Finally! College Hoops season has arrived! As UConn goes for the three-peat, every other College Basketball program looks to make its presence known in this ever-changing modern-day NCAA landscape. We have big-time coaches heading to new programs, some notable players rocking new threads, and a whole new group of NBA prospects to look out for. Welcome to College Hoops in 2024-2025. Here are my College Basketball Picks for November 4!
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College Basketball Picks November 4
Our opening day slate has just one ranked on-ranked matchup, which we will get to in a bit. Otherwise, we have 17 other top-25 teams playing games on November 4. Just a warning: some of the point spreads on these games are huge, but that’s what you get on opening night for some of these top programs. Let’s get into the picks!
Duke 1H -19.5 vs. Maine
All eyes in Cameron Indoor Stadium will be on the freshman phenom and prohibited favorite to be the number one overall selection in the 2025 NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg. Flagg looked good in his preseason action, but that is just that…preseason action.
Cooper Flagg just led Duke to a 107-56 win over Lincoln in an exhibition matchup.
😈 22 PTS
😈 2 REB
😈 6 AST
😈 4 BLK@Cooper_Flagg pic.twitter.com/UtUptnO9bk— SLAM University (@slam_university) October 19, 2024
Duke did lose a lot of talent as they saw the likes of Jeremy Roach, Mark Mitchell, Jared McCain, and Kyle Filipowski walk out the door. Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster are returning, but the team is relatively young. Khaman Maluach is another name to know this season. The 7’2 freshman center should provide Duke with some much-needed rim protection.
In this one, I expect Duke to come out the gates hot with the Cameron Crazies behind them.
Baylor +5.5 vs. Gonzaga
Baylor and Gonzaga tip off at 11:30 PM EST, so if you’re going to be awake for this one like me, hats off to you. Yes, this is the day’s only ranked matchup, as I mentioned earlier. Preseason rankings are silly, in my opinion, but these two programs have been historically great.
Baylor is going to be an elite team this year. They added Jeremy Roach, who should add a consistent scoring punch from the guard position. In addition, Scot Drew also put together one of the better recruiting classes in the country, signing VJ Edgecombe and Rob Wright. Edgecombe is the higher-touted of the two and seems to be a lottery pick for next June.
Last season, Mark Few and the Zags struggled to defend at a high level, although they could score with the best of them. The Zags got all the way to the Elite 8 despite a really rocky start to the season.
I don’t see enough change in Gonzaga’s roster to think their defense will significantly improve. I’m rolling with Baylor, keeping this one close or even win in Spokane.
The College Basketball Experience
For more analysis on every college basketball game for the 2023-24 season, make sure you tune into The College Basketball Experience. Colby Dant, Moneyline Mac, and Noah Bieniek talk about each game on the entire slate. Listen for input on ATS and moneyline college basketball picks every night!
