NBA Postseason Best Bets (5/17)
Alex Christenson
It’s Valentine’s Day, so it’s time to proclaim your love for college basketball, the sport where almost anything can happen on any given night as players try for the ultimate prize of a championship. We are just over one month away from Selection Sunday, so teams need to keep winning to get their way into the tournament.
Let’s take a look at Wednesday’s card.
All odds are per DraftKings Sportsbook.
Chicago State at Eastern Kentucky
7 p.m. ET
EKU -11.5
Can I interest you in the last independent team in college basketball playing its second to last game of the season? Chicago State is 11-17 and has played some very close road games, losing by five at Duquesne and UTEP as well as losing by seven at Kansas State and by nine at Loyola Chicago. This team doesn’t do a ton well, but they get to the free throw line, force turnovers and defend the three. The Colonels have this random non-conference game coming after a tough loss at Stetson last Saturday. These are always tough for a team to get up for considering it means absolutely nothing to them. There’s a good chance that Wesley Cardet of the Cougars will be the best player on the court. Give me the road team here.
The Pick
Chicago State +11.5
Jacksonville at Kennesaw State
7 p.m. ET
Kennesaw State -5
The Owls play with one of the top five tempos in America and have one of the worst defenses in the conference. At home in A-Sun play they’ve had games with scores of 86-76, 96-95, 90-84, 78-75, 88-70 and 80-77. There are a lot of speedy teams in that mix but the 78-75 game was against slow paced FGCU. Jacksonville is one of those slower teams, but they’ve had higher scores on the road against the quicker ones losing 84-82 at Lipscomb and 82-74 at North Florida. Both of these teams foul plenty, which means we should get points with no clock running. The first meeting in Jacksonville was an 83-79, 68-possession game and I can only see something similar to that here.
The Pick
Over 152
UConn at DePaul
9 p.m. ET
UConn -24
The defending champions take a break from competitive college basketball to play at DePaul Wednesday. The Huskies host Marquette Saturday, so there’s a little worry that maybe they’ll be looking ahead, but the Blue Demons are one of the worst teams in college basketball. At home, they’ve given up 93 to Xavier, 86 to Marquette, 100 to Providence and 84 to both Villanova and Creighton. UConn’s offense has no problem traveling, putting up 89 at Georgetown, 88 at Butler and 80 at Xavier. I’m going to hope they match their home effort of 85-56 on the road.
The Pick
UConn over 83.5 points (-110)
