College Football Best Bets of the Week: Week 9
Walter Waddell
Check out our entire college basketball season preview!
The college basketball season is less than three weeks away, and here at FTN Fantasy we have you covered for what promises to be another thrilling year of upsets and incredible finishes. I will be taking you around the country with a betting preview of the major conferences. I recap the betting trends from last season, list projected starters, preview the season, identify a key player, and reveal how I’m backing or fading each team.
Let’s continue with the largest conference in college basketball, the Big Ten. This conference underwent massive changes, adding four new teams from the Pac-12 in Washington, USC, Oregon and UCLA. The expansion has not diluted the competitive level of the Big Ten, ranking third (same as last year) in KenPom preseason rankings.
Let’s check out our betting preview for the Penn State Nittany Lions. I give a huge shout-out to our newest contributor, Gus Kearns, for his extensive research on the Big Ten.
2024-2025 College Basketball Season Preview: Penn State Nittany Lions
Conference: Big Ten
Head Coach: Mike Rhoades (2nd season)
2023-2024 Record: 16-17 (9-11)
ATS: 17-14-2
O/U: 19-13-1
Projected Starters: G Ace Baldwin Jr.; G D’Marco Dunn; G Nick Kern Jr.; F Zach Hicks; C Kachi Nzeh
The Nittany Lions were competitive in former VCU head coach Mike Rhoades’ first season. It helps when you have an elite point guard in Ace Baldwin Jr., who played both sides of the ball alongside leading scorer Kanye Clary. The season started with promise (four straight wins) but was immediately followed by five straight losses. Penn State did find moments inside Big Ten play (wins over ranked teams Wisconsin and Illinois), relying on Rhoades’ hankering for pressure defense. Baldwin is the head of the dragon, with 2.7 SPG, but the entire team needs to improve on the interior, especially rebounding (second-worst inside Big Ten per KenPom). Besides Baldwin, Penn State returns two wing starters on the wing with solid size and length. Zach Hicks (8.4 PPG) and Nick Kern Jr. (8.7 PPG) both averaged four rebounds per game in just 25 minutes per contest. Some of the freshmen might find the floor, especially 6-foot-10 Miles Goodman and 6-foot-7 Hudson Ward from Canada. But the key will be getting immediate contributions from the transfer portal, where Rhoades brought in players from higher-profile teams that struggled to earn consistent playing time.
Key Player: D’Marco Dunn
The former UNC product has improved in each of his three seasons, and the Nittany Lions went 8-2 (one OT loss) in games where he scored double-digits. Dunn shot 37% from 3P range and increased his steal total by 150%. He’s the sneaky possibility to ascend to Cleary’s role, taking some of the two-way burden off Baldwin’s shoulders. The transfers are role players, the scoring void needs to be filled from within.
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