Weekend College Basketball Picks

Conference Tournaments are only two and a half weeks away and the Big Dance is right around the corner. You know what that means, right? March is coming! There is still a ton to be decided beforehand however, and the weekend represents an opportunity for college basketball bettors to get even more up close and personal with the teams that will accept bids down the road. FanDuel Sportsbook is going to have lines, totals, moneylines and props for every game on the loaded slate, and I can’t wait to dig into a number of them! The following is a 6-pack of college basketball picks for the second to last weekend in the month of February – Slam Your Man!

Illinois Fighting Illini

Many will be quick to back homebased Sparty in this one as pissed Tom Izzo was following Tuesday night’s road loss in Happy Valley to the Penn State Nittany Lions; especially with Brad Underwood’s Illini dropping each of their last two on the road to Purdue and Rutgers. That being said, I still got Illinois ranked out as the better overall team. In a game likely to be lined near a pick ‘em, I’ll roll the dice and look for MSU to fall for the fourth time in its last five games. Michigan State hasn’t looked the same since rolling Michigan. Something isn’t right in East Lansing!

Texas Longhorns

While my first choice in this matchup is the under, I lean to Chris Beard and the Longhorns in the rematch as well with the team looking to exact revenge for the 77-64 loss it absorbed in Lubbock early February. UT looks to be coming into its own under the new coaching staff, and I fully expect it to make a run at the regular season Big 12 title over the next few weeks. In order to do that, it must even up the season rivalry with a Red Raiders outfit that’s only won two Big 12 road games through six tries. Texas is 15-1 SU in front of the hometown faithful.

Arkansas Razorbacks

The Hogs are currently longshot 55-1 underdogs to win the SEC regular season title with it currently three games back with only five to play. While overtaking Auburn for conference bragging rights looks to be a tall chore, earning a top-four seed in the upcoming conference tournament is certainly attainable. It’s currently No. 4 right now, but would jump Tennessee if it wins this game. That’s exactly what I expect J.D. Notae and company to do regardless of the Vols currently in excellent form. This is a huge letdown spot off the decided win over Kentucky. Look for Arkansas to take full advantage.

Virginia Tech Hokies

This Hokies outfit is dangerous! Though it has more Quad 2 than Quad 1 wins, don’t allow for VTECH’s 16-10 SU record fool you into believing this is just another run of the mill team out of the down ACC. It’s in the midst of a heater having ripped off six straight wins while covering the closing CBB odds in all but one of them. It dropped a 78-68 decision to UNC in the first meeting after only connecting on 7-of-18 3-pointers versus UNC’s horrific 3-point defensive unit (No. 278). It also shot 11 free throws to the Tar Heels 26. Look for some role reversal here and for Virginia Tech to return the favor.

Memphis Tigers

I’ve pegged the Tigers as one of my late-season ride or dies. Penny Hardaway has got this team firing on all cylinders right now with it logging wins in six straight while covering the closing number five times. It just rattled off back-to-back wins on the road at Houston and Cincinnati which means many a CBB bettor will be daring them to win a third straight away from FedEx. As such, linemakers will likely be giving them a possession against a solid SMU team that handed them a 70-62 loss back on January 20. They haven’t lost since and look to be a completely different team than they were then. The win streak continues…

Purdue Boilermakers

Holy Schneikes the Scarlet Knights have been kicking butt and taking names! They just dominated Illinois on Wednesday night to push the win streak to four in a row after taking care of business against Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin in their three games prior. It however will come to a crashing halt early Sunday evening when it invades Mackey Arena looking to upset the B1G leading Boilermakers. As much as I respect what Steve Pikiell is doing with his kids right now, Jaden Ivey and company are simply just a different animal. They’re 15-1 SU as hosts and will be out to avenge that 70-68 loss in the RAC that saw them grossly fail to cover the 13.5-point spread. They’ll cover the double-digits this time around!