Best Bets College Basketball Best Bets & TV/Streaming Info 01/17
With the college football bowl season over its time to jump into college basketball and this Saturday will bring another great slate of basketball games, so check out my best bets for college basketball 01/17!
Best Bets For College Basketball 01/17
Matchup: No. 4 Duke Blue Devils at No. 6 Louisville Cardinals
Date: Jan. 17, 2015
Start Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Stadium: KFC Yum! Center
TV Info: ESPN
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Duke Vs Louisville
Point Spread: N/A
Game Total: N/A
Analysis: This should be an extremely competitive game. Duke is averaging 83.2 points per game from 50% shooting from the field. All of the Blue Devils success can’t be attributed to the play of terrific freshman Jahlil Okafor, but a lot of it can. Okafor, whom no doubt will leave for the NBA after this season, is averaging 18.9 points and 9.4 boards per game. He’s shooting a remarkable 66% from the field. Freshman Tyus Jones is the player that feeds Okafor the rock. Jones averages close to 5 assists per game. Jones also scores over 9 points per matchup.
If Duke can’t figure it out before Louisville, but does after, Coach K could be eyeing win No. 1,000 at…Notre Dame. (If my math is right.)
— Brian Hamilton (@BrianHamiltonSI) January 14, 2015
The inside/outside game of Jones and Okafor should present matchup problems for Louisville. Louisville does not shoot nearly as well as Duke, but their defense is slightly better. The problem is that Louisville’s zone defense, especially if they decide to double team Okafor, could leave open many of Duke’s three-point shooters, which might lead to a rare home loss for the Cardinals.
Best Bet: Duke over Louisville
Matchup: No. 16 West Virginia Mountaineers at No. 20 Texas Longhorns
Date: Jan. 17, 2015
Start Time: 6:15 p.m. ET
Location: Austin, Texas
Stadium: Frank Erwin Center
TV Info: ESPN
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: West Virginia Vs Texas
Point Spread: N/A
Game Total: N/A
Analysis: The Mountaineers are 15 and 2, which is interesting considering their stats. Although West Virginia scores 78.8 points per game, they do it off of 42.6% shooting. Defensively, the Mountaineers allow teams to score 62 points per game against them off of over 44% shooting. They shoot a worse percentage than they allow, which isn’t a very good sign for them going into a game against Texas in Austin.
But Texas has dropped two straight, 49 to 70 to Oklahoma and 58 to 69 to Oklahoma State. There is definitely something going on with the Longhorns that Coach Rick Barnes may not be able to fix before Saturday.
West Virginia might simply run Texas, like Oklahoma did, out of the building because the Longhorns are finding it hard to put up enough points against some of the better scoring teams in the Big 12.
Best Bet: West Virginia over Texas
Late Night Snacks: Kansas, West Virginia win Big 12 clashes; Arkansas and Seton Hall lose to unranked teams http://t.co/nXkzgozkIi
— CollegeBasketbllTalk (@CBTonNBC) January 14, 2015
Matchup: No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks at No. 11 Iowa State Cyclones
Date: Jan. 17, 2015
Start Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Location: Ames, Iowa
Stadium: Hilton Coliseum
TV Info: ESPN
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Kansas Vs Iowa State
Point Spread: N/A
Game Total: N/A
Analysis: Offensively, Iowa State is easily one of the most impressive teams in all of college basketball. The Cyclones average over 80 points a game from 49% shooting. Defensively, Iowa State isn’t all that bad. Teams only score 65 points from over 40% shooting against the Cyclones.
.@SI_TedKeith and @byDavidGardner talk Big 12 basketball and NC State's long-term potential.
http://t.co/uOEqlsheKg pic.twitter.com/NMMl82lD5q
— SI College Hoops (@si_ncaabb) January 14, 2015
But Iowa State faces historically difficult to handle Kansas, one of the most storied teams in all of hoops lore, this Saturday. Kansas has been close to perfect since losing by over 30 points to Kentucky in their second game of the season.
The Jayhawks have won 5 straight, but only one of those victories, a 56 to 55 win over Baylor, occurred on the road. Iowa State should be able to force Kansas into an up and down game, which will favor the Cyclones more than it will the Jayhawks.
