The latest top 25 men’s college basketball rankings came out this morning, and while there are some of the usual blue bloods (Gonzaga at #2, Kansas at #3, Duke at #7), there are still plenty of surprises, with Baylor leading the way at #1, San Diego State at #4 and the Dayton Flyers at #6. Florida State fell to Virginia, and Villanova and Seton Hall both lost — with just three top-ten teams losing last week. That made last week relatively stable compared to this wild season. Auburn picked up a huge win over Kentucky at home on Saturday to move to #11. LSU is now #18, beating Ole Miss and Alabama to maintain their perfect record in SEC play. Penn State has won four in a row after taking down Indiana at home and Nebraska on the road. Don’t miss our top two college basketball betting picks for the week ahead.
Top College Basketball Betting Picks of the Week – February 3rd Edition
Baylor is No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for a third consecutive week. https://t.co/Xum9EHcj7G
— CBS Sports CBB (@CBSSportsCBB) February 3, 2020
Tuesday, February 4th
#22 Penn State at #16 Michigan State (8:00 pm ET, Big Ten Network)
Penn State has responded to a three-game skid by winning four in a row, taking down Ohio State and Indiana at home and Michigan and Nebraska on the road. That win over the Cornhuskers came on Saturday and marked the Nittany Lions’ first win at Nebraska since the Cornhuskers joined the conference eight seasons ago. Myles Dread put up 14 points, and Lamar Stevens and Myreon Jones each scored 13. Mike Watkins put up 11 points and a season best 17 rebounds to move into the lead for career boards by a Penn State player. The Nittany Lions have a much sterner test coming on Tuesday.
The Michigan State Spartans have split their last six games, with a disappointing result coming in their last game out, a one-point loss at Wisconsin. The Spartans’ loss was especially disappointing given that the Badgers did not have two of their key players. Cassius Winston had 23 points, and Rocket Watts had 16, but the Spartans could not get key stops when they needed them. The Spartans have been much tougher at home than they have been on the road, though.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Michigan State 74, Penn State 69
Oklahoma at Texas Tech (9:00 pm ET, ESPN2)
The Oklahoma Sooners have split their last six games, and their last contest was a win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, as they rolled by 13. Brady Manek had 17 points for the Sooners in the first eight minutes of the game and had more than half the team’s points in the first half. Oklahoma State plays a zone defense, which gave Manek space to catch and shoot, and he was on, tying a career best with seven three-balls. Alondes Williams had a dozen points, and the team shot 50 percent for the game — 56.5 percent after halftime.
Next comes a very tough road trip for the Sooners as they visit Lubbock to take on a Red Raiders team that took down Louisville earlier this season but remains unranked after some setbacks in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders have been in a skid lately, dropping three of four. They have stacked an ugly loss to a bad TCU team next to respectable losses to Kentucky at home and Kansas on the road, with a home win over West Virginia in the mix as well. Their most recent game was a three-point loss at Kansas on Saturday. Kansas started the game on a 10-0 run and built the lead up to 15, but Texas Tech kept it close the whole way, thanks in part to the 26 points that Jahmi’us Ramsey put up. The Red Raiders shot 42.6 percent from the field for the game and are a much tougher team than their 13-8 record indicates. Wins over Louisville and West Virginia (who was ranked #12 last week) make the Red Raiders’ tournament resume strong, but some inexplicable losses have them firmly on the bubble right now.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Texas Tech 77, Oklahoma 71
