Andrew Ortenberg
NCAAB
Show Bio
The first Saturday of college basketball should bring a lot of excitement, and what better way to break it in than with a five-team parlay with a huge payout? While you can get our thoughts on the side and total for all the big college basketball games here, right now we’ll be breaking down our big parlay of the day. This week we’ve got a five-teamer for you, with a payout north of 76/1.
Minnesota Golden Gophers -14.5 (-110)
Nebraska Cornhuskers -8.5 (-110)
Arkansas Razorbacks -8.5 (-110)
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (+144)
Liberty Flames (+350)
Parlay Odds: +7619
Plenty of nice looking favorites on this card and a couple of underdogs that have a good chance to win. Let’s break down each game one by one.
Minnesota Golden Gophers -14.5 over Loyola Marymount Lions (-110)
Minnesota should win this one big. They’ve got the size to effectively counter LMU big man Mattius Markusson, and without an edge inside they’ll be unable to score. The Lions are a terrible shooting team, and since they won’t be able to own the paint here they’ll struggle. Minnesota’s offense on the other hand looked great against Green Bay in their first game, dropping 99 points.
Nebraska Cornhuskers -8.5 over North Dakota State Bison (-110)
Let’s stick in the Big Ten with the Cornhuskers. Nebraska is hosting this tournament, and being at home will give them an advantage as it progresses. North Dakota State looked really sloppy in their first game against Nevada, turning the ball over 16 times. They’re clearly really missing veteran point guard Vinnie Shahid’s presence.
Arkansas Razorbacks -8.5 over North Texas Mean Green (-110)
North Texas had a fluke hot shooting game against a terrible team in their opener, and now is the time to fade them as playing against real athletes will come as a shock to their system. Arkansas just won by 80 in their first game, and I have high hopes for them this season. The Razorbacks are very deep, with eight different guys dropping at least 12 points in their opener.
Tulsa Golden Hurricanes over TCU Horned Frogs (+144)
Pivoting now to a money line play, Tulsa makes a lot of sense. TCU is going to really struggle replace first-round NBA pick Desmond Bane, and they didn’t look all that impressive in their opener against lowly Houston Baptist. The Horned Frogs don’t have much outside shooting, putting them in prime danger for an upset.
Liberty Flames over South Carolina Gamecocks (+350)
Throwing in this one is what gets us the huge payout. This is South Carolina’s first game while Liberty has already played twice, so the Gamecocks could look pretty rusty here. Liberty’s games were both against Power 5 schools in Purdue and Mississippi State, so they’ve already been sharpened by tough competition. They just beat MSU, showing it’s not at all unusual for them to beat supposedly superior teams.
Pickswise is the home of free NCAA basketball picks and predictions. We will provide predictions on both the side and totals for all of the power-conference and Top 25 games during the 2020-21 season.
