College Basketball Saturday 11/8: Previews, Predictions & 5 Best Bets

Jason Radowitz (60% in CBB) breaks down the top five match-ups for Saturday’s College Hoops with his favorite bets.

CBB: 3-2 ATS – 60%

Stony Brook Seawolves (0-1) @ (12) Seton Hall Pirates (1-0) 2:30pm EST 

Stony Brook will travel to New Jersey to face 12 ranked Seton Hall after losing in overtime to Yale by the score of 74-69. Stony Brook is now led by Geno Ford. He’ll look to get his first win as Stony Brook’s head coach. Elijah Olaniyi scored 19 points and five rebounds. Stony Brook has some size with Jeff Otchere who had 12 rebounds against Yale. Stony Brook lost their senior Akwasi Yeboah to Rutgers but they’re a deep team coming off a year in which they were 24-9 on the year. Last year’s team was young. These guys are a year older.

Seton Hall is coming into the season with the highest expectations in program history (basically). They defeated Wagner 105-71 in their first game of the season as their key player Myles Powell scored 27 points leading Seton Hall to victory. This team has loads of depth and lots of playmaking ability. The hype is real in Seton Hall. 

Seton Hall will be projected as one of the top offenses in the Big East and in college basketball as a whole. Stony Brook shot 30 percent in their first game against Yale. I’d expect their percentage to be up in this one. Seton Hall still allowed 71 points to Wagner. Stony Brook’s defense will also be way better than Wagner. I expect Stony Brook to keep this game close. I’ll take 20.5 points in this one.

Texas Longhorns (1-0) vs (23) Purdue Boilermakers (1-0) 7:00PM EST on FS1

Here’s a cool game for Saturday. Texas vs Purdue. Both teams are 1-0 to begin the year.  Last year Texas went 21-16 and missed out on the nCAA Tournament. However, they qualified for the NIT tournament and won it. Texas lost Kerwin Roach and Jaxson Hayes but they’ll return most of their talent looking to build on the NIT performance. Texas supposedly had the best BIG 12 recruiting class this season.

In their first game of the year, Texas beat Northern Colorado with Andrew Jones leading the way with 20 points. Courtney Ramey notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Texas shot 45 percent from the field but only 26 from three. 

Purdue went 26-10 last season and 16-4 in the Big Ten. They made it to the Elite Eight last season after losing to the champs in Virginia. They’ll miss their superstar Carsen Edwards this season who scored 24 points a game. Purdue’s coach Matt Painter believes he has the pieces to get that scoring back, especially from guard Jahaad Procter.

Purdue began their season with a win against University of Wisconsin Green Bay by the score of 79-57. Purdue shot 51 percent from the field and 31 from downtown. You can give me Purdue -8 at home. Texas will likely have some growing pains and I’m not sure they have the answer on offense just yet.

Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (1-0) @ (13) Texas Tech Red Raiders (1-0) 8pm EST

Texas Tech might be a work in progress this season with 10 new players and just three returnees, but it didn’t look like it on opening night. They went out and destroyed Eastern Illinois 85-60 with help from freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey and graduate transfer TJ Holyfield.

Bethune-Cookman opened their season against a division II opponent in Johnson University. They won 110-68. MEAC Preseason Player of the Year, Clentrell Pope scored 22 points and 19 rebounds, along with five blocks and five assists in their first win of the season.

Bethune Cookman won’t be a pushover this year. The spread sits at 28 points. Eastern Illinois’ spread was 23. You’re absolutely getting value with Bethune Cookman here as they have veterans and guys that can perform. The Wildcats were picked second in the MEAC. They’re not winning, but they’ll at least fight a little bit. Give me Bethune-Cookman +28. 

Rhode Island Rams (1-0) @ (7) Maryland Terrapins (1-0 9pm EST on FS1

Maryland’s coming into their 2019-20 season with a top-10 team looking to make some noise in March. They defeated Holy Cross on Tuesday easily by the score of 95-71 while Rhode Island had a little trouble with their win against Long Island winning 76-65.

Rhode Island is balanced offensively as they had five different players scoring in double figures against Long Island. Fatts Russell will be their main guy. He scored 18 points and Cyril Langevine recorded his first double-double of the new season with a 16 point, 15 rebound performance. Rhode Island will have to play the first semester without Georgetown transfer Antwan Walker and Jeremy Shappard, the JUCO transfer will be academically ineligible. Rhode Island’s starters will be getting a lot of minutes. Less depth for this team. 

Maryland will be led by Jalen Smith who also notched a double-double in Maryland’s first game. Maryland has a very good freshman class with Donta Scott, Makhi and Makhel Mitchell along with Hakim Hart. They’ll all get minutes down the line. It shows you how deep Maryland is.

Maryland should pull away from Rhode Island late in this game and cover the 11 point spread at home. 

Boise State Broncos (1-0) @ (15) Oregon Ducks (1-0) 11:00pm EST on PAC12

Boise State will get their first Division 1 game against 15 ranked Oregon after crushing Life Pacific 126-49. Oregon will be entering this game after a season-opening win against Fresno State, 71-57.

Boise State was led by Derrick Alston who scored a team high 25 points. The 126 points was a program record. They had 69 points at halftime and shot 62 percent from the field the entire game. However, that game is hard to know how good Boise State could be this season.

Oregon’s win was led by Payton Pritchard who has already made a name from himself twice in the NCAA Tournament. He had 24 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. He’s one of the most well-rounded players in college basketball. Oregon struggled from three, scoring just one three in 13 attempts but they did rebound well. The Ducks led by as much as 21 in this one.

Boise State is 4-11 against the spread in their last 15 non-conference games. The under has also hit in Boise State/Oregon games in the last five games. At the end of the day, if I expect the under in this game, I’ll take the points. Less points means you want more. Boise State +12.