Bets for Rivalry Saturday in College Basketball

College basketball is back with a full slate and we are just over four weeks away from the tournament starting. As this season winds down, now is not a time to reflect - it is a time to get our bank roll up for the impending March Madness. I'm personally excited about this. There are a lot of games to bet today, but most casual fans and readers are looking for angles on some of the bigger ones. That's what I'll be touching on today.

North Carolina vs. Duke, 6:30 ET

Even the most casual college basketball fan knows the importance of this rivalry. So many storied names have walked onto the court in this matchup and now they face off for the first time this season. Despite high hopes for both teams, neither have really performed the way you would expect. This first season under Jon Scheyer for Duke hasn't looked as pretty as you would've thought going into the year. They had a lot of incoming talent and even a returning guard that should be keeping things together. North Carolina had the #1 ranking to start the year - it isn't that big of a deal but they had good reason (returning starters, continuity, incoming class, blah blah blah). For whatever reason, they haven't lived up to the hype. So we have to underperforming teams, what do we do with them in this one? Duke has a very slight rest edge and Duke also has home court advantage. North Carolina was on a nice role until they lost to Pittsburgh at home in their last matchup. This may come down to Armando Bacot vs. Kyle Filipowski. Even that matchup might be a toss up. I'll stick with the home court team here Duke -3. They haven't lost at home this season and I don't really expect it to start here.

Auburn vs. Tennessee, 2:00 ET

Tennessee is having a great sports year. First you had the Vols looking like they might play in the College Football Playoffs - at least before injuries hurt them. And, now, you have them as the #2 ranked team in the nation. There is good reason for that, their defense has been very strong this season. They are currently limiting opponents to just 55 points per game and they are putting up 73. That's good for an 18-point margin for all those non-math majors out there. Auburn is having a good year as well and come into the game as the 25th-ranked team in the country. This game will go one of two ways. Auburn will keep the game really close and potentially even upset Tennessee because they get very hot shooting, or Tennessee will pull away and this will be a 15+ point loss. My look on it is that the game will be closer to the Tennessee rout than it will Auburn keeping it close. I think Tennessee is going to look to avenge their bad loss to Florida. That means they should come out with some intensity here. I wouldn't be surprised to see this game go over the 133.5 total though. That, to me, is the best bet in the game over 133.5.

Notes and additional plays:

I think that Oklahoma State is better than I gave them credit for the other day. I like them here against TCU at home and will play them to cover a -3.5/4 spread. I get that Indiana is good and they have played very well at home, but give me Purdue in this game at -110. I think they have enough mismatches that they can exploit Indiana and they want to keep rolling.

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on Twitter: @futureprez2024