Friday’s lines are officially out and there are certainly some interesting matchups throughout the evening. The backyard brawl between Pittsburgh and West Virginia will be entertaining while we have quite a few west coast-central matchups as well. With all of these fun matchups, it is time to take a look at my picks for all of these games.
Featured games
West Virginia at Pittsburgh
7 PM ET on ESPNU
Line: Pittsburgh -1.5
ATS Pick: No Pick, Under 147.5
Why? I really don’t have a feel for either of these teams so I would take a look at the over/under. This line has it projected as a 74.5-73 game which I think is a little high, especially given the overall sloppiness that both teams tend to play with.
Gonzaga at Texas A&M
9 PM ET on the SEC Network
Line: Gonzaga -6.5
ATS Pick: Gonzaga
Why? I get that Gonzaga lost a lot from last year’s team but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still way more talented than Texas A&M. This feels like a game that is probably close at the half but I think in the second half the Bulldogs open things up and win comfortably.
Minnesota at Utah
9 PM ET on the PAC-12 Network
Line: Utah -3
ATS Pick: Utah
Why? Minnesota has had a really long week as they’ve been in South Dakota, Indiana, and are capping the trip off by traveling to Utah. I think those airline miles start to wear down Minnesota as they lose this one by a few possessions.
BYU at Houston
9 PM ET on ESPNU
Line: Houston -11
ATS Pick: Stay away, Under 144.5
Why? I really don’t like either team in this position, BYU has been bad early in the season but I don’t really trust some of Houston’s players just yet. I think the better play would be just to take the under of 144.5 as I don’t think Houston allows this game to be all that high scoring.
Other good bets
Georgia State at Duke
7 PM ET on the ACC Network
Line: Duke -27
ATS Pick: Duke
Why? Duke has just been obliterating teams thus far, there’s no point in thinking that they won’t beat Georgia State handily this time around.
Monmouth at Kansas
8 PM ET on ESPN+
Line: Kansas -25
ATS Pick: Kansas
Why? I think that this is the game where Kansas starts to find themselves offensively, Monmouth played well against Kansas State for a half but got blown out once Kansas State decided to pressure on the defensive side of the ball. I think Kansas puts some pressure on the defensive end of things and really opens up things offensively.
Cal Baptist at California
10 PM ET
Line: California -3.5
ATS Pick: Cal Baptist
Why? Cal has been playing well thus far but they are at some point going to regress to their extremely low preseason expectations. I think that happens in this game as they get upset by a really talented Cal Baptist team.