With only one more month of college basketball before the March Madness tournament kicks off, conference games are heating up. Teams are trying to push their way on the right side of the bubble to not have to rely on conference tournaments as their only option in. Texas vs Baylor & Saint Mary’s vs Gonzaga are the two biggest headliners Saturday.
In the BIG 12 Baylor is a half game back on Kansas, and Texas and Texas Tech are tied for third. #20 Texas will travel to Waco, Texas to play the #10 Baylor Bears. In the WCC Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are team one and two with Santa Clara, San Francisco, & BYU following behind. Saint Mary’s vs Gonzaga will be the toughest matchup for Gonzaga the rest of the season. Check out the Best Betting Offers to optimize your winnings with house money.
Baylor is 11-2 at home, while Texas is 2-5 on the road. That alone spells out trouble for the Longhorns. Texas’ five road losses are to Gonzaga, Seton Hall, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, & Kansas State. Baylor is much better than the later four schools, and shoots 77.8 points per game (compared to Texas’ 68.7). Baylor also inhales four more rebounds per game, moves around three more assists per game, and guards well with 1.3 more block per game too.
Guard Cryer, of the Bears, shoots more points per game, a higher free throw percentage, and grabs slightly more rebounds per game at home. And speaking of rebounds, forward Tchamwa Tchatchoua averages 8.8 rebounds a game at home (compared to 7.0 collectively). The Bears are the more dominant team offensively and are good at defending the paint, so take the for the spread and win.
It is hard to comfortably choose a team with a -16.5 spread, especially since Gonzaga is facing the #22 team in the Top 25 Poll in Saint Mary’s. Saint Mary’s has some pretty big wins this year against Oregon, Notre Dame, & San Francisco (just to name a few). The Gaels have a twenty and five record and will likely finish the year 22-8 earning a six or seven seed in the tournament. Six seeds can beat number one seeds (the rightful place of Gonzaga) all the time. However, this game will be played in Gonzaga’s home court, which turns the tables too much.
Gonzaga is technically ranked #2 in the Top 25 polls, but those polls are wrong. They are the best team in basketball this year, at least that is what the NET rankings also agree on. Timme was supposed to be other worldly this year, and even though he has been performing really well, his talented has not fully been reached. He still averages over 17 points per game, but it has been Holmgren that has really stepped up during the season with his seven double doubles, and scoring twenty points or more in four of his last six matches.
Gonzaga is and has been the number one team in the conference for a long time. They continue their dominance with a perfect conference record through nine games. Currently, they hold the top spot in the standings with Saint Mary’s a game and a half back after falling to Santa Clara earlier this week. Santa Clara, San Francisco, & BYU follow with two and a half, three, and four games back. The other five schools are six to nine games back and include: San Diego, Portland, Pacific, Loyola Marymount, & Pepperdine.
In 2020 only Gonzaga and BYU made it into the tournament. However, this year Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, & San Francisco will all make it in. BYU is on the bubble in a good way, while Santa Clara is on the other side of the bubble.
Sunday is THE Big Game, so continue the betting Sunday with Super Bowl as the Rams take on the Bengals. To get all the best advice on the spread, total points, and props read the Super Bowl LVI Betting Guide.

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