College Basketball Betting Guide and Picks
By: Ryan Mercier
LAS VEGAS – The CBS Sports Classic is headlined by a matchup between two top-25 teams, as No. 12 Ohio State (9-1 SU, 3-5-1 ATS) takes on No. 24 North Carolina (7-3 SU, 6-4 ATS). The Tar Heels have had a rockier start to the season than the Buckeyes, but there is no question that UNC has had the tougher schedule. Tip-off comes this Saturday at the United Center in Chicago.
The Line: North Carolina -1
Ohio State is looking good early, especially on the offensive side. As a team, the Buckeyes are third in the nation in field-goal percentage, shooting 53.7 percent from the field, and just outside of the top-10 in 3-point shooting. On defense, OSU is holding teams to a 37.8-percent clip.
The Buckeyes' one slip-up so far was on the road against Louisville, which possesses one of the best defenses in the nation, where they shot 17-for-56. UNC is easily the best squad that OSU will have faced since then, and the Tar Heels own another one of the best defenses in the country.
Against the spread, it does not look good for Ohio State, but they have had monster point spreads to cover. The smallest spread overall was when they were 9-point dogs to Louisville, where the Buckeyes got a push.
This will only be OSU's second trip this season outside of the state of Ohio, while UNC has played six games off of its home court already. North Carolina is 4-2 ATS in its last six games and covered its two shortest spreads, versus Florida and UCLA.
Trends: Ohio State is 1-8 ATS in its last nine neutral-site games....The OVER is 6-1 in North Carolina's last seven neutral-site games.
The Linemakers lean: Ohio State has been coasting against bad teams over their past four games (2-2 ATS), where their lowest spread was -18.5 against Morehead State. They lost to the one tough opponent they faced -- Louisville. The Buckeyes actually battled back in that game, and they’ve been getting more acclimated to freshman star D’Angelo Russell, who might be one of the most fun players to watch in the nation. UNC is more battle-tested against quality opponents, but we like the Buckeyes to get their signature win of the season here.
Syracuse at Villanova
The Line: Villanova -11.5
No. 7 Villanova (10-0 SU, 8-1 ATS) meets Syracuse (6-3 SU, 2-4 ATS) at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats have revenge on their minds after falling to Syracuse last year in December, though the Orange were at home and favored by 4 in that game. Similar to last season, though, Villanova was ranked No. 8 at the time.
'Nova has been a red-hot ticket to bet on, along with being undefeated on the year. The Wildcats have been favored in every game, covering spreads as high as 33.5 and as low as 2. As 20-point chalk against Bucknell, Villanova earned just a 7-point victory.
Syracuse has had three games that were not lined because of poor competition, and though they only have two covers all year, it is probably too early to write the Orange off. 'Nova does not have a bad defense, but Jim Boeheim's squad certainly has that edge. The question is if Syracuse can muster enough offense to stay within the number.
Trends: Villanova is 7-2 to the UNDER this season....Syracuse is 4-11-1 ATS in its last 16 games overall...Villanova is 21-5 ATS in its last 26 non-conference games....The underdog is 9-4 ATS in the last 13 meetings.
The Linemakers lean: Villanova has been underrated all season, and the Wildcats seem to keep getting better weekly. They’re on a roll of covering seven straight games, and they’ve won all 10 of their games outright. The Orange are still finding out who they are. They struggled to beat Louisiana Tech as 9-point favorites last week after losing to Michigan and St. John’s. Villanova is the play here.
Oklahoma vs. Washington
The Line: Oklahoma -6
Head coach Lon Kruger is back in Las Vegas, but this time as the head man for No. 15 Oklahoma (7-2 SU, 5-2 ATS). The Sooners are 5-2 to the UNDER this season, thanks to a good defense and a mediocre shooting percentage of 44.1 on offense.
No. 16 Washington (9-0 SU, 5-3 ATS) will be Oklahoma's opponent at the MGM Grand. Washington does not shoot the ball particularly well either, but is top-5 defensively in field-goal percentage at 32.8. Sticking with the UNDER theme, the Huskies are awful at the free throw line, hitting just 64.5-percent.
Both teams are 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall. For OU, all of those covers are as a favorite, and the one loss was as an underdog.
Trends: The UNDER is 6-1 in Oklahoma's last seven neutral-site games. The OVER is 11-3-1 in Washington's last 15 neutral site games.
One more lean from The Linemakers....
Utah -8 vs. UNLV, UNLV may have a winning 7-2 record, but the Rebels have covered just three games. It’s a combination of young players and bad coaching that has UNLV playing below its rating. According to our numbers, Utah is 13-points better on a neutral court. Even though the game is in Las Vegas, it’s not being played on the Rebels' home court, and there will be plenty of Utah fans at the game since the Utes football team plays in the Las Vegas Bowl earlier in the day. Utah is just an all around better team (7-2 ATS), and also better than the two Pac-12 teams that blew out the Rebels (Stanford 89-60, ASU 77-55). Utah by double-digits.
