Best Sports Betting Picks Today: College Basketball Predictions for February 24th

The race to March Madness is already underway in the topsy-turvy Big 12.

Colorado hosts Kansas in another road challenge for the Jayhawks, and Houston has a chance to avenge its only conference loss when the Cougars travel to Texas Tech.

Here’s a look at how we’re playing the big ones in the Big 12 on Monday, plus a Big Ten scoring player prop for good measure.

Michigan at Nebraska, 8 p.m. ET

Back-to-back games with 20 points and a season scoring average over 15 push us to a player scoring prop for Russian big man Vladislav Goldin, who put a ring on his girlfriend’s finger over the weekend and should keep racking up wins Monday night.

Michigan renewed efforts to run the offense through Goldin, ending a run of five consecutive games with single-digit shot attempts. He responded with 20 points at Ohio State and 21 against Michigan State in the past two outings.

Nebraska has won back-to-back games against Michigan after going 1-16 in its first 17 tries as a member of the Big Ten.

The Wolverines are only a half-game behind Michigan State in the Big Ten standings and will dig in early to try to take some of the air out of Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Bet: Michigan C Vladislav Goldin over 15.5 points (-112 at FanDuel)

Houston (23-4, 15-1) at Texas Tech (21-6, 12-4), 9 p.m. ET

Kelvin Sampson claims this is the same conference it has always been—dominant from the middle of the pack and up—but that sells short the level of success the Cougars are experiencing on a sustained level. Only Texas Tech has handed Houston a conference loss this season, and a win in the rematch Monday night would likely secure the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for Sampson.

With Kansas, Iowa State, and Texas Tech all showing signs of being capable of March success, the Cougars are gunning for their fourth win over a ranked conference opponent this season.

They’ve been riding Baylor transfer L.J. Cryer—who scored 28 points Saturday against Iowa State—and a ridiculously tight defense that will be tested by JT Toppin, who had 22 points in Texas Tech’s 22-point win over West Virginia on Saturday.

When the teams met Feb. 1, Texas Tech took an 82-81 decision in overtime and ended Houston’s 33-game home-court winning streak. Both teams are at full stride. Houston’s veteran-heavy lineup won’t blink in the intense road setting as 1.5-point favorites, but we’re targeting the scoring column in this one.

Bet: Over 131.5 points (-112 at FanDuel)

Kansas (18-9, 9-7) at Colorado (11-16, 2-14), 11 p.m. ET

We know this is not a prime Jayhawks bunch, but let’s take a broad-lens look at this matchup. Colorado has two conference wins and is getting 6.5 points. While the Buffaloes have notched those two wins in recent games, they already suffered a 12-point loss to the Jayhawks in Lawrence. Their two league wins—76-74 over Baylor and 76-63 over UCF—aren’t indicative of a team with the firepower to test KU’s defensive clamps.

They also have no answer for Hunter Dickinson, who scored 19 points in the first matchup and is averaging nearly 10 rebounds per game. Kansas rode Dickinson to a big first-half lead in the initial meeting this season (40-26 at halftime) before taking its foot off the gas.

Colorado will get some traction because of the Jayhawks’ four-game losing streak in true road games and their 3-7 overall record in those situations this season. But the Jayhawks know what it’s like to flex on the Buffs in Boulder. They’ve won 21 of the past 22 games against Colorado and still have the recipe to run past this pack of Buffaloes.

KU’s field goal percentage defense is No. 2 in the conference (39.0%, 13th nationally), and its 3-point field goal percentage defense is superb (29.9%, 18th nationally).

Bet: Kansas -6.5 (-110 at BetMGM)