College Hoops Looks For Tuesday's Slate

Yesterday we had the College Football world see the Michigan Wolverines take down the Washington Huskies in what was another dud of a National Championship game. For multiple years, there hasn't been much interesting about the final game with one team blowing out the other. I was fine with it because my bet won. Now, people will really start to lock into College Basketball with March Madness right around the corner, and I'm here to help you with a couple of plays for tonight's slate.

BYU vs. Baylor, 9:00 ET

Ranked matchups are always one that capture attention when you look at a schedule. In theory, they should be some of the best games of the night. I mean, do you want to watch a game between BYU and Baylor, or do you want to see North Carolina beat Moody Bible University (not a real school)? For watching purposes this will be a better game. For betting purposes, you probably can lock in a spread bet on some other games that might not be as sweaty. However, I don't actually think this will be much of a sweat. Both teams come into this game with identical 12-2 records for the season. Baylor lost both of their games this month and in their past five contests. The losses came in a relatively close game against Duke and they were blown out by Michigan State. In the game against the Spartans, the Bears were unable to stop Michigan State's backcourt as they allowed 39 points to the guards. Interestingly enough, it wasn't outside shooting from Michigan State that beat the Bears, it was a combination of drives and the mid-range game. BYU is built on guard play and outside shooting. Baylor is athletic enough to deal with teams that want to get hot from the outside. BYU has shown that they can shoot well from deep all season, but going into Baylor's home court, against a tough defense, I think they try to take away the outside shooting. I'm going to take Baylor here because I think if either of these teams is likely to make the outside shot fall, it will be them. I also think their defense matches up well with what BYU is going to try and do. I'll take Baylor on the short spread of -2.5

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - JANUARY 17: Head coach Scott Drew of the Baylor Bears gestures during the first half of the college basketball game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena on January 17, 2023 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

Missouri vs. Kentucky, 7:00 ET

We don't get two teams with a ranking in this one, but we still have one as the #6 Kentucky Wildcats take on the unranked Missouri Tigers. This is probably a bad time for Missouri to be taking on Kentucky, especially in Kentucky. Right now, the Tigers have lost four of their past five games with the only win coming against Central Arkansas. Their four losses were against teams that are likely to be in the NCAA tournament: Kansas, Seaton Hall, Illinois, and Georgia. In fairness to them, they were pretty competitive in most of those games with three of the losses by 9 points or fewer. Kentucky, on the other hand, is rolling right now after an embarrassing loss to UNC Wilmington, they have run off five straight wins. Those wins include games against North Carolina, Louisville, and Florida. Kentucky is led by very strong guard play and they have shot the three ball very well this season. They have three guards shooting 40% or better from deep this year and five players overall averaging double figures. Missouri simply doesn't have the athleticism to stop the Wildcats backcourt. I want to make it clear, the Tigers aren't exactly slouches or something. Their guards are pretty talented as well, and they have four players averaging double figures with three of them shooting 40% or better from deep. The problem is they allow almost as many points as they score. I don't think Kentucky will have much trouble in this game but I'm not confident they are going to cover the 12.5. Instead, I like this game to go under 161. I don't expect Missouri to score much more than 70 and I don't see it being a 90-70 game here. I'll back the under.

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