Best College Basketball Trends You May Not Know About
The college basketball season is a wildly exciting time for bettors, with upwards of 100 games on Saturdays to wager on and nightly games numbering in the double digits. That said, the reason for that volume of games is that there are 353 teams in Division I and having a good feel for all of them can be a daunting, if not impossible task. So, I have a list of trends that might help you in your handicapping and point you in the right direction.
Best OVER Teams in College Hoops
Leading the charge for the highest OVER percentage in college hoops so far this season is the Long Island Sharks at 12-2-1 with an average combined score of 157.2. Unfortunately for LIU, it isn’t the team leading the dance in these high-scoring affairs as the Sharks are 7-9 SU (one game didn’t have a spread) and rank 334th out of 353 teams in points allowed per game at 80.2.
Down the list a little bit is Houston Baptist, which has gone OVER in 11 of its 13 games with a whopping average combined score of 182.7. The Huskies are in last place in Division I in points allowed per game at 102.1, nearly nine more than second-worst Mississippi Valley State at 93.2.
| Team | Record | Avg. Combined Score |
|---|---|---|
| Long Island Sharks | 12-2-1 | 157.2 |
| Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks | 11-2 | 159.9 |
| Houston Baptist Huskies | 11-2 | 182.7 |
| New Orleans Privateers | 9-2-1 | 148.1 |
| Vanderbilt Commodores | 12-3 | 150.3 |
| Oregon State Beavers | 12-4 | 145.3 |
| Oregon Ducks | 12-4-1 | 145.2 |
| McNeese State Cowboys | 9-3 | 155.7 |
| Central Arkansas Bears | 12-4 | 165.3 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | 7-2 | 146.6 |
Best UNDER Teams in College Hoops
On the opposite side of the spectrum from Long Island University’s OVERs is Sacramento State’s UNDERs. The total has gone UNDER in 10 of the Hornets’ 12 games this season with an average combined score of 117.8. They are surrendering the fourth-fewest ppg in the nation at 57.2 while scoring the 21st-fewest ppg.
| Team | Record | Avg. Combined Score |
|---|---|---|
| Sacramento State Hornets | 2-10 | 117.8 |
| West Virginia Mountaineers | 3-12 | 131.1 |
| Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions | 3-11 | 128 |
| CS Fullerton Titans | 3-11-1 | 128 |
| Texas A&M Aggies | 3-11 | 118.2 |
| Cal Poly Mustangs | 3-10-1 | 132.2 |
| Nicholls State Colonels | 3-10 | 134.5 |
| Albany Great Danes | 4-13 | 135.2 |
| Liberty Flames | 4-13 | 119.2 |
| St. John’s Red Storm | 4-13 | 144.6 |
Best ATS Records in College Hoops
On this list, we see Sacramento State once again, second behind the Yale Bulldogs at 11-2. The Ivy league squad has won all eight games in which it was favored and covered in all but one of those. The lone underdog game that Yale failed to cover in was at San Francisco when the Bulldogs were +4.5 but lost by five – knocked out by the hook.
| Team | Record |
|---|---|
| Yale Bulldogs | 11-2 |
| Sacramento State Hornets | 10-2 |
| Alabama Crimson Tide | 12-3 |
| Lafayette Leopards | 11-3-1- |
| St. Francis PA Red Flash | 10-3-1 |
| Stony Brook Seawolves | 13-4 |
| The Citadel Bulldogs | 9-3 |
| Stanford Cardinal | 12-4 |
| Seton Hall Pirates | 12-4 |
| Abilene Christian Wildcats | 9-3 |
Worst ATS Records in College Hoops
As mentioned in the OVER section, the Houston Baptist Huskies have struggled immensely to keep points off the board and that has led to them having the fourth-worst spread record at 3-9-1. Leading the way is Iona at 2-9 ATS and just 3-8 SU as well. The spreads haven’t even been that wacky for this team – the lone game the Gaels won as a favorite was a 17-point win as 12-point chalk, while they won outright as a 6.5-point dog vs Rider on January 10.
| Team | Record |
|---|---|
| Iona Gaels | 1-2 |
| Howard Bison | 3-13 |
| High Point Panthers | 3-11 |
| Houston Baptist Huskies | 3-9-1 |
| North Carolina Tar Heels | 4-12 |
| VCU Rams | 4-12 |
| Grand Canyon Antelopes | 4-11 |
| Longwood Lancers | 4-11-1 |
| Tennessee Tech Red Raiders | 4-11 |
| Toledo Rockets | 4-11 |
| UMBC Terriers | 4-11 |
| Virginia Cavaliers | 4-11 |
| Xavier Musketeers | 4-11-2 |
