09.11.2022

College Basketball Best Bets November 9th

We are three days into the college basketball season and despite not having any marquee games tonight, a few of tonight’s match-ups could provide some excellent betting value. Two games in specific feature my best bets for tonight’s action and after going 4-2 with picks to start the college basketball season I’ll be looking to add to that win total.

Best Bet #1

The first game I’ll be targeting is a 9:00 PM ET tip-off between two Kentucky-based schools. The Bellarmine Knights will make the short trip to Louisville to take on the Cardinals in what will be the first game of the season for both teams. My best bet for this game is the under of 135.5 points.

It will be the Cardinals first season under new head coach Kenny Payne and after a complete roster overhaul the outlook of the Cardinals for this season is hard to predict but if preseason exhibitions are any indicator it could be a long season in Louisville. The Cardinals lost outright to D2 school Lenoir-Rhyne and only scored 47 points in their first exhibition of the season. Despite the new roster featuring some exciting offensive players, the lack of scoring is nothing new as last season the under was 19-13 in Cardinals games.

Tonight’s competition ironically was recently a D2 program in Bellarmine but in only their second D1 season last year, the Knights were able to claim the ASUN conference championship. Bellarmine lost their top three scorers from last season and will be led by Juston Betz and Curt Hopf. Betz was the preseason defensive player of the year in the ASUN conference.

The under went 16-10 in Bellarmine games last season and I think it will start 1-0 tonight. Both teams feature very different starting fives from last year and it may take time for both sides to get into a rhythm and find chemistry with each other. I’m expecting a low-scoring affair in Louisville tonight.

Best Bet #2

My last best bet comes from a late-night game with Florida Gulf Coast heading to San Diego to take on the Toreros. Both teams opened the season with a win but FGCU enters tonight’s game as (+6.5) point underdogs and I’ll be rolling with them as my second play.

In their first game under new head coach Pat Chambers, the Eagles went into USC as 14-point underdogs and won the game outright. Transfers Chase Johnston, Dahmir Bishop, and Isaiah Thompson led the way in scoring for the Eagles proving the limited playing time as a unit won’t be a factor with this group.

The Toreros also have a new head coach in Steve Lavin but their opening night win was a lot less impressive as they opened with a D2 school, unlike FGCU. Sigu Sisoho Jawara led San Diego in scoring in that game. I was a bit surprised to see the Eagles come in tonight as 6.5-point underdogs and think this number is too high. I expect this to be a close game so getting 6.5 points is too good to pass up, however, I don’t think I’m alone in this notion so this number could quickly go down as the day goes so don’t hesitate when betting this game.