College Basketball Picks Today: Best Bets for Saturday, January 10

Today’s college basketball three-pack celebrates the season’s surprise teams.

Raise your hand if you projected Nebraska to be in the top 10, or Vanderbilt to start 15-0, or Virginia to be nationally ranked and relevant a year removed from Tony Bennett’s abrupt retirement. So give up, you liars.

Saturday is a perfect afternoon to familiarize yourself with the three teams with just two months until the NCAA Tournament. This is just as true for getting to know them from a betting perspective. Here we go:

No. 10 Nebraska at Indiana

I know I don’t have the stamina of a student anymore, but really, how is this going to work? All those students and fans who spent Friday night celebrating the Hoosiers’ CFP semifinal victory will be ready to head to Assembly Hall at noon Saturday, and their voices won’t be suppressed?

Without getting too far ahead of myself, Nebraska basketball is like Indiana football, at least in one key respect: Both are historically devoid of success compared to their Big Ten counterparts – Nebraska has never won a tournament game, Indiana football has more losses than anyone – and both are enjoying the seasons of their lives.

Regardless, they favor Indiana in Vegas but now is not the time to bet against the 15-0 Huskers, whose 3-point defense should be good enough to contain Lamar Wilkerson and the Hoosiers’ new strength in that area.

Nebraska +4.5, -110 (BetMGM)

LSU at No. 11 Vanderbilt

Every other SEC team has two losses except Vanderbilt, which just toppled Alabama 96-90 to stay perfect and has an average winning margin of 21.6 points — eighth in the country and better than Duke. Few teams turn defense into offense like the Commodores, who average about 10 steals per game.

Can LSU keep up with the Dores? The Tigers’ underlying metrics are good, but they didn’t look sharp on both ends of the floor in a 78-68 home loss to South Carolina this week.

Hey, Vandy wasn’t supposed to beat LSU in football this year, but Diego Pavia had other ideas. The women’s basketball team beat Kim Mulkey’s Tigers last week. Men’s hoops are about to go 3 out of 3. Give me a runaway.

Vanderbilt -14.5, -118 (DraftKings)

Stanford at No. 23 Virginia

Virginia is 13-2, a perfect 9-0 at home and an enjoyable watch. Five guys are averaging double figures, and the sixth on the list is a 7-footer from Germany named Johann Grunloh (awesome name) who puts up 8.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

Coach Ryan Odom doesn’t play at a glacial pace like Bennett, but it’s important to know he’s still slower.

This game pits them against Stanford, who has hit the under in five of the last six games and 10 of 16 times overall. The Cardinal might be tired from finishing a two-game trip to Virginia – and we won’t soon forget their 47-40 home loss to Notre Dame.

Under 143.5 points overall, -110 (DraftKings)