The college basketball season moves into its second week of action. Here are the most notable games of the week from a betting perspective, the top college basketball games to bet on from November 12-18:
Michigan Wolverines at Villanova Wildcats
Wednesday, November 14th
This is it. This is the rematch of last season’s national championship game in San Antonio, won handily by the Wildcats en route to their second national title in the past three seasons. Villanova is now an unquestioned superpower in college basketball. Jay Wright has become one of the elite coaches in the sport. Villanova is no longer a cute and cuddly underdog story, which it once was in the 1980s. This is now a team which expects to dominate the Big East and become an extremely high seed in every NCAA Tournament. Multiple frontline players return from last season’s championship team, including Eric Paschall, who is a matchup headache with his combination of strength and versatility. This team will remain very hard to guard at all five spots on the floor, but it will also be tenacious on defense. Villanova simply does more things well than most basketball teams. Michigan lost Moe Wagner to the NBA, along with other veterans from last season’s runner-up team. John Beilein faces the bigger challenge of reshaping his roster, but Beilein is a master at figuring out those kinds of puzzles.
Marquette Golden Eagles at Indiana Hoosiers
Wednesday, November 14th
The Marquette Golden Eagles are projected to finish in the upper echelon of the Big East. The Indiana Hoosiers are a mystery, but they did reel in one of the elite recruits in the nation, Romeo Langford. This will be a key early-season measuring stick for Indiana coach Archie Miller and his young, unproven team. What the Hoosiers achieve or fail to achieve in this game will give them a roadmap for where they need to go and what they need to do next.
Ohio State Buckeyes at Creighton BlueJays
Thursday, November 15th
This game is fascinating for a number of reasons. For one thing, Creighton coach Greg McDermott was rumored to be the guy Ohio State wanted to replace former coach Thad Matta … but that did not happen. Instead, Chris Holtmann – who had been coaching at Butler – took the job at Ohio State.
At Butler, Holtmann regularly coached against McDermott in the Big East. Now the two very familiar opponents will go at each other in a non-conference game. Expect a lot of tough defense from two teams whose coaches know what the other one likes to do on offense.
Oregon Ducks at Iowa Hawkeyes
Thursday, November 15th
The Oregon Ducks were the preseason pick to win the Pac-12 title. A very good early-season challenge comes for Oregon as it goes to Iowa to play the Hawkeyes. This is not so much a difficult game because of any weapons Iowa has; the Hawkeyes are not expected to contend for the Big Ten championship this year. The fascinating part of this game is simply if a young, but very skilled Oregon squad can go into a loud and feisty road environment, very early in the season, and play with composure. Coaches like to see what their players do in these situations, and Oregon coach Dana Altman will get a grasp of what his players are capable of.
Texas A&M Aggies at Gonzaga Bulldogs
Thursday, November 15th
This could have been an Elite Eight game last year, but both teams lost in the Sweet 16 of the West Regional in Los Angeles. A&M loses a lot from last season’s team, particularly Robert Williams, a first-round NBA Draft pick, so the Aggies won’t be as threatening as they were last season. Still, this is an SEC program which has made two Sweet 16s in the past three seasons, going up against a Gonzaga team which was a No. 4 seed in last season’s NCAA Tournament and finished as the national runner-up in 2017. There is a lot to like about this contest.
