College Basketball Best Bets Today:
We start 2025 with a round number in the college basketball world. There are 20 games on the slate for January 1, with many of them early starts. We do have a handful of late games, as most of the college sports world will be focused on the CFP Quarterfinal games and we’ve got those previewed for you, but this is all about the hardwood.
As you know, I don’t like to look at any games before 4 p.m. ET when we have these early slates, but I do have a 3 p.m. ET game that I like for today and that’s it. I apologize for the lessened lead time, but it is what it is with the holidays and a small number of games to pick from.
***Top College Basketball Betting Resources***
*Join thousands of other sports bettors and unlock access to picks, public betting splits data, & the VSiN live video broadcast by upgrading to VSiN Pro. Grab your first month for less than $10.*
Things really get back to normal tomorrow with 66 games, as the holiday season wraps up and business as usual begins.
Tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference is here.
This article will run Monday-Saturday (not next week, see exception above). Lines will be from DraftKings, as they are widely available to readers. Shop around for the best prices.
Shout-outs to Bart Torvik, Erik Haslam, and Ken Pomeroy, as those are my three primary resources for information when handicapping.
Check the latest college basketball odds for legal U.S. sportsbooks across the country and our Vegas odds if you share a state with us here at VSiN. Also, give the college basketball betting splits a look for these or any other college basketball games today have your interest.
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.
Chattanooga Mocs (-4, 156.5) at Mercer Bears
3 p.m. ET
Chattanooga and Mercer square off in the SoCon lid lifter for both teams. This will be Ryan Ridder’s first conference game, as Mercer went 7-6 in non-conference action, with two of their wins against lower-division opponents and three additional wins against West Georgia, Stetson, and Chicago State, who ranked 341st, 356th, and 359th by Torvik at the time those games were played.
Mercer’s 310th-ranked strength of schedule does include three Quadrant 2 games, which they lost by 31, 9, and 12 points. While Chattanooga is actually going down as a Quadrant 4 game with the venue and a Mocs team that ranks just barely inside the top 200, this is a team that I am looking at for a lot of positive regression as conference play begins.
The Mocs are shooting 56.6% on 2s, a byproduct of finishing well at the rim with a 63% FG% on Close Twos, but they are only shooting 31.6% on 3s. It was big for head coach Dan Earl to get Honor Huff and Trey Bonham back in the NIL era. Huff shot 38.3% from 3 last season and averaged 17.4 points per game. Bonham was a 41.3% shooter from 3 and averaged 16 PPG.
This season, Bonham is under 33% from 3 and Huff is only shooting 34% from 3, with the two averaging 13.6 and 13.1 PPG, respectively. Huff, originally recruited to VMI by Earl at his previous gig, is a 37.4% career 3-point shooter and Bonham, also a VMI recruit, is a 36.4% shooter.
I assume that some time off for the holidays and some more gym time should help both guys and Chattanooga has actually been on the rise already, shooting 67-of-173 (38.7%) over their last six games. I don’t think Mercer has the offense to hold up in a game that should be played with a little bit of tempo as the two teams shake off some rust.
Pick: Chattanooga -4
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
