College Basketball Picks For November 5th – NCAA Basketball Banter & Best Bets Recap
The College Basketball Experience (@TCEonSGPN) on the Sports Gambling Podcast breaks down every game on the College Basketball slate on Thursday, November 5th. Colby Dant (@TheColbyD), Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac), Noah Bieniek (@NoahB77_), and Cannabis Capper (@CannabisCapper) discuss their favorite games and give out their best bets.
Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac) and Noah Bieniek (@NoahB77_) are joined by Cannabis Capper (@CannabisCapper) for college basketball picks on November 5th, a 43-game Thursday slate. Ryan McIntyre takes his big swing on Mercyhurst at 20 to 1 over Notre Dame, and Noah Bieniek rides Coastal Carolina plus 40.5 at Duke.
Queens Steals The First Game Ball
Ryan McIntyre opens the fourth day of the season with Noah Bieniek and Cannabis Capper. Noah’s first game ball goes to Queens, who erased a double-digit second-half deficit against Loyola Marymount. Nasir Mann was the man, going 11 of 13 from the floor and five of six from deep. Jordan Watford still dropped 20. And the spot was brutal. Queens played a 9 AM game in Rock Hill, South Carolina, then flew out to LA. Mac calls it a scheduled loss that Grant Leonard and the Royals simply refused to take. So the night’s best finish belongs to Queens, and nobody on the panel argues the point.
Cap passes his game ball to Northern Kentucky, who won a 102-94 barn burner at South Dakota. Noah Pigatto went 11 of 15 for 30 points, and the Norse shot 64% from deep. That also wraps a 2-0 trip through the Dakotas in 48 hours. Then Mac goes with his Gaels, because St. Mary’s handled North Dakota State in a real statement. Cap admits he needed to see St. Mary’s before buying in, and now he’s sold. Noah also shouts out Wichita State for a 12-point win over CSUN, with Purdue transfer Wilberg posting 26 and 16. Meanwhile Santa Clara choked out Milwaukee for Herb Sendek and covered easily.
Noah’s one headline is High Point sleepwalking against Eastern Shore. High Point shot 63% from the line and 28% from deep, with Washington State coming in later this weekend. Eastern Shore, by the way, is quietly 2-0 against the spread after covering against Wake and High Point. So Mac gets his win there. And for anyone asking about Colby Dant (@thecolbyd), he’s off tonight because he’s flying out for a Utah swing. He’ll be at Utah and Towson on Thursday night, BYU on Friday and the Holy War on Saturday. Mac also says the crew is doing more in-person content this year, so the full group won’t be live every night.
McNeese Leads Off The Lock Board
The slate opens with McNeese at North Texas in Denton, and all three guys are on McNeese. Noah says the teams are built alike, but McNeese has more firepower and Larry Johnson is a star. Cap thinks North Texas returns a lot of last year’s softness in year two under Daniel Robinson. Then Mac adds that the market hasn’t caught up to McNeese yet. He also thinks North Texas is still getting too much respect from the Ross Hodge and Grant McCasland era. So Cap locks McNeese and Mac makes it a double lock, even while admitting later it might be the one play he forced.
Indiana lays 27.5 against Bellarmine, and nobody on the show wants the points. Bellarmine had the worst defense in college basketball last year, and Vanderbilt hung about 95 on them in game one. Noah locks Indiana and says 26.5 is out there if you shop around. Mac notes the line opened a few points off KenPom’s 24, which usually tells you an ambush is coming. So he double locks the Hoosiers and calls for a 34-point win. Style points matter for an Indiana team coming off a bad year, and Cap lays the number too.
Penn State and Chattanooga splits the room. Noah takes the Nittany Lions without a lock, because Chattanooga turned it over 18 times against Louisville and Penn State excels at forcing turnovers. But Mac grabs the Mocs and sprinkles the money line, calling Penn State counterfeit, while Cap leans Mocs with no bet. Vanderbilt laying 17.5 against Wake Forest then sparks the first lock battle. Cap backs Vandy because Wake is young, turnover-prone and short on firepower. Noah lays it too, citing Tyler Tanner as a star guard who can break a game. Meanwhile Mac locks Wake in the points, expecting a classic Forbes big dog that hangs late.
Long Island at Seton Hall gets a double lock on the Sharks from Mac and Cap. They see continuity and athletes at LIU, while Seton Hall goes through scoring droughts with a new portal roster. Noah likes LIU as well but stays off the lock. Then Noah locks Pitt over Buffalo, because Pitt has been close to automatic against the spread in non-conference play. He also thinks Buffalo’s rebuilt roster gets run up on. Vermont draws a double lock from Mac and Cap off its buzzer loss to Iona. And Noah sides with the Catamounts, who made just 8 of 31 threes on opening night and should see that shooting turn.
Triple Locks On Delaware State And Princeton
NJIT at Iona is a Mac special. Mac thinks Iona pulled its buzzer-beater out of thin air, and he likes Bill Meyer coming off a great year. Noah agrees and locks the Highlanders, who bring back three regulars and added Georgia Tech transfer Brandon Stokes. He sees NJIT losing by about six at worst, while Mac sprinkles some on the +370 money line. Cap lays it with Iona, no bet. Then Cincinnati gets a double lock from Mac and Cap against Green Bay. Cincinnati’s coach said he wanted to throw up after watching his team, but the Bearcats still beat American by 26. So Cap expects Cincinnati to put it on Green Bay.
Delaware State at Navy turns into the first triple lock of the night. Mac has been fading Navy in football all year, and he sees the same problem here. The Midshipmen lost their top three players off last year’s team, and an academy can’t replace that easily. Cap thinks the line is far too respectful of Navy, so he locks Delaware State plus the points. Then Noah checks his conference preview notes and joins in. Delaware State brings back the most minutes in the league and has nine upperclassmen in the rotation. So the Hornets get a triple lock, and Mac sprinkles some on the +360 money line.
Marist hosting UMBC is another double lock from Mac and Cap. Mac loves John Dunn’s defense and expects the Red Foxes to bounce back after a rare home loss. Cap points out Marist shot just 37% from the field in that game, so some positive regression is due. Noah takes Marist as well and likes the under. Then Princeton laying 2.5 against Hofstra becomes a triple lock. Hofstra won the CAA last year but lost everybody from that tournament team. Meanwhile Princeton returns some of the most production in the country, and Mac thinks the Tigers are undervalued after a disappointing year.
The best debate of the middle slate is Mercyhurst at Notre Dame, and it ends in a triple lock on the Lake Show. Mac wants to fade the Irish coming back from Rome after their win over Villanova. He also points to College GameDay coming to campus for Miami and Notre Dame. Noah calls point guard Jake Lemmerman the best player in the NEC and loves the Tennessee Rainwater addition. And Notre Dame lost to Purdue Fort Wayne last year, so a head scratcher is possible. So Mac throws a hundred on the 20 to 1 money line, and Cap says it’s simply too many points.
Merrimack laying 7.5 against Lowell gets a Mac lock. App State made a ton of shots against Merrimack, and Mac doesn’t think Lowell can shoot like that. Cap is all over it too, because fading Lowell away from its own building has been the handicap for years. Later, Mac and Cap like Georgia State plus 13.5 at Charlotte in the first foxhole spot of the year. Georgia State lost as a home favorite and now gets double digits. But Noah stays with Charlotte, believing Wes Miller has a nice squad. He also recalls Troy Chewning (@Troychewning) buying in on Binghamton, though nobody bets that game at St. Peter’s.
Fading Duke And The Late Slate
Duke laying 40.5 to Coastal Carolina brings out Noah’s best foxhole read. Coastal lost outright at home as a favorite to Eastern Michigan, and Duke has Michigan State on deck in the Champions Classic. Noah also notes Duke looked shaky against Army in the first half. Then Mac adds the kicker. Coastal coach Justin Gray played at Wake Forest alongside Chris Paul and grew up in Charlotte. So Mac goes with Coastal, and Cap would take them too but wants at least 44 before he bets. And the advice from Noah is to wait, because this line is only going to climb.
SMU laying 24.5 against VMI gets a lay-it, lock-it from Mac, who might be in Dallas for the game. Cap says that push is all he needed, and he backs the Mustangs too. Rice gets a Mac lock against Commerce, a team coming off a money line win over Oklahoma. Cap is betting Rice as well, and Noah thinks the number carries a discount. Then Michigan State hosts Toledo, who lost returning center Austin Parks with no backup at the five. Mac bets Sparty because Izzo is still angry, and Cap locks it with him. Meanwhile Noah locks the over in Tulsa and Northern Illinois for fast pace and lots of possessions.
The late slate also brings a few lock battles. Noah locks South Alabama in another Sun Belt foxhole spot, while Mac takes Ray Harper’s team as a dog. Mac rides Penn against Illinois, but Cap lays it with the Illini because they take these games personally. And Mac locks DePaul to win by 10 or more, while Cap already bet South Florida at 7.5. Towson at Utah is a triple lock on the Tigers, and Mac calls it a quadruple lock with Colby on it too. Then Arizona laying 30.5 against Cal Poly gets a double lock. Noah bets the over 172.5 because Cal Poly runs a top-five tempo.
College Basketball Picks November 5th Locks And The Dog Parlay
Noah leads off the final card with Mercyhurst plus 19.5 and a little on the money line. His second play is Coastal Carolina plus 40.5 against Duke, with the reminder to bet it closer to tip. Then he finishes with the Arizona and Cal Poly over 172.5. Cap goes with Princeton minus 2.5, Pitt minus 19 and Cincinnati minus 24.5, and he expects the Bearcats to kill Green Bay. Mac locks Merrimack laying points at home and Marist laying the short number. He also grabs NJIT plus 9.5, saying that’s too many. So Mac ends up on four Northeast teams after promising none.
For dogs, Mac takes Mercyhurst at 20 to 1 and names Towson at five to one as an honorable mention. Cap goes with Delaware State as his dog. And because the guys all agree on those three, they build a money line parlay around Mercyhurst, Towson and Delaware State. Noah prices it at roughly 460 to 1, meaning a $10 ticket pays about $4,600. So Mac decides to put more on it and go big game hunting. Cap says no other podcast is handing out Delaware State and Mercyhurst on the money line. Mac calls those other shows cowards and signs off with the dogs barking.
Podcast Chapters
00:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
01:00 Welcome to the College Basketball Experience
04:00 Game Balls Before the Thursday Slate
15:51 McNeese vs. North Texas Picks
19:19 Bellarmine vs. Indiana Picks
21:25 Chattanooga vs. Penn State Picks
23:22 Wake vs. Vandy Picks
26:09 Long Island vs. Seton Hall Picks
28:38 Buffalo vs. Pitt Picks
31:12 Vermont vs. Fairfield Picks
32:55 New Hampshire vs. Rider Picks
34:22 Mercer vs. Virginia Tech Picks
35:53 NJIT vs. Iona Picks
39:19 Central Connecticut vs. Syracuse Picks
40:42 Maine vs. Sacred Heart Picks
41:45 Delaware State vs. Navy Picks
44:13 UMBC vs. Marist Picks
45:41 Albany vs. Manhattan Picks
46:45 Hofstra vs. Princeton Picks
48:32 Mercyhurst vs. Notre Dame Picks
51:28 Lowell vs. Merrimack Picks
52:37 Howard vs. Alcorn Picks
53:40 Bryant vs. Quinnipiac Picks
54:35 Georgia State vs. Charlotte Picks
56:13 Binghamton vs. St. Peter’s Picks
57:43 Cornell vs. Lehigh Picks
59:27 Northwestern State vs. Mississippi State Picks
1:01:37 Jackson State vs. Tulane Picks
1:02:30 Stonehill vs. Fordham Picks
1:04:01 Le Moyne vs. Creighton Picks
1:05:21 Coastal Carolina vs. Duke Picks
1:08:48 Gardner-Webb vs. Texas Picks
1:09:32 Jacksonville vs. Florida Picks
1:11:38 VMI vs. SMU Picks
1:13:08 Commerce vs. Rice Picks
1:14:39 Northern Illinois vs. Tulsa Picks
1:15:47 Toledo vs. Michigan State Picks
1:17:53 West Georgia vs. Loyola Picks
1:18:50 Jackson State vs. South Alabama Picks
1:22:20 Penn vs. Illinois Picks
1:24:13 South Florida vs. DePaul Picks
1:26:08 Bethune vs. Lubbock Picks
1:26:33 Towson vs. Utah Picks
1:27:18 Cal Poly vs. Arizona Picks
1:28:34 Locks and Dog Parlay
1:35:35 Sign-Off & Socials
