College Hoops Picks - November 17, 2022

What's up everyone, back with a couple more picks for Thursday's college basketball slate after a (well-deserved) day off. As a reminder (read: humble-brag), both of my team unders cashed while Michigan State and Kentucky went well over the total. Yeah, there were two overtime periods and we weren't particularly close in regulation, but double overtime was all part of the plan. 2022 CBB Record: 6-0

To me, the Champions Classic is the official start of college basketball season. It means high-profile teams finally start to play each other and we can start to find out who these teams really are. Naturally, I'm immediately drawn to two massive teams: Creighton and UC Riverside. It doesn't get much bigger than that.

This game is less about UC Riverside and more about Creighton. Mostly because I couldn't find the former school on a map and I can't name a single player on their basketball team, but also because Creighton is really damn good.

After a mediocre opener, Creighton has gone for over 90 points in each of their next two games. They've got a ton of different scoring options, play good team basketball, and manufacture easy looks. As long as they knock down shots, they'll put up a big number.

Riverside, at least thus far, has played a high-tempo game. If they continue down that path, that means a lot of possessions for each team. They also have an inexperienced frontcourt, and Ryan Kalkbrenner is a mountain of a man who's knocked down his last 19 attempts. There's no reason to believe the Highlanders will slow down Greg McDermott's offense. Creighton over 78.5.

While I did have to google what the Riverside mascot was, I already know everything I need to about this next game. Colorado and UMass Amherst square off in the first game of the "Myrtle Beach Invitation". Last season, I was absolutely abysmal at picking neutral site games. I should probably stay away from these games, but I have a problem, so I won't.

When I played frisbee in college (pretty cool, I know), we traveled to Myrtle Beach every year to play in a tournament. The tournament never represented our highest quality frisbee. I attribute the lack of overall skill on travel, sleeping arrangements, excessive alcohol use, or being in an unfamiliar location. I've even heard of teams being evicted from their rental property for reasons I won't say. Again, I've just heard of that happening; it never happened to me. I can't say Division I basketball programs face those same issues, but I can't say they don't.

Colorado comes into this one after an upset over Tennessee. It could be a classic letdown spot, but I actually see some similarities between Tennessee and this UMass team. The Volunteers are an overall more talented team, but the lack of floor spacing presents a challenge for both teams. I watched the Minutemen against Towson last week and they consistently struggled to space the floor. Towson packed the paint, left shooters open, and didn't let UMass get easy looks at the rim.

Colorado will likely not respect UMass' ability to shoot from deep until they have to, forcing tough looks inside. They've got multiple frontcourt players who see the floor and can protect the rim to make things difficult inside for Frank Martin's offense. The Buffaloes did run a smaller lineup against Tennessee for a lot of the game but still managed to make life difficult thanks to strong perimeter defense. I don't hate the total under, but team totals have been good to me so I'll roll with UMass under 71.5