One of the most exciting college basketball games of the last week came when Kentucky visited Texas Tech in an SEC/Big 12 challenge game. The Red Raiders pushed the Wildcats to overtime, but Kentucky prevailed thanks to some clutch shooting. Baylor retained its position as the top-ranked team in the nation, as the blue bloods in the sport are still looking for some consistency. There are some teams down the standings who are starting to make some noise. SMU lost disappointing AAC games at Houston and East Carolina, but then they stormed back to beat Temple handily at home and then won at #20 Memphis on Saturday. If they can win at Cincinnati on Tuesday, they will get back some of the notice that they lost with those soft defeats. Alabama has won eight of ten, with the two setbacks coming at Florida and at Kentucky. East Tennessee State is 18-3 (7-1 SC). They have beaten LSU And UNC-Greensboro on the road, so they could get an at-large bid even if they don’t win the conference tournament. Which games should you include in your college basketball betting this week? Check out our two top picks.
Top College Basketball Betting Picks of the Week – January 13th Edition
Here is Sunday morning’s updated @CBSSports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings from @GaryParrishCBS — with some words at the top on Gonzaga. 1. Gonzaga 2. Baylor 3. San Diego State 4. Kansas 5. Florida Statehttps://t.co/evK56G4Mdm
— CBS Sports CBB (@CBSSportsCBB) January 26, 2020
Tuesday, January 28th
Florida State at Virginia (7:00 pm ET, ESPN)
Florida State has gone 10-1 in ACC play, with their last loss coming in their last non-conference game, an 80-64 shellacking at Indiana. In their last game, they held off Notre Dame, 85-84, at home in a game so controversial that Notre Dame’s head coach, Mike Brey, picked up a public reprimand and a $20,000 fine for his school with his comments about the officiating in the post-game press conference. The Seminoles went 12 for 18 from downtown, with Wyatt Wilkes coming off the bench to go 5 for 6 from behind the arc. However, they missed their last nine field goal attempts, and the Fighting Irish almost came all the way back. The Seminoles will need to finish better at Virginia.
The Cavaliers have shaken off a rough patch to win two of three, sandwiching road wins over Georgia Tech and Wake Forest around a home loss to North Carolina State. That win over Wake Forest came in overtime on Sunday, as the Cavaliers fought back from a double-digit deficit. Tomas Woldetensae led the way with a career-best 21 points, but the effort was almost wasted. The Cavaliers fouled Andrien White on a three-point attempt with 1.7 seconds left in regulation, instead of fouling in the backcourt, and he made all three shots to send the game to overtime, but the Cavaliers prevailed in the extra frame. These are the defending national champions, but they are in a rebuilding mode this year. The Seminoles have the talent to win.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Florida State 66, Virginia 58
Syracuse at Clemson (7:00 pm ET, ACC Network)
The Syracuse Orange have won five in a row, a streak that began with an impressive win at Virginia. Since then, they have beaten Boston College, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh. That win over the Panthers came on Saturday and featured 21 points from Buddy Boeheim. Marek Dolezaj put up 17 points and seven rebounds, although the Orange had to fight off a rally, as they saw a 20-point lead shrink down to just five with 3:31 left in the second half. Quincy Guerrier also hit double figures, with 10 points and eight boards.
Next comes a trip to Clemson, who has already beaten North Carolina and Duke in ACC play this season. Since those two wins, though, the Tigers have dropped two of three, losing at North Carolina State, coming home to beat Wake Forest, and then losing at Louisville. In that setback against the Cardinals, Clemson only shot 34.4 percent from the floor and lost the rebounding battle, 41-29. They did outscore Louisville by three in the second half, but the game was already out of hand before the intermission. Clemson needs to get back to those energy levels on defense and rebounding that took them to wins over the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Syracuse 56, Virginia 48
