Four Top-25 NCAAM Matchups 👀

Another loaded Tuesday night of college hoops is here, and while a Big East matchup is at the top of my watch list, there's high-profile action going down all over the country. Keep an eye on that Indiana vs. Rutgers game...the Big Ten is heating up 🍿 (4 min read)

Author

Kyle Trapp
February 07, 2023

Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

Battle In The Big East

In a college sports landscape dominated by the the Power Five conferences, let’s give some serious credit to the Big East, huh? Even as their membership ranks have shuffled throughout the 21st century, the league has continued to regularly produce some of the best college basketball teams in the country 💪

  • First and foremost, the conference is home to perhaps the most successful program of the past decade, the Villanova Wildcats. But as we're witnessing firsthand this year, it ain’t just a one horse show…

  • Even in a season in which Nova is uncharacteristically struggling, the Big East is still making its presence known, with five teams currently ranked in the latest edition of the AP Top 25 😤

Two of those ranked squads are set to clash tonight in a huge conference showdown, as the UConn Huskies play host to the Marquette Golden Eagles in their second meeting of the season. Here’s how the lines are looking 👇

  • Spread: UConn -4.5

  • Moneyline: UConn -178 (bet $178, win $100), Marquette +146 (bet $100, win $146)

  • O/U: 146.5

Neither of these two teams were ranked to begin the year, but that appears to have been an erroneous oversight; each of them has since spent time in the Top-10 📈

  • The Huskies responded to the preseason disrespect with a blistering 14-0 start that had them ranked as high as #2 in the nation, and firmly in the discussion for the country's top team

  • A 4-6 record since has slowed the hype train considerably, but despite their struggles in conference play, I'm still a big time believer in Dan Hurley's crew returning to early season form. Their run at the Phil Knight Invitational that featured double-digit wins over Oregon, Alabama and Iowa State was just too dominant to forget about 🤯

But while the Huskies have largely been trending in the wrong direction since the calendar flipped to 2023, the Golden Eagles have been surging. A 10-1 record over their last 11 has them ranked the highest they've been during the Shaka Smart era, one that looks more and more promising by the day 🙏

Smart has been on campus less than two years, and he's already turned Marquette into one of the most competitive teams in the nation. They haven't lost a game by more than five points all season long, which makes tonight 4.5-point spread against a team they already beat all the more interesting 🦅

Trivia Question: Who is the only active NBA player from Marquette with an NBA Finals ring?

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images

More Top-25 Action 

The Big East battle brewing up in Hartford isn't the only ranked matchup on tap tonight, with three other conferences also getting in on the Top-25 fun. With another loaded Tuesday night slate of games, there's almost too much to talk about, so I'll try my best to keep things brief 👇

  • Spread: Indiana -4.5

  • Moneyline: Indiana -194, Rutgers +160

  • O/U: 135.5

The job Steve Pikiell has done to turn the Rutgers basketball program around is nothing short of remarkable. When he took over in 2016, this team hadn't reached the tournament since 1991. Now, they look well on their way to a third straight appearance, and Scarlet Knight fans are showing out accordingly 😎

A win over Indiana tonight might send Jersey into a college hoops frenzy. But against Trayce Jackson-Davis and a Hoosiers team that just took down the #1 team in the nation over the weekend, that'll be easier said than done 😬

  • Spread: UVA -7.5

  • Moneyline: UVA -365, NC State +285

  • O/U: 136.5

It's February, and the only ranked ACC basketball team from the state of North Carolina is NC State. As my guy Jon Rothstein so often puts it, "Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball" 😂

Led by the ACC leading scorer and likely NBA first-round pick Terquavion Smith (18.5 PPG), this Wolfpack team is legit. But the Cavaliers are the best team in this conference, and I expect them to show that tonight 😤

  • Spread: Kansas State -4.5

  • Moneyline: Kansas State -205, TCU +172

  • O/U: 147.5

Another night, another Top-25 matchup in the Big 12. Tonight's feature event; the second showdown of the season between the Horned Frogs and the Wildcats ✌️

  • TCU defended their home court with a 14-point victory the first time the two teams met, but unfortunately, lineups could look a bit different this time around. The injury bug has hit some of the Frogs' most important players

With the first matchup on their minds, along with this past weekend's heartbreaking loss to Texas, Kansas State won't be short on motivation tonight. If TCU is shorthanded once again, they could be in trouble 👀

Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images

For My Parlay Gurus

Marquette always finds themselves in a close game, but while I'm tempted to take the Golden Eagles to cover, I'm gonna play it safe and go with the Huskies ML at home. I'm sticking with that train of thought with the rest of my parlay as well and riding the local teams; check this out 👇

  • UConn ML vs. Marquette: -176

  • Indiana ML vs. Rutgers: -194

  • Kansas State ML vs. TCU: -205

$100 on this bet would win you $254 — if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win up to $100*. Many will enter, only some will win 😉

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Trivia Answer: Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder and Wesley Matthews have all come close, but Juan Toscano-Anderson, who won it all with the Warriors last year, is the only active Marquette alum with a ring

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