College Basketball Picks: Friday 11/6 & Saturday 11/7 Recap
Sean Green (@SeanTGreen) and Ryan Kramer (@KramerCentric) are joined by Colby Dant (@TheColbyD) for a bonus Wednesday of college basketball picks, from Towson at Utah to Michigan vs. UConn in Boston. Colby Dant likes Providence to beat Nebraska outright, while Sean Green locks Yale plus 14.5.
Towson Gets The Points, Utah Gets The Hosts
Colby Dant flies into Salt Lake City on Thursday, which is why this is a bonus Wednesday show, and the first game on the board is one he’ll be sitting in. Utah is out at 10.5 against Towson, a half point under the key number of 11, with KenPom at 12. Colby is fading the Utes anyway. He loves Pat Skerry’s track record (no losing season since COVID, with records of 25-9, 21-12, 20-14, 22-11 and 19-15 since 2020), and he still needs Alex Jensen to prove the program is headed the right way after Utah fired Craig Smith. Towson got drilled by Santa Clara in the opener, but Colby thinks that Santa Clara team is better than Utah, so give him the 10.5.
Sean Green and Ryan Kramer aren’t buying it, and both lay the 10.5 with Utah. The BYU comparison is the reason. BYU trailed Ohio State in the first half and then pulled away after the break, because early-season conditioning doesn’t hold up at elevation. Kramer also points out that Towson shot 28% from three against Santa Clara and has been hanging out on the West Coast. So the guys split on the very first game, and it sets the tone for a weekend where Colby fades both Utah teams he’s flying in to watch in person. That’s either sharp or a long trip to root against the building.
UMass And Yale Get The Points
Boston College is projected at -5 against UMass at TD Garden, and nobody at the table wants to lay it. The Eagles hired Luke Murray, son of Bill Murray and a former UConn assistant, which means Bill Murray in every highlight and a lot of hype. Colby likes the hire long term. But Jacob Furphy, the UConn transfer Murray took to media days, is out for a couple of weeks, and UMass won this matchup by two last season. The Minutemen also just picked up a road win at Troy. Sean calls five points a lot for a team with good offensive rebounding numbers, and Kramer is happy to ride Frank Martin.
Yale is the bigger number. UCF is projected at -14.5 in Orlando on Friday, and the Knights needed overtime against Gulf Coast, putting up 96 points just to escape. Sean flags it as an easy look-ahead spot with a scrappy Ivy League team coming to town. Colby backs James Jones, who keeps Yale winning (Kramer checks and the last time they didn’t have a winning record was 2021) and has made the NCAA tournament three of the last five years if Colby’s memory serves. Then there’s the simple math: 14.5 is way too many points. All three take Yale, and Sean and Colby both end up locking the Bulldogs.
Missouri, The Mayo Question And UConn In Boston
Missouri and Saint Louis meet on a semi-neutral floor in St. Louis with five points on the projection, and the whole handicap hangs on Robbie Avila. He was granted a 15-day temporary restraining order and had a court case the day of the show, yet Colby thinks head coach Josh Schertz held him out because the wins could be taken away later if the ruling went against him. Meanwhile Missouri buried Cleveland State, a game the guys had faded, and Dennis Gates teams tend to start fast. Colby locks Missouri +5 and Sean takes the Tigers on the money line as his dog. Kramer is pro Gates, but the Avila uncertainty keeps Missouri off his card.
UConn -5.5 against Michigan in Boston is a real number in the wild, and it’s basically a home game for Dan Hurley. Michigan trailed Oakland by seven with eight and a half minutes left in its opener and went 7-for-34 from three, which Kramer says you can survive against Oakland but not against a Hurley team. There’s also revenge in play. Michigan beat UConn by six last year, and Sean notes Hurley remembers that kind of thing. Colby expects a hornet’s nest in a building where UConn owns the territory, so all three lay it, and Colby and Kramer both lock UConn -5.5.
Fading BYU And Stanford Out West
BYU is projected at -29 against Omaha in Provo, and Colby will be in the building with Tailgate Report and Stash on the eve of the Holy War. Sean is on Omaha anyway. BYU just put up a 60-point second half against Ohio State, and he doesn’t see the motivation to run it up on a competent Mavericks team that will play hard for 40 minutes. Colby agrees and expects a backdoor cover after BYU builds a big lead, though he warns you might get 32 if you wait. Kramer goes the other way and lays it with BYU, because he’s rooting for the home team wherever Colby makes an appearance.
Stanford -14.5 against Oakland gets the same treatment from all three. Oakland stayed competitive with Michigan for most of that game, and Greg Kampe is used to road trips against better teams. Stanford, meanwhile, almost lost to Eastern Washington, which held a second-half lead before the Cardinal won by nine. Kyle Smith also told Colby himself that the roster is really young. Kramer admits the guys can fall into a trap after watching a small-conference team up close, but he’s on Oakland too. Sean and Kramer both lock the Golden Grizzlies at +14.5, and Colby wouldn’t be shocked at all by an outright win.
Saturday College Basketball Picks From Greenville To San Diego
Saturday opens in Greenville, where UNC Wilmington is projected as a 2.5-point road favorite at East Carolina. Colby has gone all in on the Pirates. He points to the new MrBeast money in ECU basketball and a roster with transfer Bryson Blane and Kasim Watson, and he says Mike Schwartz has them headed to the NCAA tournament. Wilmington beat ECU by 25 last year, which doesn’t faze him one bit, because this is a new day in Pirate sports. Sean goes the other way and lays the 2.5 with UNCW on the road, naming CJ Luster as the shooter to watch from behind the arc.
VCU at Memphis projects as a pick’em, with KenPom at two and Torvik actually favoring VCU, so the guys settle on Memphis -3 as the working number. Colby expected Memphis closer to -6 or -7, and at that price he’d have taken VCU. At a short number, though, he wants Memphis off a strong win over Iowa State, with a basketball city crowd behind them in the first Saturday game of the season. Penny Hardaway’s teams have struggled as bigger favorites, which is exactly why Sean draws his line: five or higher and he flips to VCU, three or below and it’s Memphis. Kramer locks Memphis -3.
The first Bill Walton Classic puts Colorado against San Diego State at Pechanga Arena in downtown San Diego, with the Aztecs projected at -3. Kramer won’t fade San Diego State on a short number early in the season, so he lays it. Colby and Sean take the Buffs. Colby watched Colorado beat up Abilene Christian, the side he had that night, and credits Barrington Hargress and the guard Holland, while Sean likes how Colorado matches up physically. Colby also wants San Diego to turn the one-game event into a full weekend tournament, which feels like the right way to honor Walton.
High Point Lays It, New Mexico State Takes It
High Point -13.5 against Washington State is the rare favorite the whole table wants. Colby has watched the Panthers live and thinks they’re better than a season ago, a team that could actually win games in March. Washington State, meanwhile, is flying across the country after opening with Davidson in Pullman, so Colby calls it a mileage play and a rocking chair win for the furniture capital of the United States. Colby and Kramer both lock High Point -13.5. Also, the guys have now covered two of three High Point games to open the season, and they aren’t getting off the train.
Gonzaga is projected at -21.5 against New Mexico State at the McCarthy Athletic Center, and all three want the points. New Mexico State barely got past Western New Mexico in its opener, which Colby chalks up to a little-brother game with the Zags looming. He has Gonzaga winning by 15 or 16 and the Aggies covering. Kramer sees a flat spot for the Zags, sitting between a win over Purdue in Vegas and a big LSU game a week later, so nobody in Spokane is practicing for New Mexico State. Sean locks New Mexico State +21.5 because 21.5 is way too much.
Underdog Pick’em, Providence And A Rivalry Reborn
The only game Underdog had posted at taping was Michigan and UConn, so Colby builds a two-leg entry from it. He takes Elliot Cadeau higher than 10.5 points. The experienced senior is from West Orange, New Jersey, scored 19 against UConn the last time they met and managed only 7 in the opener, so Colby wants the bounce back with family likely in the building. On the UConn side he takes Braylon Mullins higher than 16.5 points, which he calls the most solid play despite the Huskies’ injury questions. A $100 entry returns $366.
Providence and Nebraska play at Mohegan Sun with the Huskers projected at -5.5, and Colby thinks this is the dog that wins outright. Bryan Hodgson won 25 games at South Florida last season before taking over the Friars, and both teams have played nobodies so far, so Colby trusts the Connecticut crowd. Sean likes Malik Mack to have a decent game. All three take Providence. Colby uses the Friars as his money-line dog, Sean locks +5.5 and Kramer takes them as his dog too. For the guys, it doubles as an olive branch to Providence after the Kim English saga.
Maryland and Georgetown are finally playing again, two schools about 20 minutes apart, with Georgetown projected as a pick. Colby blames Maryland for letting the rivalry die and credits Ed Cooley and Buzz Williams for bringing it back. He takes the Hoyas in their home city, even though he suspects the crowd leans Maryland. Kramer plays revenge instead. Cooley’s Hoyas beat Buzz on the road last year, and Kramer thinks it’s Buzz’s turn, so he backs the Terps after watching some of the preseason motivational Buzz talk and coming away a believer.
Four Locks, A Dog And The Friday Night Parlay
Colby asked for four locks this time and opens with his dog, Providence on the money line. His locks are Yale +14.5, UConn -5.5, Missouri +5 and High Point -13.5. Sean stays a dog handicapper all the way through, with Yale +14.5, Oakland +14.5, New Mexico State +21.5 and Providence +5.5, plus Missouri on the money line as his dog. Kramer skips Missouri over the Avila worry and goes High Point -13.5, Oakland +14.5, Memphis -3 and UConn -5.5, then takes the Providence dog. Yale and Oakland are the picks that keep showing up, and that’s where the parlay talk lands.
Sean suggests a Providence and Missouri money-line parlay. Colby counters with a Utah two-step, Towson and Omaha on the money line, which asks a lot of two teams catching double digits. Then Kramer offers the Friday night dogs, a Yale and Oakland money-line parlay. It’s only two games, both teams are well coached, and both should be juicy prices. Colby likes it, and Sean points out that Friday night dogs work in college football, so why not college hoops. Kramer figures the ticket might pay 25 or 30 to 1, and that’s the one to play.
Podcast Chapters
0:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
1:47 Bonus Wednesday College Hoops With Colby
4:12 Towson vs. Utah Picks
8:11 Mack, Troy & The Foxhole
17:21 UMass vs. Boston College Picks
22:49 Yale vs. UCF Picks
26:09 Missouri vs. St. Louis Picks
31:59 Michigan vs. UConn Picks
36:20 Omaha vs. BYU Picks
40:05 Oakland vs. Stanford Picks
42:54 UNC Wilmington vs. East Carolina Picks
46:22 VCU vs. Memphis Picks
49:26 Colorado vs. San Diego State Picks
56:14 Washington State vs. High Point Picks
59:14 New Mexico State vs. Gonzaga Picks
1:04:14 Underdog Pick’em: Cadou and Mullins
1:06:47 Providence vs. Nebraska Picks
1:10:25 Maryland vs. Georgetown Picks
1:13:38 Four Locks and a Dog Parlay
1:18:27 Thank You for Participating in the Sports Gambling Podcast
Game Previews
UNC Wilmington vs East Carolina
