With only a handful of top-25 teams scheduled to participate in the Thursday night slate, the opportunity for quality games to wager on appears to be pretty limited.
Here are our selections for the best college basketball bets to maximize value.
Top College Basketball Betting Opportunities for 2/9
Iowa Hawkeyes at Purdue Boilermakers Over 153 points
As has become a typical occurrence this season, the Purdue Boilermakers celebrated their unanimous number-one poll placement with a loss to Indiana last weekend. While there is certainly no shame in falling to the Hoosiers, it would be nice if someone in the nation would step up and act like the best team in the country. Then again, this season has been quite entertaining with the drama.
The Hawkeyes have a reputation as a high-scoring team during Head Coach Fran McCaffery’s time at the helm, and this season is no different. The Hawkeyes are currently the 17th highest-scoring team in the nation and one of the best overbets in the Big Ten Conference. Iowa is exceeding the anticipated total 60% of the time this season and doing so by a wide margin at +6.0 points per contest which ranks first in the conference.
While the Boilermakers are not one of the teams atop the conference when it comes to the total, they have hit the over in four consecutive games. Purdue is currently the best offensive team in the Big Ten during conference play and also the third-best defensive team during league play. On the other hand, the Hawkeyes are the second-worst team in the conference in defensive efficiency and worst in the league in effective field goal percentage defense. This has the potential to be a very high-scoring contest.
Bet Iowa at Purdue Today
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Game
Northwestern Wildcats ML at Ohio State Buckeyes
We are going to stay in the Big Ten Conference for our second play of the Thursday night slate. The Buckeyes are likely to be home team favorites for this contest, but that feels like a trap. Ohio State laid a pretty good whooping on the Wildcats when the two faced off earlier this season, but these teams have gone in two very different directions since then.
The Buckeyes have lost nine of their last ten games straight up and are currently just 3-9 on the season in league play. As a home team, Ohio State has covered the spread in just five of their eleven games this season but do own a margin of victory of nearly 18 points per game when playing in Columbus.
On the other side, Chris Collins’ Wildcats are one of the best teams in the Big Ten against the spread on the road. The Wildcats are 5-2 ATS on the road this season and covered by a league-best +5.3 points per game. Northwestern has covered in four of their last six games while holding their last two opponents under the anticipated total. They are currently one ranked as the 34th-best team in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency but ninth in the Big Ten during league play. That said, the Buckeyes are sliding in the offensive efficiency rankings, so the time feels right for a Northwestern road victory where the Wildcats can improve to 6-2 on the season.
Bet Northwestern at Ohio State Today
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Game
College Basketball Betting Center
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