College Basketball Betting Picks For Wednesday Include An ACC Favorite & A Big Ten Road Underdog

We had a nice bounce-back with our college basketball betting picks on Tuesday night. It could have been better though...

College Basketball Betting Picks Recap, January 23 (3-2)

Georgetown (+3.5) over Butler ❌

Ball State (-1.5) over Buffalo ✅

San Diego (+3.5) over Portland ✅

Boise State (-5.5) over Fresno State ❌

Air Force (+12) over UNLV ✅

Georgetown was a bad miss and has moved to my no-fly list after a no-show against Butler. But, Ball State and Air Force absolutely dominated and that was great. San Diego won outright as a road underdog, so that was a nice hit, too.

However, we were cruising to a 4-1 when night when Boise State decided to blow a 16-point lead with 10 minutes left in the game. They won, but failed to cover. Such is the life betting college basketball.

2024 record: 31-36-5 (46%)

College Basketball Betting Picks, January 24

Advanced data courtesy Ken Pom and Team Rankings.

Virginia (-6) over NC State

As usual, Virginia boasts one of the best defenses in the country. They rank 16th in all of Division-1 in defensive net efficiency and only allow opponents to shoot 46.3% from the field (effectively).

Actually, NC State and Virginia are similar teams offensively. They shoot around the same percent and turn the ball over infrequently. However, the Cavaliers massive defensive advantage should be the difference in this one.

The Wolfpack has played four road games this season, winning three. However, those three wins all came against teams ranked outside the Top 100 and the average margin of victory was just 5 points. In their only loss, they played an Ole Miss team rates nearly the same as Virginia -- and they dropped that game by 20 points.

Virginia is yet to lose at home this season, posting a 10-0 record. Three of those games came against teams rated inside the Top 85 and every one of them ended with the Cavaliers winning by at least 8 points.

Virginia is on my college basketball betting card for Wednesday night. (Photo: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)

Maryland (+5.5) over Iowa

Sticking with the theme, Maryland plays very strong defense, rating just one spot behind Virginia. Iowa is a strong offensive team and that's where they make their money. But, the Terrapins provide an incredible challenge.

In addition, Maryland's 2-4 record over their past six games is a bit misleading. The Terrapins played six Top 85 opponents and beat two of them -- including Illinois on the road. Outside of a blowout loss to Purdue (who also blew out Iowa), Maryland didn't lose any of the other three games by more than three points -- two of them on the road.

Clearly, Maryland manages to hang in against tough Big Ten opponents. They're coming off a heart-breaking loss to a very good Michigan State team and should be hungry to get a win here. Plus, Iowa is just 2-7 against Top 75 opponents this season.

Gardner-Webb (+4.5) over Longwood

Gardner-Webb is currently riding a three-game win streak, including wins over Winthrop and Radford -- two teams that defeated Longwood. Longwood started the season strong (12-1) before losing six of the next eight games.

This is a case of Gardner-Webb playing much better basketball of late than their opponents in this one. Despite Longwood boasting a much better overall record, GW is actually the superior team against-the-spread (10-7 vs. 9-9).

In fact, Longwood hasn't covered against anyone since January 6 and they're 2-6 ATS since a 7-3 start. Gardner-Webb, though, has covered three of their past four and they're 7-4 ATS as underdogs this season.

Southern Miss (-3.5) over Coastal Carolina

Coastal Carolina is too poor a team to be getting fewer than 6 points in this game. The Chanticleers rate outside the Top 300 in Division-I, and they're particularly bad on defense. Southern Miss does a good job creating turnovers on defense and preventing them on offense.

However, that does mean that Southern Miss can get into foul trouble. Fortunately, CC shoots just 63% from the free-throw line. Additionally, they aren't strong from three either (31%). USM holds important advantages in both categories.

Villanova (+3.5) over St. John's

Villanova rates better than St. John's according to both Ken Pom and Team Rankings are really only underdogs here because of the homecourt advantage for the Johnnies. That's not bothering me too much, though. The only team that beat Nova at home by more than four points is Marquette, a much better than than SJU.

Villanova also boasts a massive rest advantage here, having not played since January 15. St. John's is coming off a heart-breaking loss, at home, against Marquette. I expect this to be a typical Big East battle with the teams trading blows down to the final buzzer. In that case, I'm taking the 3.5 points.

That's it for me for Wednesday, good luck everyone!