College basketball schedule today has 19 games
A new week begins with a light schedule, but there are a few quality games, including Kansas vs. Baylor and a Mountain West matchup between New Mexico and Nevada. As a heads up, now that Saturday NFL games are finished, I’ll be doing this article six days per week instead of five, as we’ll go Monday-Saturday now until the regular season ends. With only three NFL games left, demand certainly increases for hoops and it only makes sense to hit the big Saturday slates.
Be sure to check out what Jonathan Von Tobel had to say about the NBA and what Andy MacNeil wrote about the NHL, as NBA daily best bets and daily NHL picks are always available here at VSiN.com.
Here are some thoughts on the January 23 card (odds from DraftKings):
Penn Quakers (-16, 141) at Hartford Hawks
The Monday slate is rather hideous outside of the few big games. I couldn’t find more than this one play, but I think there’s a little bit of equity on Hartford tonight. The independent Hawks take on the Ivy League’s Penn Quakers, as Hartford looks to end a 10-game losing streak. It won’t happen, but the Hawks should be able to keep this game close in my estimation.
Hartford has been missing Jared Kimbrough the last few games, yet they’ve had three of their four games against Division I opponents with at least 1.0 points per possession in that span. Kimbrough only played nine minutes in the 78-71 loss to Sacred Heart 16 days ago and has missed the last three games.
Kimbrough’s absence has hurt defensively, but the Quakers don’t really get the ball inside much, as their shot share on Close Twos is only 31.9%. They take a lot of longer jumpers and do have one of the nation’s leading scorers in Jordan Dingle. I do think tonight is a golden opportunity for head coach Steve Donohue to give his star a light night. Dingle has played at least 34 minutes in 10 of the last 12 games, including 36 minutes on Saturday in the loss to Yale. He’s shown some signs of wear and tear and this is a good chance to give him a lighter workload.
He only played 18 minutes in the Nov. 25 win over Hartford by 20, so that’s a concern, but Penn shot 50% from 3 in that game and Hartford’s Briggs McClain was only 3-of-14 from the floor. I’d expect him to be better tonight and Donohue to treat this game the same for Dingle.
Lastly, this is a random nonconference road game for Penn in the midst of Ivy League play. Motivation is a big factor. With a three-game losing streak, this feels more like a controlled scrimmage kind of game for Penn where they just try to smooth out some rough edges, not go for the blowout win.
Pick: Hartford +16
