Wednesday is the day when the basketball slate picks up in a big way. After back-to-back nights of slates with fewer than 30 games, we're graced with a 51-gamer tonight.
Here's how sharp bettors are hitting Wednesday night's amateur hoops action.
College Basketball Odds, Sharp Picks
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Syracuse at Pittsburgh
7 p.m. ET | ACC Network
We start off with a mediocre ACC showdown between Syracuse and Pittsburgh. At 8-8 in conference play, Cuse opened as a 1.5-point road favorite against the Panthers, who are just 6-11 vs. ACC foes.
Likely with those records in mind, the public is loading up fairly heavily on the Orange, who are also the more prominent college basketball program. With 66% of the bets, one might expect them to move to -2 or -2.5, but the line has moved in the other direction thanks to the sharps.
We have tracked four Bet Signals on Pittsburgh — one at +1.5, one at +1 and two at a PK. These waves of sharp activity have helped make Pittsburgh a one-point favorite.
This line still suggests Syracuse is a better team on paper when you factor in home-court advantage. However, sharps clearly feel that the gap between these two teams is minuscule enough to hit Pitt several times.
Sharp Angle: Pittsburgh (moved from +1.5 to -1) [Bet now at FanDuel. NJ, PA, IN and WV only.]
Rutgers at No. 16 Penn State
7 p.m. ET | BTN
We have a better game on our hands if you want to head a couple hours east to Penn State, as the No. 16 Nittany Lions host Rutgers.
This game is even more lopsided in terms of tickets, as 75% of bettors are backing the ranked team — shocker. As just 6-point home favorites, this really isn't surprising at all.
While Rutgers isn't ranked and doesn't have the clout of a school like Penn State, they're a really good team based on KenPom's Adjusted Efficiency rankings. Their conference record reads 8-8, but they are the 32nd best team in the nation if you trust Mr. Pomeroy.
Sharps definitely have faith in them, as the Scarlet Knights are now just 5-point dogs. After opening at -6, PSU actually reached -6.5 before the buyback struck. We tracked a Reverse Line Move on Rutgers at that number that caused the line to jump a full point to +5.5.
Our money data also shows that Rutgers is getting 35% of money despite just 25% of the bets. These continued big bets have helped drive the line to +5, but our Line Predictor tool does suggest the next move will be back to 5.5 rather than 4.5. If you still like Rutgers, you may want to hold off and take them at that number rather than the current one.
Sharp Angle: Rutgers (moved from +6.5 to +5) [Bet now at FanDuel. NJ, PA, IN and WV only.]
