Top College Basketball Picks Today: Best Bets for Big Ten Basketball on Thursday, December 8

It’s a condensed Thursday slate of college hoops, but there is some marquee matchups littered across the country with five of the eight games featuring teams that are in the Big Ten or PAC-12.

Of course, we have you covered with a handful of bets to get you through this Thursday ahead of a loaded weekend of college hoops, so let’s waste no time and dish out two bets we are eyeing for Big Ten action:

Rutgers vs. Ohio State Prediction and Pick

These are two bruising teams around the rim, each checking inside the top 15 nationally in offensive rebounding rate, but I trust the Ohio State offense to outpace Rutgers and their overvalued defense.

The Scarlet Knights are holding teams to the lowest national 3-point percentage in the entire country, 20% on the year, but they are running into a fantastic offensive group in the Buckeyes, who are third in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric as well as 20th in ShotQuality’s adjusted offensive score, meaning that this team has a good shot profile and is converting at a high rate.

The Rutgers offense won’t be able to keep up, 291st in effective field goal percentage, and this is an Ohio State defense that limits foul shots (95th in free throw rate allowed) and cleans the glass (96th in defensive rebounding rate). The Scarlet Knights did great work at home to hand Indiana their first loss, but the Buckeyes ability to shoot from the perimeter will offset their opponents stout interior defense. With regression looming for Rutgers’ 3-point defense, I’ll lay the points with Ohio State at home.

PICK: Ohio State -6.5

Michigan vs. Minnesota Prediction and Pick

Minnesota has been an under machine this season, going below the total in six games, including all five at home. The team plays at an incredibly slow pace, 340th in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom. With that in mind, don’t expect many transition opportunities on either side. The Wolverines are forcing turnovers at a bottom 50 rate nationally, but are holding opponents to just over 67 points per game.

I expect Minnesota’s offense to continue to be methodical and struggle to generate sound offense, as they have broken the 70-point barrier just twice this season. Still, the defense should limit Michigan to one try on most possessions. The Wolverines don’t crash the glass at all despite big man Hunter Dickinson continuing to play at a high level. The Wolverines’ 7’1″ star is averaging nearly 20 points per game and 10 rebounds on the year, but the team is outside the top 300 in offensive rebounding rate

Furthermore, the team is now down one of their best ball handlers with the news that Llewellyn will miss the season, so there may be some growing pains on the offensive end.

I’m going to look to the under in this battle of Big Ten foes as this game may be a race to the mid 60’s.