bet is pace of play. Thankfully, we have that going for us as well.
Xavier and Marquette rank 29th and 31st in field goal attempts per game. The more shots they get up, the higher potential for plenty of points.
Let’s sit back and root for excitement in today’s Big East Tournament final.
Virginia +3.5 vs. Duke
Virginia’s defense has been suffocating for its opponents this ACC Tournament, and I expect the same in today’s championship game.
The Cavaliers come into the game at 42nd in defensive efficiency and were able to completely shut down Duke in their overtime win against them earlier this season. In that game, Duke committed 22 turnovers, which ended u being the difference maker.
Turnovers has been a bit of a problem for them all season, as they rank 188th in turnovers per possession. That will cause them to have trouble against teams like Virginia who can force plenty of turnovers throughout the duration of the game.
I don’t know if Virginia will win this game, but even if they don’t, I can’t imagine the Blue Devils running away with it. I’ll back Virginia with the points and hope we get a close one in the ACC final.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
