Which teams are overachieving in men’s college basketball right now? Take a look at West Virginia, which lost about half of their scoring to graduation or early departure last year. They have beaten Pitt and Wichita State as their two biggest wins of the 2019-20 campaign. SMU ran out to an 8-0 start before losing at home to Georgetown by 17 on Saturday. They play at Georgia on Friday, so we’ll see if the Mustangs can get back to their winning ways. DePaul opened 8-0 for the first time since 1986-87, and their top wins so far include Minnesota, Iowa and Boston College. Michigan has started tremendously in Juwan Howard’s first year at the helm, winning the Battle of Atlantis tournament. Stanford won seven of their first eight in their best start in eight seasons. Their only loss in that stretch came in a one-point setback against Butler in the Hall of Fame Classic, where they also beat Oklahoma. The Cardinal are holding teams to just 58.1 points per game thanks to a gritty defense. Will your wagers this week include men’s college basketball betting picks? We have a couple of primo picks for you to consider.
Top College Basketball Betting Picks of the Week – December 9th Edition
POLL ALERT: Ohio State jumps to No. 3 in men’s AP Top 25 poll behind Louisville, Kansas; No. 25 San Diego St joins rankings.
Full poll: https://t.co/xXlGQKLkGZ More college basketball coverage: https://t.co/N0HLv6oHbR pic.twitter.com/xPc0QzosQI — AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) December 9, 2019
Tuesday, December 10th
Texas Tech vs Louisville (in New York City) (7:00 pm ET, ESPN)
The Texas Tech Red Raiders came into the 2019-20 campaign with a lot of hype and then opened 5-0. However, since then they have lost to Iowa, Creighton and DePaul, the last setback coming in overtime to the Blue Demons. In that loss, freshman Terrence Shannon Jr. put up a career best 24 points, and the Red Raiders actually led by four with 2:05 remaining in overtime and by two with 1:07 left, but a pair of threes and a couple of turnovers opened the door for DePaul to take the win. Texas Tech is still missing freshman starter Jahmi’us Ramsey (hamstring), but things don’t get any easier now.
Louisville remains unbeaten at 9-0, and the critics can no longer say that the Cardinals have not played anyone tough, as they beat then-#4 Michigan, 58-43, last week. They continued their winning ways when they routed Pitt by 18 points on Friday night. Jordan Nwora had 19 points, and Malik Williams came off the bench to score 13 points and pull down 11 rebounds. The Cardinals had only shot 37 percent in that win over Michigan, but things went much better Friday, as the team was 13 for 26 in the first half, including 9 of 17 from downtown. Pitt opened the second half with a comeback in mind, but then Louisville went on a 17-4 run to put the game out of reach.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Louisville 66, Texas Tech 58
Butler at Baylor (9:00 pm ET, ESPN2)
The Butler Bulldogs have started the season on a 9-0 run, including a 76-62 win over Florida on Saturday, but they will face their toughest test of 2019-20 to this point when they head to Texas to take on their first ranked opposition — #11 Baylor. In their win over the Gators, Butler got 16 points apiece from Sean McDermott (who also added seven boards) and Aaron Thompson (who delivered seven assists). Jordan Tucker scored 13 points, and Kamar Baldwin added a dozen despite being limited to just 11 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Butler went 9 for 20 from behind the arc and shot 52 percent on the night. Butler went into the locker room up nine points at the half after a 19-5 run and then pushed the lead to 19 with 7:33 remaining int he second half.
Baylor has a 7-1 record to start 2019-20, with their lone loss coming against Washington in the second game of the season. They have already beaten two ranked teams this season, taking down Villanova and Arizona over their last three games. Their victory over Arizona came on Saturday and featured 17 points and 13 boards from Freddie Gillespie. Baylor took control of the game early, going on a 15-0 run in the first half. Given how Baylor has played against ranked opposition this year, I see the Bears taking this one at home.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Baylor 66, Butler 59
