Public plays and best bets for Saturday's college basketball games

Best bets from respected handicappers, plus where the public is betting

Photo by Ben Lambert on Unsplash

The sports betting industry is built around picks, so it’s hard to ask people to pay money for information and not give any bets along the way. You don’t want to know what I think about Saturday’s college basketball slate — trust me, I just started my March Madness prep after the Super Bowl — but I have compiled a bunch of best bets from bettors I respect below the paywall here.

I’ll keep adding to these throughout Saturday.

One interesting storyline to look out for over the next few weeks? The Minnesota Golden Gophers. I wrote about them for USA Today’s For The Win section yesterday, but they’ve been a covering machine (23-3 ATS this season) and oddsmakers can’t really figure out why.

“I honestly don’t know what is particularly special about this team,” Seamus Magee, a college basketball trader at BetMGM told me. “They’re a .500 Big Ten team, their offense is Top 40 on KenPom, but they’re not crushing teams on 3-pointers. What’s even more shocking is that they’re 23-3 ATS and one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country. That’s usually not a recipe for covering spreads.”

Another oddsmaker told me that he’s raised Minnesota’s power rating by a full seven points over the course of the season — and yet the Golden Gophers are still covering spreads at a record clip: They are 17-1 ATS at home and have covered nine straight.

Here are public plays for Saturday’s games at DraftKings and BetMGM, and plenty of bets from some terrific college basketball handicappers.

Public plays at BetMGM (among Top 25 teams)

Most bet teams (tickets)

1. Kentucky -2.5✅

2. Houston -2.5✅

3. Duke +2.5❌

Most bet teams (handle)

1. Houston -2.5✅

2. Wake Forest -2.5✅

3. Kentucky -2.5✅

Most bet Overs (tickets)

1. Houston-Baylor 135.5✅

2. Alabama-Kentucky 175.5

3. Duke-Wake Forest 151.5✅

Most bet Unders (tickets)