CBB Best Bets on a beautiful Wednesday night

Listen, it’s easy to dismiss a Wednesday night college basketball board after an action-filled Super Tuesday slate, but every time I look at tonight’s board, I fall a little more in love with it. So I’ve decided to drop three of my favorite plays for the night.

Play #1: Tennessee Volunteers -10.5.

This is a smash spot for Rick Barnes’ team, who at 18–7 cannot afford any more slip-ups as they try to get the best seed possible for March. They’re playing an Oklahoma team that is coming off two very impressive wins — beating Georgia by 16 at home and winning at Vanderbilt — but before that, this team lost nine conference games in a row.

Play #2: Middle Tennessee State +5.

If there are two things I love to do when betting college basketball — and that I’ve found lots of success with — it’s fading obvious bounce-back spots and fading obvious revenge games.

Middle Tennessee is 3–7 on the road, and Sam Houston State is 9–1 at home. This line is shorter than Diego Pavia, and not to mention, MTSU has already beaten Sam Houston this year — which brings in the obvious revenge narrative.

I have to get nasty and contrarian here and play the Blue Raiders on the road.

Play #3: West Virginia Mountaineers -10.5

I will be fading the Utah Utes, who are 10-2 against the spread on the road, including covering three in a row as double-digit dogs against Cincinnati, Houston, and Kansas. But when you peel back the covers a little bit, you realize they’ve still lost four out of their last six by double digits, and they’re not as competitive as that road ATS record would indicate.

West Virginia, on the other hand, has been doing its best work on the road in February, with wins at UCF and Cincinnati — both sneaky tough places to play. I think this is a wonderful spot for West Virginia to get some home cookin’ and a 20-point victory.