A lull before the madness begins again. That’s what we have on the Wednesday college basketball schedule. Only three games are on tap, but don’t tell the teams involved that they are meaningless. Two NIT quarterfinal round games have the green light with a trip to New York City and Madison Square Garden at stake.
Colorado has a quick turnaround after defeating Norfolk State on Monday. The Buffaloes head to Austin to take on the Longhorns in one NIT tilt. The Lipscomb Bisons paid close attention to what Wichita State did, now they will try and repeat that performance. A No. 5 seed, the Bisons can join the Shockers in New York by winning three consecutive road games. They travel to NC State for a matchup with the ACC’s Wolfpack.
It’s not as prestigious as the NIT, but don’t piss on the parade of Coastal Carolina and DePaul. Those two will hook up in a College Basketball Invitational semifinal tilt at Wintrust Arena.
BookMaker.eu will have college basketball odds and live betting options for every game on the Wednesday schedule.
College Basketball Schedule for Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Colorado at Texas, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Lipscomb at North Carolina State, 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
Coastal Carolina at DePaul, 8 p.m. ET
Wednesday Best Bets
Coastal Carolina at DePaul ( -7, 162.5 ), 8 p.m. ET
A trip to the CBI championship series is on the line when these teams meet for the very first time. And if you like offense this is the game for you. Coastal Carolina is coming off a 109-91 win over West Virginia, putting up points like no one had ever seen in Morgantown. In fact, they hadn’t. The Chanticleers scored the most points ever allowed by the Mountaineers in a home game. Granted, WVU has dealt with injuries and suspensions and clearly wasn’t the club that was ranked in the preseason poll, but don’t take anything away from CCU. Devante Jones scored 32 points in the win and all five starters reached double figures.
Coastal took advantage of a broken down Mountaineers unit and everything was going down on Monday. The same was happening to DePaul’s Max Strus, who has been en fuego in the first two games of the tournament. Strus led the Blue Demons to a first-round win over Central Michigan by scoring 33 points and he followed that with a 38-point gem on Monday to beat Longwood, 97-89. DePaul’s Big East schedule is more difficult than the Sun Belt slate CCU plays, and for that reason, as well as being at home, I’m siding with the Demons to cover as a Wednesday best bet.
Colorado at Texas ( -5.5, 139 ), 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
A trip down memory lane will precede this NIT quarterfinal matchup. Colorado and Texas were members of the Big 12 Conference from 1996-2010 before the Buffs joined the Pac-12. They’ve played just twice since the split. CU was the last team to reach the quarterfinal round after knocking off Norfolk State on Monday. The Buffs had little time to celebrate the victory, however. The Buffs were a pleasant surprise in the Pac and they’ve been playing their best ball toward at the end of the season. They’ve won seven of eight with the only loss in that span to Pac-12 champ Washington in the conference tournament.
The young Buffs have started to put it all together led by sophomore Tyler Bey, who scored 17 points with nine rebounds in just 25 minutes against Norfolk State. They get contributions from two freshmen and three second-year players with just one upperclassman a significant part of the rotation. And they are 12-3 in their last 15 games, so I guess they’ve figured it out. Texas is no push over, especially at home. And if Kerwin Roach shows up they are a force. But I like Colorado’s youth and enthusiasm and I’ll take the visitors and the points.
Lipscomb at NC State ( -3, 163.5 ), 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
Lipscomb can match what Wichita State has already accomplished by winning a third straight NIT game on the road to reach the semifinals. The Bisons toppled Davidson in the first round and defeated No. 1 seed UNC Greensboro last Saturday to set up this contest. Garrison Matthews scored 23 points with 11 boards in the UNCG game and he averages 20 points per game for the season. Rob Marberry tallied 24 and the Bisons eclipsed the 80-point mark on the road for the eighth time this season.
Don’t expect the Wolfpack to take their opponent lightly. The bad boys from the almighty ACC barely slipped by a pair of mid-majors in the first two rounds and were nearly ousted by Harvard on Sunday. The balanced NC State offense will be too much for the Bisons in the end, however. Six players average between 13.4 and 8.9 points per game, and the Pack averages nearly 80 points per game, with that number substantially higher against non-ACC foes.
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