While all eyes are on North Carolina vs. Kansas, there's still other college basketball games with significant value.
In fact, Jim Root of Three Man Weave is eyeing three.
So, here's college basketball best bets and predictions, including three picks for Friday's NCAAB games on November 8.
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. | |
  | 10 p.m. | |
  | 11 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. | ||
Western Carolina vs. Queens
By Jim Root
WCU vs. Queens, the in-state college basketball rivalry everyone thinks about in the state of North Carolina!
I’m taking the favorite here. Both teams are undergoing heavy roster turnover, but Queens has the advantage of bringing back its coach (Grant Leonard) and two key starters (wings Chris Ashby and Bryce Cash) to create a modicum of stability.
On the other side, Tim Craft is almost completely starting over after arriving from Gardner-Webb. Only one rotation player (forward Bernard Pelote) returned, and because G-Webb promoted internally, none of Craft’s players followed him to WCU.
The backcourt will be JUCO-dominant, and the Catamounts’ key D-I transfers – Princeton’s Vernon Collins, Pepperdine’s Cord Stansberry, Texas A&M’s Brandon White – barely made an impact at their prior stops.
Neither team’s opener tells much; they both blew out lower-level competition with ease. But two key takeaways from Queens’ debut stands out: the play of Israeli freshman Yoav Berman and the interior defense of Malcolm Wilson.
Berman led the Royals in minutes and was second in scoring; the highly-touted international prospect looks primed to deliver on his immense potential immediately. He was recruited by several schools bigger than Queens.
And Wilson, a 7-footer whose career started at Georgetown, swatted seven (!) shots in 20 minutes. Queens has a true rim protector in the lineup.
With a little more continuity and higher upside in its newcomers, I’m happy to lay it with Queens in the Division I opener for both teams.
Pick: Queens -3 (Play to -4)
Sacramento State vs. Fresno State
By Jim Root
Welcome back to Division I, Vance Walberg – the former Pepperdine coach has resurfaced at Fresno State after 12 years away from college basketball. A dominant run at Clovis West High School in Fresno caught the administration’s eye, and he is back with a second chance at success on the west coast.
Credited as the father of the dribble-drive motion offense, Walberg’s teams are well-known for playing up-tempo and scoring (somewhat) efficiently. The wins did not come at Pepperdine (19-44 overall), but the offense mostly hummed, at least compared to a leaky defense.
His principles have not changed much, so expect Fresno to echo Walberg’s Wave squads in their system.
The Bulldogs have a fair amount of talent to execute the scheme, albeit unproven at the Division I level.
A tremendous JUCO class leads the way, anchored by Amar Augillard (a top-10 JUCO prospect, per JUCOrankings.com) and Zaon Collins, a former national top-50 recruit whose off-court issues took him on a circuitous path to Fresno.
Sacramento State is led by an interim coach after David Patrick abandoned ship in the offseason. Michael Czepil has a far less extensive coaching history than Walberg, but in a non-Division I opener, the Hornets showed an interest in getting up and down (106 points on 79 possessions against Cal-Maritime).
I’m not confident enough in what either team will look like to back a side. But I do think Walberg’s style will ramp up the pace in this game, and both teams have enough scoring punch to take this over the total.
Pick: Over 154.5 (Play to 155)
New Mexico vs. UCLA
By Jim Root
A late-night showdown in Vegas wraps up my Friday card. UCLA has gotten a lot of offseason hype after raiding the portal with some newfound NIL funds, while New Mexico lost three big pieces from an NCAA Tournament team.
Still, I think this number indicates a much wider gap between these two teams than actually exists.
The Lobos have a potential All-American guard in Donovan Dent – likely the best player on the floor – and big man Nelly Junior Joseph is a load inside. That could be an issue for UCLA, who is lacking some interior heft after Adem Bona matriculated to the NBA.
New Mexico plays at a breakneck pace, a factor that could complicate matters. Adding more and more possessions to the proceedings should theoretically help the favorite.
However, UCLA wants to play more in the half-court. Mick Cronin is something of a micromanager as a coach, having control of every detail while craving physicality.
As long as New Mexico’s wings – CJ Noland, Tru Washington, Mustapha Amzil – can hit a few jumpers (something they did not do on Monday against Nicholls), the Lobos should be able to score in the half-court.
This one comes down to having the best player (Dent) and too many points (I make UCLA a 2.5-point favorite).
Give me the Lobos in a battle for the night owls.
