Stop busting brackets and sign up for the Pickswise March Madness Premium Picks now! Our expert is up +30.7 units over the last 3 NCAA Tournaments and picked Florida at +4000 last year. Get futures picks and daily best bets throughout the entire tournament, all for just $50. Click here to join and get 20% off before Selection Sunday!
After a long and eventful college basketball regular season, Selection Sunday has finally arrived. Before the bracket is released, Championship Week concludes on Sunday afternoon with a quartet of conference title games. Sunday’s card is headlined by a showdown between Michigan and Purdue in the Big Ten title game from Chicago, as well as championship games in the American, A-10 and SEC. I have settled on my college basketball best bets for today’s action, as I’ll be honing in on the ACC title game between Wichita State and South Florida.
Let’s break down our college basketball best bet for today’s games, and don’t forget our NCAAB predictions for all of the biggest college hoops matchups every day throughout Championship Week before we arrive at March Madness.
College basketball best bet: South Florida Bulls -5.5 over Wichita State Shockers (-110)
Odds available at BetRivers Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to South Florida -6.
It’s not the biggest game on Sunday’s college hoops slate, but one of the best mid-major teams in the country this season has a chance to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a victory in the AAC title game on Sunday. The South Florida Bulls have played an entire season for this moment, and only the Wichita State Shockers are there to stand in front of them and their ultimate goal. On paper, Wichita State might be an attractive option in this game. After all, the Shockers have won 7 straight games, and they even have a win over South Florida back in January — one of only 2 games that the Bulls have lost at home all season. However, this is a solid spot to take Bryan Hodgson’s team in a matchup where they should hold some crucial edges.
I was all over Wichita State to knock off Tulsa in the semifinal round on Saturday, and it came down to the Shockers being the beneficiary of a massive situational advantage. Tulsa was coming off a triple overtime game less than 24 hours earlier, and it showed in the legs of the Golden Hurricane players once the second half rolled around. It’s also worth mentioning that Wichita State knocked down 12 threes and shot nearly 47% from deep, which is far above their season-long metrics and recent performance (ranked 286th in 3-point percentage per BartTorvik). Similarly, Wichita State’s win against South Florida this season came when it shot over 52% from beyond the arc, so if the Shockers aren’t white-hot from deep, the Bulls should be able to assert themselves and win comfortably.
Not only does Wichita State not have the advantage of taking on a depleted, exhausted team a title game, but it’s matching up against a South Florida team that has a few key replicable advantages in this one. The Bulls have been a top 40 team since February 1 per BartTorvik, and it all starts on defense, with South Florida sitting inside the top 20 in turnovers forced and 29th in 2-point percentage defense. The Bulls are a dominant unit in transition in league play, and we saw them use that to great advantage on Saturday against Charlotte. Lastly, South Florida should win the shot volume battle in this matchup, seeing as its ranked 5th in offensive rebounding percentage over the last month. Look for the AAC’s top team to pull away from the Shockers and win by at least 3 possessions.
Click here to add us to your Google preferred sources and never miss a story
