As we head into March Madness and the home stretch of the college basketball regular season, there are some important matchups on the board with betting opportunities for Thursday night.
Our expert NCAAB handicappers take a look at some of the matchups and give their free comp picks and predictions with a short writeup below.
Click on a handicapper’s name to view their page with more plays, predictions, subscriptions, handicapping records and more.
Jimmy Boyd
Xavier Musketeers vs. St. John’s Red Storm
Thu, Feb 28 ’19, 6:30 PM ET
I look for Xavier and St. John’s to fly past the total set by the books in Thursday’s Big East showdown. This is the first of two meetings in the final 3 games of the regular-season, as these two will meet up in the finale next Saturday.
I think knowing in the back of your head that you will be facing the same team again in such a short turnaround takes away some of the focus and edge for the first meeting. On top of that, you have Xavier in a massive letdown spot off that upset win at home over Villanova, which was their 4th straight outright win as a dog.
St. John’s comes in averaging 80.2 ppg and have score 70+ at home in 7 of their 8 conference home games. Out of those, 6 have seen a combined score more than the number listed here and one of the exceptions was a game against Villanova that had 139 points with both teams shooting 33% from the field.
The Red Storm and their small-ball attack should be able to take advantage of the depth issues for Xavier, while the Musketeers bigs should have their way inside on the other side of things. These two have combined for at least 140 points in each of the last 7 meetings.
Pick: OVER 145.5 (-110)
Doc’s Sports
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Michigan Wolverines
Thu, Feb 28 ’19, 7:00 PM ET
We will close out the month of February with a free play winner with the home team.
Michigan is coming off a bad home loss to Michigan State when they had trouble scoring points. That will not be the case tonight as this is a get-well game for Michigan, as they are playing against a team that has thrown in the towel on the season.
Nebraska will enter this game having lost two straight games and has a coach in hot water and will likely be fired come seasons end.
Lay the points with Michigan tonight in Ann Arbor.
Pick: Michigan -12 (-105) at Bookmaker
Chip Chirimbes
Arizona Wildcats vs. Oregon State Beavers
Thu, Feb 28 ’19, 9:00 PM ET
Wildcats (+) over Beavers – I was just speaking of the turmoil the UCLA program is in the mist of and their problems off of the court have affected play. But, they are not the only PAC-12 school with off the court issues.
Arizona who is also having a disappointing season Has coaches facing Federal probes and are trying to avoid their second losing PAC-12 season in 35 years.
Arizona is 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings but the home team is 9-3 ATS in the last 12 meetings.
The Beavers are 11-4 ATS in their last 15 games overall still it’s the Wildcats tonight.
Pick: Arizona +4.5 (-105) at at Bovada
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