Ricky Dimon
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College basketball is here! The 2022-23 season gets underway on Monday and is wasting no time putting some powerhouse programs on the floor. Among them is North Carolina, which made a run to the national title game this spring and opens as the top-ranked team in the nation. Defending champion Kansas is also in action along with Duke, Gonzaga, Kentucky and UCLA.
It’s time to tip off the season with a 3-team mega parlay. Let’s take a look at the components.
Lehigh +19.5 (-110)
Vanderbilt ML (+140)
North Carolina -23 (-110)
Parlay odds: +775
For this parlay we are going with 2 favorites against the spread and 1 underdog on the money line. Here is a breakdown of each leg.
Lehigh +19.5 over Syracuse (-110)
The Mountain Hawks should be able to score enough points against the fabled Syracuse zone defense to cover this large spread. Head coach Jim Boeheim’s zone defense surrenders 3-pointers among the highest rates in the national. For opponents that are bad at outside shooting, the zone defense can be a nightmare. But that doesn’t apply to Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks shot 38.2 percent from beyond the arc in 2021-22, good for 9th in the land. They return quite of bit of their capable shooters from last year, so they should be able to put up some points on the Syracuse defense. On the other end of the floor, no team allowed a lower percentage of their opponents’ shots to come from beyond the arc than Lehigh. That could be key when we are talking about covering a spread of this magnitude.
Check out our full Lehigh vs Syracuse predictions
Vanderbilt ML over Memphis (+140)
There appears to be good value on Vanderbilt as a considerable underdog. The Commodores are playing at home and coming off a winning record in 2021-22 and NIT quarterfinal appearance. Scotty Pippen Jr.’s departure is a big loss, but head coach Jerry Stackhouse returns plenty of talent along with bringing in transfers Ezra Manjon (point guard from UC Davis) and Emmanuel Ansong (forward from Green Bay). Vandy may not be in the preseason top 25, but neither is Memphis. The Tigers have consistently underperformed relative to expectations under head coach Penny Hardaway, so it would be no surprise if they get off to a slow start to the season.
Check out all of our college basketball predictions
North Carolina -23 over UNC-Wilmington (-110)
North Carolina comes in tied with Kentucky, Gonzaga and Houston as +900 favorites to win the National Championship. And wh not? The Tar Heels reached the title game in 2021-22 and they added one of the most coveted transfers of the offseason in Pete Nance (Northwestern) to join 4 returning starters: Armando Bacot, RJ Davis, Caleb Love and Leaky Black. Filling the void of Brady Manek, Nance will be able to stretch the floor, knock down perimeter shots and free up the paint for the 6’11”, 235-pound Bacot – who averaged 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game as a junior. Davis and Love figure to be one of the best backcourt tandems in the country after combining for 29.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game while shooting better than 36 percent from the perimeter. UNC-Wilmington is no pushover after sharing the CAA regular-season championship and winning the CBI postseason tournament, but this team will look a lot different this season. The Seahawks are replacing 4 of their top 5 scorers, so the early stages of a new season with a new-look roster could be especially troublesome. Count on the Heels winning this one in a big, big way.
Check out our full UNC-Wilmington vs North Carolina predictions
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