Top 3 College Basketball Betting Odds, Picks & Predictions: Monday (12/2)
Feast Week has come and gone in college basketball, and perhaps no results were more surprising than UConn losing three straight games at the Maui Invitational to finish last in the eight-team event.
College basketball slowly kicks things back into high gear with a small 16-game slate, as students are back on campus and games return to teams’ home arenas.
We have gone a combined 4-2 with our last two Monday articles, each turning in profitable 2-1 days. We are back to continue that momentum.
For a detailed breakdown of Monday’s matchups, keep reading for our college basketball best bets and top picks for Monday, December 2nd.
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Monday's Best College Basketball Bets
(College basketball best odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Bryant (+1.5) @ Drexel (-1.5) | O/U 151.5 (-112/-108)
Bryant was picked to finish third in the America East preseason poll but has struggled to start the season. The Bulldogs have lost three out of four games and have only won once away from home - a neutral-site win over Tennessee State.
This game is an extreme clash of styles, as Bryant ranks 12th in adjusted tempo while Drexel plays at one of the slowest paces in the country (346th in adjusted tempo). My view is that it is always easier to slow a team down than speed them up. I expect the Dragons to make this game more of a half-court grind.
The good news for Bryant is that it has received production from players other than Earl Timberlake, as Rafael Pinzon leads the team with 17.6 points per game. But Drexel has shot a blistering 55.5% from inside the arc and does not have to deal with the lookahead factor Bryant has with arguably its biggest non-conference home game of the season against Brown (with whom it has created an intense under-the-radar rivalry) on tap for Friday.
Pick: Drexel -1.5 (-105)
Yale (+3.5) @ Rhode Island (-3.5) | O/U 157 (-112/-108)
Slow starts are nothing new for Yale, as it overcame a 7-6 start last year to win the Ivy League and advance to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. That is why I am not panicking about the Bulldogs after they lost four of their first eight games, especially since two of those losses were against Big Ten opponents.
Yale returned 56.5% of its minutes from last year (47th-best in the country) and has shot well from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs are making three-pointers at a 39.1% clip (in the top 26 in the country), which is a big reason they rank in the top 40 in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Rhode Island is a bit overvalued after a 7-0 start, as it has not beaten anyone ranked within the top 140 of KenPom‘s rankings. Its 91-53 blowout win over Charleston was impressive, but the Rams are just 2-4 against the spread (ATS) this year and covered just 30.8% of their games (8-18 ATS) as favorites since 2022.
Pick: Yale +3.5 (-105)
UT Arlington (-6.5) @ UL Monroe (+6.5) | O/U 147 (-110/-110)
Grand Canyon was the unanimous top choice in the WAC preseason poll, but UT Arlington was picked second and should make plenty of noise in the conference this year.
Just one of UT Arlington’s three wins came against a Division I opponent thus far, but the Mavericks fought valiantly in a five-point loss to Rhode Island in their last game and have covered two of their three games after a loss.
UT Arlington should take advantage of a UL Monroe defense that has allowed opponents to shoot 58% from inside the arc (329th in the country) and is 284th or worse in both adjusted defensive efficiency and effective field goal percentage defense. UL Monroe’s offense has been even worse, making fewer than 28% of its threes and shooting 45.5% from two-point range.
Pick: UT Arlington -6.5 (-110)
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.