College Hoops Picks - January 25, 2022

What's up, everyone? First winning day in a while my last time out and for some reason, I decided not to ride that momentum through the week. We've had somewhat light slates to start the week and still do tomorrow, but it's close to your typical Wednesday. Any given day has winners though, so let's find them. 2022 CBB Record: 26-17

Nebrasketball Is A Boring Sport

First on the slate is a game you'll probably only be watching if you have money on the game, Northwestern vs. Nebraska. I actually like watching Northwestern play. Boo Buie (awesome name) and Chase Audiege play just about the entire game and are awesome. It's not the most exciting brand of basketball, but they're slowly piecing together a tournament-caliber resume even after losing their best player (Pete Nance) to UNC.

Northwestern is definitely the better team here, but Nebraska has already knocked off Iowa and Ohio State at home. The Cornhuskers are down two starters after they lost Emmanuel Bandoumel for the season. As always, if they're going to pull another upset, they're going to have to muck it up. Both teams already are accustomed to playing at a slow pace, so a rock fight could definitely be in the cards for Wednesday night.

With Nebraska down a few starters, their defense could suffer, and Northwestern may be able to run it up. For that reason, I won't take the combined under. What I will do, is take Nebraska under 64.0. Bandoumel isn't necessarily a great offensive player, but any loss to the starting lineup will affect a team's offense. If Nebraska is to win, and I believe they can, they'll have to keep it low scoring and slow. Either way, I don't see the Cornhuskers getting past the mid-60s here.

Dog of the Day

I told myself I'm done betting on UConn games because I can't seem to get on the right side of them, but this line is a joke. Xavier is catching seven and a half points? Are you serious? There are two ways to look at this line in my opinion. The first is that it's a trap, and I'm an idiot for eating the cheese and taking Xavier. The second is that the books are buying UConn after they blew out an eight-man Butler team and selling Xavier after they overlooked DePaul and Georgetown.

I'm going to buy Xavier while they're low and sell UConn while they're high. Maybe that game against Butler gets them back on track, but they might as well have been playing against my seventh-grade CYO team. Butler already doesn't have a ton of talent, and they were down Manny Bates, probably their best player.

Xavier won by ten in the first matchup of the two teams, and that was with a hobbled Jack Nunge. They don't have a ton of depth, but the starting lineup is as good as any in the conference. As long as Xavier stays out of foul trouble, they should be able to keep this one close. Xavier +7.5 is a certified Dog of the Day™ (3-4). Woof.

Quick Hitters

Another day with just two picks from me, but that doesn't mean I don't have thoughts about other games. Here's a brain dump of all of the thoughts I've had while writing this:

- I lean under in the West Virginia/Texas Tech game. I haven't seen WVU play too much, but Tech is pretty stagnant on offense from what I've seen. 142.5 feels like a lot.

- Wisconsin has dealt with injury issues and is traveling all the way to College Park to take on Maryland. I still feel like they keep it within six points, but that really depends on who suits up for the Badgers.

- If Noah Fernandes plays for UMass, give me the Minutemen in a pick 'em. I saw him play in person at Harvard and he is a warrior. One of the best in the A10 when healthy.

- Wake Forest +3 at Pittsburgh? Maybe? I don't know anything about Pittsburgh, but I've got a good feeling about Wake.

- If Butler rolls out the same lineup as they did on Sunday, they'll get the doors blown off them again. Absolutely no offense on that team. In fact, give me Butler under 65.0, if that's where the number settles.

- Alabama probably blows the doors off of Mississippi State. They blow the doors off everyone.

That's all I've got for today. Plenty more coming soon.