Value is the name of the game when it comes to sports betting. Value can come from a variety of places, whether it be sportsbooks being slow to react to trends, or overreacting to small samples, among myriad other factors down to what sportsbook you choose to place your bets with.
The other thing about value is that baked into value is inherent risk. Some of the picks I present are riskier than others but every pick has a return that offers value in the discrepancy between the implied probability and the real-time odds. Finding the edge is what it’s all about. Every day that you don’t find the edge, Vegas gets the leg up. This approach has led to major gains this betting season including returns of +550 on Florida men and +332 on UConn Women in the past month.
I dive into the minutia of daily college basketball slates to find you the best ROI so you don’t have to. As March approaches, grabbing as much value as possible will help build our bankrolls heading into the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments! Let’s roll!
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Friday’s Best College Basketball Value Picks
Season: 4-3 | Last: 2-0 | Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook
Central Michigan Chippewas at Eastern Michigan
Central Michigan has dropped seven of their last eight road night games while Eastern Michigan comes in winners of three of their last four home games. The Chippewas have dropped four of their last seven games overall. During that same stretch, the Eagles have won four of their last six games including three of their last four at the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
Eastern Michigan, despite being the home underdogs, holds the eighth spot in the MAC with a 7-8 conference record while Central Michigan is a rung below in the 9-spot at 6-9. Overall on the season, the Eagles are 14-14, and the Chippewas come in losers of more games than they’ve won at 13-15.
There is too much in Eastern Michigan’s favor tonight for them to be offering a plus-return. Take it.
Pick: Eastern Michigan Moneyline (+114)
UCLA Bruins at #18 Purdue Boilermakers
I absolutely love the value in this game, despite Purdue being at home and being the ranked team. The Boilermakers might have the #20 to the left of their name but UCLA has it to the right, as in 20 wins. The Bruins come in at 20-8 while Purdue has yet to crack the 20-win plateau this season at 19-9.
The Bruins have won nine of their last 11 games including victories in three of four road games during that stretch. Purdue holds onto their ranking despite dropping four straight games, having not won since a 90-72 victory over USC back on February 7. I’d like to remind you that tomorrow is the first day of March.
UCLA has had issues on the road this season, dropping three of their first four conference road games, with those three losses all coming in the Central or Eastern time zones. The Bruins got a non-West Coast located Big Ten road win out of the way with a 72-68 win at Indiana back on Valentine’s Day and this is their first road trip since then.
UCLA holds the advantage all-time head-to-head with Purdue 10-3. The two storied programs have not met since 2000 but the rivalry should be reignited as the 25-year drought ends with conference realignment.
You can even get UCLA up to +4.5 and still get a plus-return (+100). The value is simply too much to ignore here.
Pick: UCLA Moneyline (+180)
Parlay Odds: +499
Luke Monaldo is a featured writer at BettingPros. Follow him on Twitter @MoKnowsSports and Discord @alydar1227 AKA The GIFTing Crooner. For more from Luke, check out his archive.
