Best College Basketball Bets Today - Free (Wednesday 12/20)

We’re five days from Christmas, and there’s some good college basketball on the docket for Wednesday. I’d like to say that sometimes the better value on the card resides in the added games section although you really have to play that stuff early, because waking up every morning totals are going up or down several points from the open. If you like something there, you better take it when you get the chance or else the value will disappear.

All odds are per DraftKings Sportsbook.

Purdue Fort Wayne at Pittsburgh

7 p.m. ET
Pittsburgh -14

I think this is a classic case of a somewhat sleepy game with the students away on break. Pittsburgh is 8-3 on the season and playing their last nonconference game before ACC play Dec. 30. There aren’t a lot of weaknesses on this team outside of poor FT shooting. Yet, they could sleepwalk their way against a Mastodons team that is 11-1 with road wins at DePaul, Oakland and Southern Indiana. They don’t turn the ball over and are really efficient shooting it overall. Fort Wayne’s issues in this game will be their lack of size and containing someone like Federiko Federiko. I’ll take my chances with the underdog here though.

The Pick

Fort Wayne +14

Arkansas State at Belmont

7:30 p.m. ET
Belmont -4.5

The Red Wolves are getting a little more respect than they probably deserve for this one after they went into Louisville and won. Before that, they had lost their road games by 29, 6, 14, 11 and 24. This is a team that doesn’t shoot it well, doesn’t force turnovers and fouls way too much. None of that matches up well with Belmont whose offense is 21st in effective FG%. They had won six straight before Saturday’s loss at Samford. Yes, the defense is an issue, but they play better at home, and I expect some stops against this ASU offense.

The Pick

Belmont -4.5

Bethune-Cookman at Chicago State

8 p.m. ET
Chicago State -7.5

This game won’t be on many people’s radars, but I like the over in this contest. Chicago State and Bethune Cookman have essentially the same profiles that I think will help score points. The Cougars are 324th in turnover percentage on offense but force a ton of turnovers, checking in 13th on defense. They also are top 50 at getting to the free throw line on offense. The Wildcats are seventh in forcing turnovers and 286th in committing them. They are also 358th in FTA/FGA which means those Chicago State drives are going to turn into free throws. This won’t be a pretty game because neither team has an efficient offense, but I think turnovers and free throws will get us over this number.