Thursday College Basketball Betting Picks
Scott Morris | February 20, 2014
Pick #1: Temple +9.5
Temple is coming off a tremendous upset win over SMU by a 71-64 score and they catch Connecticut in a great sandwich spot. Many bettors out there are going to look to fade the Owls after an upset win like they had, but after an OT win over Memphis and with their own game with SMU on deck, I doubt the Huskies take a team they beat by 24 points already this year.
But the Huskies still have work to do to get off the bubble and punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament and another dominating win over the Owls won’t help them all that much. However, beating SMU and closing the season strong against other strong teams like Cincinnati and Louisville will definitely get them there and that’s where their focus has to be now.
UConn is 0-4 ATS in their last four against teams that win less than 40% of their home games like Temple has, and the Owls are the ones who have to be coming in quite confident that they can give the Huskies a good scare after their strong performance against SMU.
I believe this is too many points to give a home dog against a team in a clear sandwich situation and I think the Owls find a way to keep this within a possession or two.
Pick #2: BYU -2.5
The Cougars are out for revenge tonight after they lost by 15 against Gonzaga in the first meeting and home court advantage tonight might be the deciding factor. BYU is 12-1 SU at home this year and with a spread low like this you are basically trying to pick the winner and that’s all.
BYU can’t be happy with the fact that they’ve lost five in a row to the Bulldogs (0-4-1 ATS) and for these upperclassmen this might be the last chance they get at beating Gonzaga in their careers. The home team is 6-0-1 ATS in the last seven meetings between these two programs and the favorite in those games has an identical ATS record.
This is the first of four road games to finish the year for Gonzaga and as with a bad run to close out the regular season BYU could end up catching them for a WCC crown although these two are more likely to meet in the conference tournament for the crown. BYU cannot go into that event with six straight losses to Gonzaga and tonight’s the night were they make a statement and prove to the Bulldogs that they are capable of beating them.
