Baylor Bears vs Gonzaga Bulldogs Prediction, Odds and Picks for Monday, 11/04/24

The headliner of Monday’s opening night slate of college basketball is a top-10 clash between Baylor and Gonzaga. These are two premier teams who have designs on deep March runs, and this opener should be a great one. One of my favorite storylines last season was the constant noise from people who get paid to just say whatever, sounding off in the echo chambers that Gonzaga was going to miss the tournament. Cue up another #5 seed and Sweet 16 appearance. Mark Few should be even better this year, and I think they will be ahead of Baylor in the early stages of the season. My Baylor Bears vs Gonzaga Bulldogs prediction is Gonzaga -5.5.

The best thing I can do for you in the era of the transfer portal is tell you about these teams in the early weeks. Gonzaga brought most of its core back, including Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike, among others. They also brought it a couple of key transfers, including Michael Ajayi, a Pepperdine transfer who is on the NBA radar. This team should be better than last year, and immediately good. Given their pre-conference schedule, they will need to be. What about Baylor? Scott Drew lost 3 guys to the NBA, but he reloaded the roster once again. He brought in a couple of top-shelf transfers, including Duke guard Jeremy Roach and Norchad Omier of Miami. The best player on the roster will likely ultimately be 5-star freshman VJ Edgecombe, a 6’5” guard who is expected to be a lottery pick. When it comes to picking this game between 2 uber-talented rosters, I am going to lean on the team with experience together. In March, I think this Baylor team will be the better squad, and I think they have the higher ceiling in terms of pure talent. But all the key players for Baylor are new to each other, while Gonzaga is a talented roster that should have some continuity to open the season. I will lean on that, and my Baylor vs Gonzaga pick is for Gonzaga to cover the spread.

Baylor vs Gonzaga prediction: Gonzaga -5.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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