College Basketball Betting Picks For Thursday Include Three Road Squads
And, we're back! I took a couple of weeks off from writing up my college basketball betting picks, but I've still been placing wagers on my own time… and doing pretty well. So, I thought I'd come back with a few picks for a loaded Thursday night slate.
College Basketball Betting Picks Season Recap
2024 record: 34-40-6 (46%)
College Basketball Betting Picks, February 8
Advanced data courtesy Ken Pom and Team Rankings.
Merrimack (-11) over LIU
Obviously, with a spread this large, we're talking about a major mismatch between teams. These teams met three times last season and Merrimack won all three by at least 15 points. They beat LIU on the road by 21 points as 12.5-point favorites.
Merrimack rates just inside the Top 200, according to KenPom, with a net rating of -3.2. Not great, but LIU rates as the 8th-worst team in the entire country with an abysmal rating of -21.4. They don't do anything well, but they defend particularly poorly.
(Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports)
Merrimack shouldn't have any trouble scoring at will, which is what we need when trying to cover a big spread on the road. In similar recent road spots, Merrimack beat St. Francis by 19 and Wagner by 16. Plus, Merrimack is 8-3-1 ATS this season on the road.
Southern Utah (-3) over Utah Tech
Southern Utah sits 82 spots ahead of Utah Tech in KenPom's rankings with a net rating nearly six points better. Utah Tech is, thus, getting three points for home court advantage. But, these schools sit just 50 miles apart and I can't imagine there's going to be a raucous Thursday night crowd for Utah Tech hoops.
Plus, Utah Tech is currently dealing with injuries to two of their top five scorers. Those two players (Beon Riley and David Elliott) both shoot over 42 percent from three, taking a massive chunk out of their offense.
Those players last played in an upset win over Stephen F. Austin. Since then, the team has gone 1-5. Average margin of defeat in those five losses? 17 points.
Cal Poly (+10) over Cal St. Northridge
Cal Poly is a ten-point underdog against Cal St. Northridge, like LIU is to Merrimack. But, unlike that matchup, Cal Poly is much closer to CSN in several categories.
Cal Poly stinks; don't let me fool you. But, they've gotten much better lately at keeping games close against teams that are better than they are. They only lost to UC Davis by 7, a team that rates 100 spots higher than Northridge. They already lost to Northridge at home by 10, but that came in December. Poly has played better since.
Conversely, Northridge has played much worse since the last matchup. They've had two recent bad losses, against Bakersfield and Riverside. There just aren't many teams against which CSN should be favored by 10 points.
Good luck on your college basketball betting picks on Thursday night!