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College Basketball Best Bets

Welcome to our college basketball best bets section where we outline our top college basketball plays each day throughout the 2025-26 season. If you want our plays for all other college basketball games then head over to our College Basketball Picks And College Basketball Predictions page. We have free picks for every game on the slate and a weekly parlay.

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Pickswise Experts (1)

6:09 PM ET

Today

Illinois

Connecticut

Point Spread PickBest Bet

Illinois -2.0(-115)

Reasoning

We’ve come to the Final Four, and the first matchup features the Connecticut Huskies vs the Illinois Fighting Illini. Illinois came out of the South, benefiting from Iowa dispatching top-seeded Florida. Over in the East, UConn had to do the dirty work — mounting an improbable comeback to oust Duke at the buzzer. UConn has become a team that is hard to bet against, but head coach Dan Hurley and his antics have also made it a tournament villain for many fans. All that aside, I do like Illinois in this matchup — and as long as this spread stays close, I am happy to grab it. Be careful here, though, because this game is likely to stay tight and we don’t want to risk the dreaded win-no-cover if we can avoid it.

Why will Illinois win? Here are several factors. First, the Illini boast the #1 offense in the country in terms of efficiency, and they have only gotten better as the season has gone along. UConn has an elite defense, but offense tends to win out at this stage. Second, UConn is great at keeping teams out of transition — but Illinois doesn’t care about that. The Fighting Illini seem to prefer to play in half-court sets anyway. Third, Illinois is the #3 offensive rebounding team in the nation — and that tends to put defenses in a terrible position. Finally, Illinois is the best team in the country at keeping opponents off the foul line and while Connecticut is one of the worst at getting to the line. That means every point for the Huskies is likely to be a grind.

You might note that these teams played early in the season, and the Huskies won by 13. Don’t make too much of that game because lots of things have changed since then, and teams are doing almost nothing that they were doing 5 months ago. The Illinois offense has taken off since the first meeting, and this game should go very differently. Give me Illinois to cover this game at -2, but let’s not push for a multi-possession victory too aggressively here.

UConn vs Illinois prediction: Illinois Fighting Illini -2 (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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BET -1.5 NOW WITH

Chad Hartsock

NCAAB Best Bets

52.5%

Win %

32Wins

29Losses

0Pushes

Percentage only includes Wins and Losses

Welcome to our college basketball best bets section where we outline our top college basketball plays each day throughout the 2025-26 season. If you want our plays for all other college basketball games then head over to our NCAAB Picks page. We have free picks for every game on the slate and a weekly College Basketball Parlay.

What Are Our College Basketball Best Bets

At Pickswise our team of expert college basketball handicappers research all of the best college basketball action throughout the season and into the NCAA tournament- March Madness itself, with the sole aim of bringing you the most informed and best free college basketball bets.

Our experts will make their predictions every day of the college basketball season with picks in each of the Top-25 teams’ games during the regular season, and every single game throughout March Madness, and if you don’t want to wait for March you can get ahead with our NCAA Basketball Futures picks and predictions.

With so many college basketball games taking place each day, often over 100 during the college basketball season, it can be difficult to determine what our best college basketball bets are. For that reason, all of our college basketball predictions and picks come with a star rating ranging from 1 to 3. Three stars indicate our highest level of confidence in our picks, and our top plays or best bets are posted right here on the College Basketball Best Bets page, every day.

Best College Basketball Bets Today

You can find all of our college basketball best bets today, right here on the best bets page.

With so much action taking place each day during the season, it’s a tough task researching every game in the required detail to see long-term success. That’s where we, at Pickswise come to the fore. Our designated college basketball handicappers follow every morsel of college basketball action to provide you with the most informed college basketball bets today. We let our analysis and research do the talking, with full reasoning accompanying every best bet selection.

What Are The Best College Basketball Betting Sites

There are many ways in which you can wager on a college basketball game, with the most popular markets being Against the Spread, Totals, and Money line picks. There are also many online sportsbooks or betting sites in which you can place these wagers.

So what are the best college basketball betting sites?

Well, much of that is based upon opinion, with different users favoring different sportsbooks’ design or interfaces, the access to a mobile app, and many other determining factors. One thing that all bettors must prioritize with our best bets and finding the best betting sites are the College Basketball Betting Odds and betting lines on offer at that sportsbook.

Not every sportsbook prices up a game the same way. It is a competitive industry, and that gives the edge to the bettors, who can shop the odds to find the best betting lines or odds. An extra point or two against the spread can often decide if a bet wins or loses, and why place a wager at +200 when you can get +300 elsewhere.

College Basketball Locks

A College Basketball Lock or our College Basketball Lock picks is our best bet on today’s college basketball slate. The sheer frequency of College Basketball matches means it’s a tall task to wager on them all, and near impossible to turn a profit if you do. Being selective in your college basketball betting is key to long-term success and our College Basketball Locks help you do just that. All our top plays include full analysis, right here every day of the season, make our College Basketball Locks your starting point when you wager.

College Basketball Lock Of The Day

Looking for a College Basketball Lock of the day? Well, you’re in the right place. Our College Basketball Lock of the day will be right here on our College Basketball Best Bets page every day throughout the College Basketball season, right through to March Madness itself. With so many games played on any given day, it’s impossible and not recommended to bet on every game. What you’ll find here is our College Basketball handicappers’ College Basketball Lock Of The Day, our most confident pick to hone in on those best picks. Each College Basketball Lock Of The Day will be accompanied by a full preview and analysis for the lock, and you can also check out how our College Basketball Lock picks have been doing across the season.

Experience + Data = College Basketball Best Bets

At Pickswise we believe in our expert team of handicappers, and you should too. With decades of experience watching, analyzing and wagering on NCAA Basketball, our best bets are the peak of all that experience and it’s why we have so much confidence in our selections.

We don’t just take this experience for granted however, all of our picks, predictions and especially best bets require hours of statistical analysis from our expert team, and we’re more than happy to share that with you – all of our College Basketball betting advice comes with detailed reasoning, including comprehensive explanations, statistical analysis and research.

Andrew Wilsher, Pickswise Managing Editor

More Than Just College Basketball Best Bets

At Pickswise we don’t just cover College Basketball Predictions, collegiate sports fans will be pleased to know we also have free weekly expert College Football Best Bets too.

We also have expert handicappers for each of the professional sports in North America so be sure to check out picks for every game including our NFL Best Bets, MLB Best Bets, NBA Best Bets, and NHL Best Bets all season long.