Dean Etheridge
The Purdue Boilermakers are 8-0 this season and on Wednesday night they are looking to extend their winning run against Hofstra at the Mackey Arena, here we look ahead to their chances in our latest NCAAB betting picks.
The Boilermakers have got off to a flying start, with eight wins from eight. As for the Hofstra Pride, they’ve won six and lost three. Tonight, the Boilermakers will be looking to inflict a fourth defeat of the season on Hofstra, who will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat at the hands of George Mason last week.
The good early season form of Purdue has resulted in their odds to win the 2023 NCAA College Basketball Championship shortening. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the betting to win the championship.
Betting to win the 2023 NCAA Basketball Championship
The NCAA basketball season is really starting to take shape now, and this has resulted in big changes in the rankings, and also in the betting. Purdue is a team on the up. They’re now up to a ranking of four, and in the latest betting they are into +1800 to win the championship, which makes them joint fifth favorites.
At the top of the latest odds, the best college football betting sites still make Houston their favorites. BetOnline has Kevin Sampson’s team at +750, a slight improvement on their +800 last week.
The big movers in the latest betting is the North Carolina Tar Heels, who after starting the season ranked one, and also one of the betting favorites, now find themselves down at +2800.
UNC started the season as one of the favorites alongside Gonzaga and Houston. But only Houston is currently living up to expectations, with Gonzaga also dropping down the betting odds, currently at +2000, eighth favorites.
Full odds can be found below, for the purpose of this article we have used the above odds from BetOnline. You can read more about this bookmaker in our BetOnline sportsbook review, including their latest offer for new customers.
| NCAAB Tournament Winner Betting 2023 |  |  |  |
| Houston Cougars | +750 | +700 | +700 |
| Texas | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Baylor | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Arizona | +1600 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Kentucky Wildcats | +1800 | +1700 | +1500 |
| Purdue | +1800 | +1800 | +1700 |
| Connecticut | +1800 | +1700 | +1800 |
| Gonzaga | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Kansas | +2200 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Duke | +2200 | +2000 | +2000 |
| UCLA | +2200 | +2000 | +2000 |
| North Carolina | +2800 | +2500 | +2500 |
Purdue vs Hofstra
As we’ve already alluded to, Purdue is eight wins from eight. Victories over Milwaukee (84-53), Austin Peay (63-44), Marquette (75-70), West Virginia (80-68), Gonzaga (84-66), Duke (75-56), Florida State (79-69), and Minnesota (89-70), see Matt Painter’s team at the top end of the Big Ten.
They’ve also gradually worked their way up the rankings, just this week moving up one place from five to four. One of the highlight wins of the season for Purdue was their 84-66 win away to Gonzaga.
Final from Portland
Zags 66 – Purdue 84 pic.twitter.com/PimA5MWeE3
— Gonzaga Basketball (@ZagMBB) November 26, 2022
This was a statement victory over one of the preseason favorites with the top basketball sportsbooks.
- What; NCAA Basketball
- Who; Purdue Boilermakers vs Hofstra Pride
- Where; Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana
- When; Wednesday, December 7th, 2022
- Time; 7 pm ET
As for Hofstra Pride, it’s fair to say their season hasn’t been as successful as the Boilermakers has been. Speedy Claxton’s team started the season on fire, with four wins on the bounce. The four match winning streak was brought to an abrupt end at Saint Mary’s, where Claxton’s chargers were trounced 76-48.
Hofstra followed that up with a 10 point home loss to Middle Tennessee (64-54), before back-to-back wins over UNCG (65-53), and Quinnipiac (72-70), got the Pride back on track.
In their last outing they went down 81-77 to the George Mason Patriots after overtime.
What a battle. We gave it everything. #PrideOfLI pic.twitter.com/uTuAYoT0u3
— Hofstra Men's Basketball (@HofstraMBB) December 1, 2022
The match was all square at 68 each at the end of regulation time, with the Patriots having the better of the extra period to eventually take the match by four points.
Purdue vs Hofstra Betting
In the latest NCAA college basketball betting picks Purdue (-4000) are unbackable on the moneyline, while the Pride are +1300. The handicap market sees Hofstra Pride (-110) with a +19.5 points start, with Purdue at -110 needing to win by 20 or more points. The total points spread is set at 146.5, with over at -110, and under at the same odds.
Unless we’re going for a win for Hofstra (which we’re not), we can forget about the moneyline. So that just leaves us the handicap market and total points spread.
The handicap line sees Purdue needed to win by 19.5 points. Painter’s team has only won one match by more than this margin, their 31 points victory over Milwaukee in their opening game of the season. They have won three matches by 19 points, and one match by 18 points.
The 18 points win was over Gonzaga, who – despite not living up to expectations – are a stronger side than Hofstra is. With this in mind, I’m going to take Purdue to beat the handicap and make that my first pick.
In the total points market, Purdue has beaten the spread of 146.5 points in four of their eight matches this season. Hofstra has seen that total topped in five of their nine matches, but four of those occasions came in their first four matches.
Purdue’s last two matches have seen plenty of points from both teams though, and I’m thinking this trend will continue against Hofstra, so I’m going for over 146.5 points for my second pick in this match.
