Beyond The Arc — Top College Basketball Bets

Welcome to Beyond the Arc, our College Basketball Best Bet column.

The goal for BTA is to bring you the best projections, bets, and futures from our top cappers and provide analysis and notes for today's College Hoops slate.

All our Cappers projections and bets are available on Moneylinego.com.

College Basketball Prediction and Expert Picks 12-14

Nicholls State vs Gonzaga

Under 156 (-115)

Straight Jazz

Although Gonzaga plays at a faster pace than Nicholls, their recent games have not always resulted in high totals, suggesting that perhaps the tempo might not lead to as many points as usual, especially if they're facing a team that can slow the game down or if they're not shooting efficiently. Nicholls tends to play at a slower pace, which could reduce the number of possessions in the game, inherently leading to a lower total score. I love this spot at 156.

Michigan vs Oklahoma

Michigan ML (-140)

Bettin’ With the Boys

I am extremely bullish on this Michigan team. They are one of the biggest teams in the country with two starters over 7’0 — Danny Wolf & Vlad Goldin. The mold that Dusty May assembled is quite perfect for college basketball, in my opinion. They have two of the most dominant bigs in the sport, a dynamic point guard in Tre Donaldson who can takeover a game in multiple ways, Roddy Gayle & Nimari Burnett who can also do it all on both sides of the ball, and then a bunch of shooters to top it off. I love the completeness the Wolverines display.

Oklahoma is undefeated but rank 317th in SoS. They are extremely guard heavy and lack dominant bigs. Oklahoma gives up a lot of offensive rebounds, somewhere that Michigan strives and can look to dominate in this matchup. Ultimately, I don’t expect Oklahoma to have an answer for Wolf or Goldin. They will probably try and stick Sam Godwin & other size on these guys but will be extremely unmatched. Tre Donaldson will be the best guard on the court and Michigan also has the better shooters. This feels like Michigan all day long.

Davidson vs Temple

Temple ML (-118)

Straight Jazz

Temple has shown good form in recent games, particularly against teams like Davidson. They've had a history of competitive or winning performances against similar or superior teams, which could give them an edge. Lynn Greer Jr. being back for Temple could boost morale and performance. A player's return can change team dynamics and potentially tilt the game in Temple's favor significantly.

Xavier vs UConn

UConn -13.5 (-105)

Betting Cheese

There are a lot of factors I am backing the Huskies but one of the major ones is Freemantle being out for the season for Xavier. The production he brought to the Musketeers is going to be missed against this elite offense and defense. The pressure on the “replacement” guard will allow UConn to control the tempo and both sides of the ball.

UConn ranks top 5th in offensive efficiency and 12thin overall efficiency. They are overall a better all-around team and with the beginning of Big East play the Huskies will be coming out to show that Maui was fluke. I see the Huskies controlling the flow of the game and to cover.

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