ESPN dubs this time of year “Feast Week” as plenty of quality non-conference college basketball action takes place starting now and going through Thanksgiving weekend.
Thursday marked the official start of MTE (Multiple-Team Events) season in college basketball, with thrilling games from the Myrtle Beach Invitational, Charleston Classic and Vivid Seats Legends Classic. Two of today’s best bets are from the semifinals of those MTEs, while we are also fading an AP-ranked team that is generating much buzz in the early stages of this season.
Here are Friday’s college basketball best bets. Below we dive into St. John’s vs. Dayton.
Friday's College Basketball Best Bets: St. John’s vs. Dayton
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook
St. John’s vs. Dayton (-1) | O/U 139 (-115/-105)
In a tournament format with a condensed schedule, we generally favor the team with the better head coach. His preparation on a quick turnaround is paramount. However, while no one can argue with Hall of Famer Rick Pitino’s resume, his St. John’s team is very much a work in progress. The Red Storm have been very poor defensively outside of Thursday’s 53-52 win against North Texas.
We are not overvaluing the St. John’s for yesterday’s victory, as they were a bad matchup for the Mean Green because their press. In addition, North Texas entered the game 2-0, but ShotQuality graded each of those games as losses.
Dayton should be well prepared for the Red Storm press after it solved a more athletic version of it from LSU yesterday. The Flyers committed just 11 turnovers - four fewer than the Tigers - and out-rebounded LSU by seven with 10 more free throws. The most impressive part of Dayton’s win is that it got just eight points from leading scorer DaRon Holmes II, who came into the game averaging 18.0 points per contest. Holmes shot 2-of-9 from the field as he was hampered by LSU’s length, but he should find no such resistance from a St. John’s defense that was torched for 26 points by Michigan’s Dug McDaniel and allowed five Stony Brook players to score in double figures in the opening game.
Pick: Dayton Moneyline (-110)
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Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.