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 0.7% when weighting by confidence (1 for low, 2 for medium, 3 for high) across 1,956 published picks, not including bets that remain pending, like futures. 0.7% doesn’t sound amazing, but relative to what else you get on the internet?
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. ESPN’s SP+ is heavily used in making college football picks of all kinds, and FPI is used in making conference championship futures picks.
Last bowl, then some college basketball:
Texas Bowl: Kansas State vs. LSU
Our final salvo in the head-coach-with-the-worse-bowl-record leads us to pick the 0-1 Chris Klieman over LSU’s interim situation.
Pick: Kansas State -7.5 (-110). Low confidence.
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Oklahoma @ Baylor
I’m not sure the college basketball nation has fully grasped how good this year’s Baylor team is. These guys are a force, and I’m not sure they’ve played their best yet. Defensively, yes, their demolition of Villanova was impressive, but they’re due to make some noise on the other end as well.
Pick: Baylor -12 (-110). Low confidence.
