College Basketball Gambling Primer Presented By PointsBet: January 11, Time To Get Hot With A Game Between Two Top-3 Teams

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YTD: 69-70-4 (I don't know what I did to deserve this cold streak, but I'm sorry gamblings gods. Let's fix this.) 

Picks

DePaul +3.5

Baylor +8

Penn State -3

Under 115.5 Syracuse/Virginia

Clemson +4.5

Louisville -3

Seton Hall -6

This DePaul team is actually good, I firmly believe that. I'm not going to overreact to the two Big East losses to Seton Hall and Providence at home. I actually love the way they matchup against St. John's with the athleticism, the fear is DePaul is a terrible defensive rebounding team. But, St. John's really struggles to make shots, ranking 302nd in effective field goal percentage. I'll take the hook here and ride DePaul. 

Pick: DePaul +3.5

By far the best game of the day as this is two of the 3 best teams in the country for me. Yes, Baylor is that good. My top-5 at the moment: Gonzaga, Baylor, Kansas, Butler, Duke for what it's worth. This is a different Baylor team than years past. By that I mean they are pretty much running strictly man-to-man and throwing that 1-1-3 zone that Scott Drew runs in as a wrinkle. They are also one of the better shooting teams that Drew has had at Baylor. Jared Butler vs Devon Dotson is going to be incredibly fun as Baylor is running that multiple guard lineup. My fear is Udoka Azubuike just feeding inside, BUT we've seen a similar matchup for Kansas before. Baylor will run a lineup that is somewhat similar to Villanova and they were able to obviously win at home against Kansas. I'll take the 8 points here. 

Pick: Baylor +8

Penn State is .... good ... at basketball. I know, I know. It's a weird thing to type out, but it's real. Yes, Wisconsin has improved since Micah Potter become eligible, but this game is at Penn State with the Nittany Lions coming off a loss. I love the spot here for them and getting it without the hook. Here's the other thing I like about Penn State here. Wisconsin wants to run you off the 3pt line, which is fine, because even though Penn State is top-100 in 3PA/FGA, they shoot like shit. They'll be able to beat Wisconsin off the ball with guys like Lamar Stevens, Myles Dread and Myreon Jones. Throw in Mike Watkins at the rim and I actually think PSU fans will show up for this, give me the Nittany Lions. 

Pick: Penn State -3

These two teams played on the first night of the season and the game was 48-34. Virginia can't shoot for shit, Syracuse runs the 2-3 zone. Virginia's defense is still great. They are coming off the loss at Boston College which they gave up a shockingly high ... 60 points. I think you see ugly, ugly hoops here. 

Pick: Under 115.5

Clemson has lost 59 times in a row in Chapel Hill. They have never won a game there. That's such a ridiculously funny stat that is going to be talked about all the time. That said, how can you back UNC right now? Roy Williams spent 3 different times this week talking about how bad this team is and how even when they bring their A-game it's not enough. They've lost back-to-back home games to Georgia Tech and Pitt, the second they blew a lead. Now you're giving me 4.5 points? I'm taking that. 

Pick: Clemson +4.5

Louisville has to figure shit out. I typically hate taking road favorites, but Louisville is just way better than 3 points vs Notre Dame. I don't know if it's Chris Mack just letting David Johnson play a bunch of minutes so come March he's ready to go, but I trust Jordan Nwora in this game. Also the fact that Louisville can throw multiple looks on John Mooney is a plus here. 

Pick: Louisville -3