Best bets, public plays for Saturday's huge college basketball slate
Best bets from respected handicappers, plus where the public is betting
It’s another great Saturday of college basketball, highlighted by No. 1 Houston (-8.5, 137.5) hosting No. 14 Kansas and No. 4 Tennessee (-7.5, 166.5) hosting No. 15 Kentucky, both at 4 p.m. ET. A little later in the evening (6:30 p.m. ET) we’ll see a rematch of one of the great rivalries in sports when No. 7 UNC travels to No. 9 Duke (-5.5, 150.5).
And yes, the best college basketball team at cashing tickets this season — the Minnesota Golden Gophers — are 4.5-point underdogs at Northwestern tonight (9:00 p.m. ET). The Gophers are 24-6 ATS, but have lost three of their last four against the spread.
There is certainly a lot of buzz in the sports betting world about Thursday’s Temple-UAB game and accusations of impropriety in the betting market when the line moved from UAB -2.5 to UAB -8 in a little over an hour on Thursday afternoon. I wrote more about the whole situation for USA Today.
I texted one oddsmaker on Saturday morning and he replied that these five sides that had received sharp action:
West Virginia +11
Virginia Tech -9.5
Stephen F. Austin -10.5
UNC +5.5
Oregon -3.5
Here are public plays for Saturday’s games at DraftKings and BetMGM, and over 30 best bets from some terrific college basketball handicappers.
Have a great day!
Public plays at BetMGM (among Top 25 teams)
Most bet games (tickets)
North Carolina-Duke
Kentucky-Tennessee
Iowa State-Kansas State
Most bet teams (tickets)
Kentucky +7.5
Iowa State -3.5
North Carolina +4.5
Most bet teams (handle)
Duke -4.5
Kentucky +7.5
Iowa State -3.5
Most bet Overs (tickets)
Kentucky-Tennessee 166.5
Arkansas-Alabama 173.5
North Carolina-Duke 150.5
Most bet Unders (tickets)
Creighton-Villanova 137.5
Marquette-Xavier 157.5
Most bet underdogs to win (tickets)
Kentucky +260
North Carolina +180
Kansas +280
