Top College Basketball Picks for Wednesday, November 17 (2021)

With so many unfamiliar faces due to the transfer portal and home court actually meaning something now, with fans in the stands, the college basketball season is off to a hectic start. But that’s why we love the sport! The playing field is starting to get more expansive, and competition is starting to get greater.

Starting today, November 17, I will be sharing my three favorite college basketball picks of the day. Sit back and relax (at least until game time…)

All odds via BettingPros consensus

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Merrimack vs. Army: Army -118

(6:00 PM ET tip)

I’m not always going to bet on the biggest games of the day. I look for value and place bets where I see it. Tonight, I love Army going up against Merrimack.

The Merrimack College Warriors beat NJIT 61-54 and lost to Rutgers 48-35. Defensively, they’ve been fantastic. Offensively, not so much. The College Warriors are 341 in the nation in effective field goal percentage, shooting just 38 percent. As a team, through three games, Merrimack has shot 35.7 percent from inside the arc and just 27.1 percent from beyond the arc. Merrimack hasn’t been able to grab offensive rebounds either.

On the other hand, Army is a fast-paced offense that will have to find a way to beat that impressive Merrimack defense that ranks 14 in the nation in effective field goal percentage allowed. The College Warriors are also forcing turnovers 26 percent of the time through three games. However, Army will look to get out in transition and beat Merrimack down the floor to get high percentage looks and better shots. The longer that Army waits to score, the harder it’ll be. Look for Army to go fast offensively and grab more rebounds on their way to victory.

Drexel vs. St. Joseph’s: St. Joseph’s -1.5 (-110)

(7:00 PM ET tip)

The Drexel Dragons last played Sunday, where they lost to Syracuse, 75-60. That was their first D-1 test as they played a non-D1 opponent to start the season. Drexel was careless with the basketball against Syracuse, and while St. Joe’s isn’t going to force nearly as many turnovers, it’s something to watch out for with Drexel. The Dragons haven’t been aggressive enough getting to the line, and that needs to change if they want to have any kind of success moving forward.

On the other hand, St. Joe’s knocked off Mount St. Mary’s, 80-60, in their first D-1 bout this season. Through two games, the Hawks are shooting an effective field goal percentage of 53.2 percent and have done well on the offensive glass by bringing down 37.5 percent of offensive rebounds.

The Hawks are also shooting 40.8 percent from three, and Drexel really struggled to defend the perimeter against Syracuse. With the Hawks at home, they’ll be comfortable and should score plenty from distance.

UC Riverside vs San Diego: San Diego -2

(10:00 PM ET tip)

San Diego lost a heartbreaker in overtime to California on Monday. That was after already defeating a quality Nevada team on Friday, 75-68. This year, the Toreros look really good and could be a sleeper team in the West Coast Conference this season.

Meanwhile, there’s going to be plenty of hype surrounding the UC Riverside Highlanders after they upset Arizona State on a wild full-court buzzer-beating shot. All in all, UC Riverside doesn’t compare to San Diego right now. Especially not at home. Riverside isn’t getting to the line often and is shooting just 37.7 percent from inside. The only reason they’re scoring points at a solid rate is due to shooting 39.2 percent from three. That’s going to start to fall back to average for this team.

Riverside is a slow offense with not much firepower in the first place. Meanwhile, San Diego is a much better three-point shooting team and will show off in this bout against Riverside at home.

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Jason Radowitz is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Jason, check out his archive and follow him @Jason_Radowitz.