Soobum Im/Getty Images. Pictured: Ethan Thompson (left) and Gianni Hunt (right).
The last day of the regular season is here. Time to make the most of it.
Our staff broke down three games before they head into the postseason on a high note, ranging from two power conferences that will start their conference tournaments soon to a Summit League Tournament game.
Check out each pick. and feel free to use the table below to navigate to any specific game.
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College Basketball Odds & Picks
| Click on a game to skip ahead | |
| Oral Roberts vs. North Dakota | 6:45 p.m. ET |
| Penn State vs. Maryland | 7 p.m. ET |
| Oregon State vs. Oregon | 8 p.m. ET |
All listed odds have been updated as of Saturday night. Specific bet recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing.
Always shop for the best price using our NCAAB Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game.
Note: All photos below are via Getty Images.
Oral Roberts vs. North Dakota
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| Pick | Oral Roberts -7 |
| Sportsbook | |
| Tipoff | 6:45 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
This Summit League Tournament game will feature a ton of offense, primarily from the Oral Roberts side.
The Golden Eagles average 82 points a game thanks to their offensive style that relies heavily on shooting from 3-point territory. That spells doom for a North Dakota team that is 339th in the country in 3-point defense. Head coach Paul Mills runs an offense that relies on 3-pointers to account for 42% of Oral Roberts points, the eighth-highest point distribution from deep in all of Division I basketball.
There are ways to beat Oral Roberts, as the Golden Eagles are the worst defense rebounding team in the Summit. North Dakota cannot expose that aspect, ranking eighth in offensive rebounding, relying on junior Filip Rebraca for the majority of the workload inside the paint.
The Fighting Hawks second-best big man Gertautas Urbonavicius has not played in four consecutive games. Expect Oral Roberts to pelt the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls with plenty of 3-pointers on its way to the Summit Semifinals.
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Penn State vs. Maryland
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| Pick | Penn State +6.5 |
| Sportsbook | |
| Tipoff | 7 p.m. ET |
| TV | Big Ten Network |
Penn State is way better than it’s shown this season.
The Nittany Lions have somewhat struggled offensively in the Big Ten, averaging 1.02 points per possession, but they still rank in the top 35 in terms of offensive efficiency, per KenPom.
Penn State flat-out lives and dies by the 3-point shot. It shoots 3s on almost 42% of its field goal attempts but only hits 34.1% of them. However, that is much better than its performance from inside the arc, where it’s shooting only 45.9%.
One thing the Nittany Lions do well is crash the offensive glass. They have the highest offensive rebounding rate in the Big Ten and grabbed 13 offensive boards in their 55-50 win over Maryland in Happy Valley back in early February. So, I expect Penn State to have plenty of second-chance opportunities on offense.
Maryland’s offense has been really below average during Big Ten play, averaging an anemic 0.99 points per possession.
It’s been really average shooting the ball all season long, but where it really struggles is crashing the offensive glass. The Terrapins have the worst offensive rebound rate in the Big Ten and grabbed only five offensive rebounds in their first meeting with Penn State.
In fact, Maryland only put up 50 points and 0.76 points per possession in the first meeting, so it’ll need to drastically improve if it wants to not only win but cover the 6.5-point spread.
I only have Maryland projected as a -3.87 point favorite, so I think there’s some value on the Nittany Lions at +6.5 and would play them down to +5.5.
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Oregon State vs. Oregon
By Mike Randle
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| Pick | Oregon State +6 |
| Sportsbook | |
| Tipoff | 8 p.m. ET |
| TV | FS1 |
I have loved Oregon all season, and it enters this game with a chance to win the outright Pac-12 regular-season title.
If the Ducks lose, USC would win the Pac-12 title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Everything is in Oregon’s favor, but I am backing Oregon State at home as a six-point underdog.
Playing in Corvallis is a difficult task, and covering when the Beavers are a home underdog is even tougher. Under head coach Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State is covering at a 55.7% rate as a home dog.
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This season, the Beavers are 11-4 ATS at home including covering four of their past five home games. Overall, Oregon State has covered their last seven consecutive games.
The Beavers won their earlier meeting at Oregon, 75-64, although the Ducks were without Chris Duarte, LJ Figueroa, and Will Richardson. However, the Beavers were also not playing as well as they are now.
The biggest statistical advantage lies at the 3-point line. Oregon shoots 37.9% from 3 in conference and generates the second-most points from deep in the Pac-12.
However, the Beavers rank first in the Pac-12 in limiting opponents from beyond the arc, only allowing 30.1%. In their first meeting, the Ducks only shot 27.6% (8-of-29) from 3, a low number even without Duarte (43.4%) and Figueroa (38%).
Oregon State is also one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the nation, averaging 76.4% from the charity strips (32nd-best).
This has always been a very close intrastate battle, with Oregon State actually winning four of the past five meetings. The Beavers have also won the four of the last five games in Corvallis. I firmly expect Duarte to lead the Ducks to a victory and the 2021 Pac-12 title, but the line is too high.
I would wait on this line as it has already climbed from 5.5 to 6 points and could get closer to 7. But regardless, I’ll take the Beavers as the home dog for a chance to play spoiler in a huge rivalry game.
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