Mid-to-low major college basketball conference tournaments are in full swing, but the regular season is still rolling on.
That means there's plenty of betting value to be found. With that in mind, we have college basketball best bets and odds, including our staff's five top regular season picks for Tuesday, March 5.
College Basketball Best Bets
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that our college basketball betting staff is targeting from today's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 7 p.m. | |
  | 7 p.m. | |
| 7 p.m. | |
  | 8 p.m. | |
  | 8 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAB Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Purdue vs. Illinois
Purdue has been dominant throughout Big Ten play, but I think that run comes to an end in Champaign.
Illinois is one of the few teams in the conference that has an explosive enough offense to really challenge the Boilers’ defense.
Marcus Domask was fantastic in Madison on Saturday and continues to be able to score it from both the perimeter, as well as in the post with his back to the basket.
Terrence Shannon Jr. is a freight train in transition, and Purdue has been a little bit vulnerable when opponents have looked to get out and run against it.
As always, Zach Edey will be a load on the inside, so it’ll be imperative for Dain Dainja and the rest of the Illini bigs to avoid foul trouble.
Ultimately, both offenses will have the advantage in this game, but I like Illinois to hold up in a shootout behind what should be an extremely rowdy Assembly Hall crowd.
Back the Illini up to -2.5.
Pick: Illinois -1.5 (Play -2.5)
Alabama vs. Florida
Florida +1.5
By John Feltman
Florida has proven over the last couple of weeks that it could be a dangerous dark horse in March.
Despite losing the first matchup to the Tide, there's reason to believe it can get revenge at home.
Todd Golden's team ranks 15th in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency and 88th in Defensive Efficiency. However, the Gators’ defense has come a long way from the beginning of the year.
The Gators’ offensive firepower should expose the Tide on the defensive end of the floor. There’s no such thing as shutting down the Alabama offense, but the Gators can keep up.
Alabama ranks outside the top 250 in the following defensive categories:
- Turnover Percentage
- Defensive Rebounding Percentage
- FTA/FGA
Long story short, the Tide don't force turnovers and are extremely foul-happy on defense. Plus, the Gators are coming off a tough loss, so they'll be fired up to exact revenge at home.
I understand both teams are in similar situational spots, but there's a legitimate argument that the Alabama loss was far more devastating than Florida's.
The Tide got punched in the mouth by Tennessee in the second half, and they no longer control their own destiny to win the SEC regular season title.
Pick: Florida +1.5 (Play to -1)
Alabama -1.5
By Matt Gannon
Alabama heads to Tallahassee after a tough home loss to Tennessee. The Crimson Tide failed to get the 3-ball flowing consistently, which ended up being their downfall in the end.
Florida has been very impressive this season and is playing its best basketball as of late. Like Alabama, it’s coming off a loss and should be locked in to beat one of the better teams in conference.
The biggest advantage that Florida will have is on the offensive glass. The Gators will look to dictate the tempo and keep Alabama out of transition.
But that’s easier said than done. Alabama has massive advantages on the offensive side of the ball that I believe will be too hard for Florida to deal with, even at home.
Both of these teams are coming off losses and are looking for revenge, but we’ll look towards the road team laying the small number.
Pick: Alabama -1.5 (Play to -2.5)
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Cincinnati vs. Oklahoma
With conference tournament season right around the corner for the power leagues, there’s plenty of situational spots on the board.
One of those comes in the highly competitive Big 12, where the bottom four seeds in the conference tournament must win five straight games to clinch a title. One team on the cusp of the 11-seed looking to move to day two as a top-10 seed is Cincinnati.
The Bearcats rank 331st in terms of luck, per KenPom, clawing to covers against the spread versus Houston, Kansas and TCU. Head coach Wes Miller will have his squad in full desperation mode to avoid the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
One team with a high probability of starting on day two as a 5 through 10 seed is Oklahoma. The Sooners have had severe struggles of late, posting one of the lowest efficiency marks on defense over the past 30 days.
Head coach Porter Moser will attempt to keep the team focused after losing four of its last five to the best teams in the conference.
Two areas lean in favor of the Bearcats: offensive rebounding and opponent free-throw rate.
Cincinnati is the best offensive rebounding team in the conference, a strength for a team with a high point distribution from inside the arc.
Oklahoma’s primary method of scoring is from the free-throw line, but the Cincinnati defensive ranks in fouls and limiting charity-stripe shots mirror the Sooners’ rate of getting to the line.
Look for one team desperate to move up in seeding to eclipse a home team that’s has a confirmed start in Kansas City next week.
Pick: Cincinnati +5.5 (Play to +5)
Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State
By Doug Ziefel
This is the biggest edge on the board today. In fact, I don't think I've seen an edge this big all season.
John-Michael Wright is the Oklahoma State shooting guard, and despite his ability to light it up from downtown, his usage on offense has only trended up over the last month.
However, his role as a knockdown shooter has created a great opportunity for us to capitalize on his assists prop. His assists line is set at 2.5, and that’s a mistake.
Wright has only gone over this total in one game this season. That makes this under 28 for 29 on the year.
That 97% hit rate gives us implied odds of -3233 that he'll go under tonight.
In addition to the odds being in our favor, one of Wright's unders already came against his opposition tonight in Texas Tech. He had zero assists in their meeting on Jan. 9.
Pick: John-Michael Wright Under 2.5 Assists -115 (Play to -200)
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