Can’t believe it’s already week six in college basketball. Here we are again with another week of write ups, last week went a strong 3-1 if you followed the article. As always please follow @PicksbyKY on Twitter for daily updates on each spread.
Queens @ High Point 12/9 6:00pm
Sometimes you just have to ride the wave and enjoy it. High Point is coming off a “high point” of the year (dad jokes included) after going into Furman and knocking them off 85-82. Did they shoot absolutely ridiculous? Yes. After looking at the box score does it seem they should have lost? Yep. But sometimes this doesn’t matter, just go ask the Minnesota Vikings. The Panthers currently sit at 5-2 against the spread and going home to play against a much lesser Queens team.
I think this spread SHOULD be High Point -5 but because the way they are playing could be around -7. I actually wouldn’t take them above -5 as they haven’t been blowing teams out that much, even at home.
Vermont @ Colgate 12/10 11:00am
I talked on my Twitter this preseason about how I didn’t understand why Vermont was still the favorites to win the America East for multiple reasons. First off, we all knew Bryant was coming over from the AEC and was going to have an immediate impact. Second, the team Umass Lowell was bringing back was going to be a tough win all year and they currently sit at 9-1 with a huge game tonight at in state rival UMass as I type.
Last but not least, Vermont just doesn’t have the talent they’re used to. They lost the America East player of the year for 2021 and 2022 in Ryan Davis and I found it very confusing as to why they thought this team was still the best in conference preseason.
As you can tell this is more of a play against Vermont getting too much credit than it is for Colgate. That being said, Colgate is a very good team, ranked #108 in KenPom and they tend to beat up on lesser teams, especially at home.
Although I would have this line at -7.5 Colgate, I see Vermont getting too much credit and it being around -6. I would take -6 or better.
UC Irvine @ South Dakota 12/10 1:00pm
I was very high on South Dakota coming into the season with all they had coming back but so far, they’ve been pretty disappointing. Although UC Irvine is coming off of two straight losses to San Diego State and Fresno State, I think they turn it around here on Saturday.
South Dakota lives and dies by the three and UC Irvine is ranked 12th in the country in defensive three-point percentage. Not only that but their away vs home stats are pretty similar, giving up 23.1% at home and 27.2% away. I think UC Irvine’s defense and athleticism stumps this South Dakota offense that thus far has been very inconsistent.
I think anything at UC Irvine -10 or better is a good play here.
Marshall @ UNC Greensboro 12/13 2:30pm
This could change quite a bit from now until this game tips off because Marshall has a huge road test at Duquesne December 8th and then on the road again at Robert Morris on December 10th so a lot of this spread guess will depend on those outcomes. Marshall has surprised everyone getting out to a 7-1 start and although there aren’t any “huge wins,” they’re blowing everyone out. Their current average scoring margin is +16.4 which ranks 12th in the entire country.
What killed Marshall last year was three-point shooting and this year they at least average at 33.8%. They’ve got two guards in Taevion Kinsey and Andrew Taylor who are almost BOTH averaging twenty points per game. Kinsey with 20.5 points per game and Taylor with 19.4. They also added an important shooting piece this year, Kamdyn Curfman from VMI. He currently sits at 40% from deep and is a career 38% shooter from outside the arc.
As I mentioned this spread could change a lot from when I’m writing this and when the game is actually played. Where it sits now, I would put Marshall at -4. If they go beat Duquesne and Robert Morris you will probably see -6 and I would still take them at that number.
Kansas @ Missouri 12/10 4:15pm
This isn’t a game I’m betting on but as a Mizzou fan I felt obligated to put this in here. The rivalry has returned as Missouri most likely would have been a ten point or more underdog before the season. Now I see this game being around Kansas -5 and the court in Columbia will be rocking come Saturday afternoon. Just happy this game has returned and can’t wait to watch it.
Goodluck to all of your sports gambling this weekend and as always please follow @PicksbyKY on Twitter for daily bets.
