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CBB
(2 Picks)
8:30PM EST: Seton Hall +1.5 (3 Units)
Seton Hall continues to play good basketball and find ways to win. They shot well from 3-PT land in the first half against Butler but were ice cold in the 2nd, still, they found a way to close it out. They return to the Prudential Center to take on a strong St. John's team. The Pirates are very good at Home and have been for years. They've already beaten UConn and Marquette on their home floor, and both were very decisive wins.
They attack the basket and get to the rim on 45% of possessions, 21st most in CBB. Defensively St. John's grades out 278th in PPP at the Rim. Providence killed them with dribble penetration and Seton Hall has one of the best in the Big East with Kadary Richmond. Seton Hall's ability to just be respectable from deep has completely transformed their offense and really opened things up. St. John's gave up plenty of clean looks to Creighton from beyond the Arc in their last game, they just couldn't hit them. Hall will need to hit open looks to create spacing on the floor, but they aren't dependent on it like Creighton is.
With how often Seton Hall drives to the basket they get to the foul line quite a bit and they're 25th in FT % on the season. St John's ranks 193rd. St. John's ranks 256th averaging 18.1 fouls per game and that's ticked up in conference play. St. John's ranks 6th in offensive rebounding % but Seton Hall is right behind them at 8th. They should be able to neutralize what's usually a very important edge for the Red Storm.
This should be your typical physical Big East matchup, but we have the Pirates edging it out at Home. Their defensive intensity really picks up and they feed off the Home Crowd. They're forcing 13.2 opponent turnovers per game at Home. Their effective FG% is also 54.9% at Prudential. That would rank 31st for season average.
9:00PM EST: Kansas -6.5 (3 Units)
Kansas has had some struggles on the road, losing @ UCF their last road game but we like them to figure it out here. The Jayhawks defense is one of the best in the Nation, ranking 11th in AdjD and it travels just fine. They ultimately lost to UCF on the road because they turned it over 17 times. The UCF defense ranks 17th in AdjD and they're 10th in CBB in opponent turnovers per game. Fortunately, that isn't Oklahoma State's game as they rank 76th in AdjD and 229th in opponent turnovers.
The Cowboys offense is just plain bad. They're 161st in AdjO and they've played the 180th ranked defensive SOS. This is easily one of the best defenses they're going to have to face and we don't think playing at Home's enough to overcome that. They played a truly elite defense against Iowa State their last time out and scored just 42 points. That game was on the road and they would have played a bit better at Home just because but there's just a talent discrepancy.
Offensively the only thing Kansas isn't better than Oklahoma State at is 3-PT shooting. They shoot 35.8% to Oklahoma State's 36.2%. Center Hunter Dickinson's going to have a field day down low against an inexperienced post defense. Kansas is also 2nd in CBB averaging 20.9 assists per game. Having lost their last road game, we trust Bill Self to have these boys focused and ready to go for a full 40 minutes. Oklahoma State was one of the worst teams in the Big 12 last year and they are again as a youthful and largely inexperienced group.
