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Chris Meaney
The 2022-23 college basketball season is underway, and we get some fun matchups during Feast Week. Below is my favorite bet for Tuesday’s slate in Maui. Let’s have some fun.
Creighton vs. Arkansas
(Line: Arkansas -2, DraftKings Sportsbook)
The Maui Invitational is best tournament in college basketball that’s not in March, and this year’s field is absolutely stacked. We get an intriguing semifinal matchup between Creighton and Arkansas that should be intense from the start. Creighton enters this contest undefeated with high expectations after returning a solid nucleus of four all-conference-caliber players and adding coveted transfer Baylor Sheierman. Meanwhile, Arkansas, also unbeaten, has retooled their entire roster from a year ago with a group of transfers and the second-best recruiting class in the country. Early-season cohesion expectedly is much more of a priority for the Hogs with such a new roster, and we could see growing pains as competition increases here against Creighton. It also doesn’t help when the Razorbacks’ best player and No. 1 ranked freshman in the country Nick Smith continues to sit out with a knee injury. Creighton should have a few matchup advantages as well in this one and Arkansas could have some issues, especially on the offensive end.
Arkansas’ entire offense is predicated around getting to the rim and Creighton has the perfect antidote against it with 7-foot rim protector Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Hogs really struggle to shoot the three ranking 254th nationally in 3pt % and 312th in 3PA offense, while the Blue Jays grade out ninth in the country in near shot proximity percentage defense. On the other side of the ball, the Razorback defense is elite in denying the dribble drive, yet Creighton’s offense is built around elite ball movement and shooting which Arkansas has not seen yet this season. Like all Mussleman teams, he gives his players complete freedom on the offensive side of the ball, which could lead to some questionable shot selection at times. The Bluejays should be able to hide Kalkbrenner in the paint on defense and force Arkansas to hoist up threes at a low percentage. Creighton has enough playmakers and ball movement on offense to overcome the aggressive denial heavy Hog defense. Arkansas will try to out athlete them, but I think they feel the absence of Nick Smith the most they’ve had all season and Creighton out executes them to a win.
The Pick: Creighton +2
