Editor’s Note: For a little more than three years now, Joe has been publishing picks here and back at All Things NIT, our former site. Overall, the results have been positive, with an average return on investment, per pick, of 0.0% when weighting by confidence (1 for low, 2 for medium, 3 for high) across 2,023 published picks, not including bets that remain pending, like futures. So…dead even. You could do worse.
Use these picks at your own risk. Only you are responsible for any money you lose, and you should not bet more than you can afford to lose. If you have a gambling problem, get help.
Lines for these come from the Vegas consensus or the closest approximation available at the time picks are written, unless otherwise noted. KenPom is heavily used in making college basketball picks.
West Virginia @ TCU
It’s a must-win for each, and things have been going well for neither. TCU’s home losses to Kansas State and Iowa State this month have them 1-4 in February and sitting on the absolute precipice of the bubble. West Virginia’s dropped ten of eleven and is staring the NIT dead in the eye, but has enough time left to hope.
TCU’s the home team tonight, and that should matter, both because TCU will be playing in one of the most advantageous home environments in men’s college basketball and because West Virginia won’t be playing in Morgantown, an even more advantageous spot for the home team. This, combined with TCU’s offensive rebounding and relative unwillingness to yield free throws, should make up for what the Mountaineers take away with their attacking defense. It’ll likely be ugly, but the Horned Frogs should pull away in the end.
Pick: TCU -4.5 (-110). Low confidence.
