Dean Etheridge
The men’s new college basketball season continues with great match ups coming at us on a daily basis. Tonight the Kentucky Wildcats are in action, and we take a look at their match against SC State for our latest NCAAB betting picks.
The season is still only a few days old, but already we’re seeing a pattern emerging with betting favorites Gonzaga and Houston getting their respective seasons off to unbeaten starts.
The same can’t be said about the Kentucky Wildcats though. From their three matches to date, they’ve already lost one. But so far, it doesn’t seem to have affected their betting odds to win the NCAAB Championship too badly.
2023 NCAAB Championship Winners Betting
A look at the odds below shows that Gonzaga are the favorites with the best college basketball betting sites. BetOnline has them at +850 to win the title they looked destined to claim last year. Behind the Bulldogs is the Houston Cougars at +950. The Cougars started the season with three wins on the spin, underlining their number three ranking and position of second betting favorites.
| 2022/23 NCAAB Tournament Winner Betting |  |  |  |
| Gonzaga | +850 | +800 | +825 |
| Houston Cougars | +950 | +900 | +925 |
| Kentucky Wildcats | +1200 | +1100 | +1150 |
| Baylor | +1200 | +975 | +1150 |
| North Carolina | +1200 | +1300 | +1400 |
| Kansas | +1400 | +1550 | +1600 |
| Duke | +1600 | +1500 | +1500 |
The Wildcats come next at +1200, but it’s busy at this price with Baylor and North Carolina at the same odds. The above quoted odds are from BetOnline. You can read more about them, along with details of all their latest betting offers in our BetOnline sportsbook review.
Kentucky vs SC State
Kentucky got their 2022/23 campaign off to a decent enough start with wins over Howard Bison and Duquesne Dukes. The win over Howard on the opening night was 95-63, and was pretty routine. Then in their second match, they defeated the Dukes 77-52. Both pretty much went as expected, results wise.
In their third match against unranked Michigan State Spartans, the wheels came off with an 86-77 defeat.
Final from Indy. pic.twitter.com/o93JV2RcHW
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) November 16, 2022
In hindsight, this isn’t a massive shock. MI State may well be +4000 to win the NCAAB Championship, but they’ve started the season strongly. In their opening match they beat Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 73-55, and they then lost to Gonzaga last Thursday, but only by one point (64-63).
- What; Kentucky Wildcats v South Carolina State Bulldogs
- Where; Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
- When; Thursday, November 17th, 2022
- Time; 7 pm ET
As for SC State, it has so far been a season to forget. Played three, lost three. And it’s obviously not looking too promising for them in their fourth match either. In their last outing they lost 96-71 to the Duquesne Dukes on Monday night. That defeat came after losses to TN State (80-61), and the South Carolina Gamecocks (80-77).
There is a handy marker in those series of results, and it’s both sides respective matches against the Duquesne Dukes. The Wildcats beat them 77-52. While the Bulldogs lost 96-71 to them.
Kentucky vs SC State; Match Betting Odds
There’s no moneyline on this match with the best college basketball betting sites, there’s just a handicap market, and a total points spread.
In the handicap market, SC State Bulldogs are -110 with a start of +38. Starting from -38, Kentucky is also -110. While on the total points spread market, the line is set at 145.5. Both over and under 145.5 is -110.
A handicap mark of 38 sounds about right to me. If it gets you wondering which side of the bet offers better value, it must be near the mark. That said, using our marker, also known as the Duquesne Dukes, does suggest we have to be backing Kentucky to beat the handicap spread.
Afterall, Kentucky defeated the Dukes by 25 points, and the Dukes defeated SC State by 25 points. Obviously, betting on sport isn’t as simple as that, or we’d all be rich. But it is a handy reference point, and with it being a close call on the handicap spread, it has helped me decide that my first betting pick on the match is for Kentucky to win on the handicap.
Total Points Pick
Moving onto my second NCAA college basketball betting pick – on the total points spread market – and both sides have topped 145.5 points in two of their three matches so far this season. The time the Wildcats failed was against our old friends the Dukes. In that match there were 129 points scored. Their other two matches saw 158, and 163 points scored.
In South Carolina’s matches, we’ve seen 157, 141, and 167 points scored. Meaning, in five out of the collective six games, the number of points scored has been near once, and well over 145.5 points, four times. Only once was 145.5 not threatened.
Again, it’s not an exact science, but going with the statistics from this season, we have to make over 145.5 points our second betting pick on this match.
