Top College Basketball Picks Wednesday, February 17th (2021)
In the current pandemic world we are living in, nothing seems to surprise us anymore. With how frequently college basketball games are getting canceled or postponed, teams that are currently healthy and not quarantining will do anything to play a game. North Carolina’s men’s basketball team had to take to Twitter to try and schedule a game to not go a whole week without playing. Northeastern obliged, and a game was put together in less than 24 hours. Will we need athletic directors when things go back to normal?
I had previews ready for the BC-GT and Texas-Oklahoma games, but both games were postponed yet again. Those picks will be made available when those games will be played.
Here is one pick for Wednesday.
YTD: 101-86-3
All odds via BettingPros consensus
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Minnesota at Indiana (-4): 9:00 PM ET
Over in the NBA, the Utah Jazz are on a mind-boggling 18-1-1 ATS run, and bettors are blindly betting Utah every night until their luck runs out. In college basketball, Minnesota’s home/road splits have bettors wagering in a similar fashion, given how egregious the splits are. The Golden Gophers are 13-1 SU at home but are 0-7 SU and 1-6 ATS on the road. They have had one less day of practice time after getting back home early Monday morning after a late Sunday night game at Maryland. Indiana is just 1-3 SU in their last four home games, but their lone win in that span was a 67-65 upset over Iowa. It is a big game for both teams, but this is an auto-fade of Minnesota on the road.
There is a significant disparity between these two teams’ three-point shooting percentages, as Indiana ranks fifth in league play while Minnesota is dead last. Minnesota leading-scorer Marcus Carr struggled in his previous game with just nine points against Maryland. The Terrapins realized they could pack the paint on Carr and limit his penetration without having to respect too many of the Golden Gophers’ perimeter shooters. Carr is shooting just 33.3% from the field in his last two games, and that will not be good enough to break their road slump at Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers have won four of their last five games overall against Minnesota and have not lost to them on their home court since 2012. This year’s Golden Gophers team is not going to end that streak.
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Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.