The NFL season is in the rearview mirror, which means that it’s time for college basketball to take center stage on the sports calendar. For the next month, the college hoops regular season should treat us to some excellent games prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament — the greatest postseason in sports. Following a wild weekend of basketball, Monday’s slate is a bit muted in comparison, but it is headlined by a massive game in the Big 12 between the top-ranked Arizona Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks from Phog Allen Fieldhouse at 9:00 pm ET on ESPN.
Ahead of this abbreviated hoops card on Monday, I’ve settled on a college basketball best bet that I like more than the rest, and it happens to come in the biggest game on the slate. Let’s get into the breakdown, and don’t forget our NCAAB predictions for all of the biggest college hoops matchups every day throughout the season.
CBB best bet: Kansas Jayhawks ML over Arizona Wildcats (+135)
Odds available at bet365 Sportsbook at the time of publishing. Playable to +115.
It’s not often that Kansas finds itself as the lower-ranked team in a game taking place at the Phog, but the Jayhawks tend to step up and play their best in this role. In fact, in the Bill Self era, the Jayhawks have been involved a number of top-10 showdowns at Allen Fieldhouse in which they entered the game as the lower-ranked team. It just so happens that Kansas is 14-0 in those such instances. Obviously, this historical trend is not something that necessarily carries over from season to season, but it’s worth considering given Kansas’ gaudy 342-22 home record during Self’s tenure as the head coach. Kansas is also coming off a pretty pedestrian showing on Saturday against a very poor Utah team, which likely speaks to the fact that the Jayhawks were looking forward to this massive matchup.
Despite the historical data shading heavily toward Kansas on Monday, oddsmakers are clearly aware of Arizona’s dominance in all areas this season, and that’s part of why the Wildcats are favored on the road in this one. This confidence is certainly warranted, as Tommy Lloyd’s team is 23-0 and looks the part of a serious National Championship contender. The Wildcats boast a top-10 offense and one of the best defenses in the nation from an efficiency standpoint. However, while Arizona has answered plenty of questions in the nonconference portion of their season, the Wildcats rank dead last among Big 12 teams in conference strength of schedule to this point. It goes without saying that this environment could be a wake-up call for a team that has mostly cruised through league play.
On the other side, Kansas might have the best shotmaker in the country in Darryn Peterson, to go along with the best interior defensive player in the nation in Flory Bidunga. The Jayhawks have rattled off 7 consecutive wins and it all starts on defense for a team that is one of the best in the nation at limiting points in transition, to go along with elite marks in field goal percentage and 3-point defense. Offensively, the Jayhawks aren’t a team that attempts a ton of threes, but they’ve shot the ball very well at home during Big 12 play as a unit. As long as Kansas is able to start relatively fast and put some real game pressure on Arizona, the Jayhawks are certainly live to spring the upset over the top-ranked team in the nation.
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