Tag Archives: ncaa-football

College Basketball Top 25 Trick-or-Trick Season Tip-Off Special

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Welcome to the College Basketball Eye Test Top 25, our definitive look at how the national landscape shapes up ahead of the season. While consensus rankings like the AP Top 25 heavily favor standard blue bloods at the very top, our board shakes things up early with aggressive positioning for surging programs like Louisville and Florida. You will also find some distinct wrinkles in the back half of our rankings: we are firmly buying stock in a reconstructed Cincinnati squad, betting on Missouri to outpace consensus expectations, and sneaking Indiana right into the thick of the Top 20.

Here is our complete Top 25:

  1. Duke
  2. Louisville
  3. Arizona
  4. Florida
  5. UCONN
  6. Illinois
  7. Michigan State
  8. Texas
  9. Houston
  10. Texas Tech
  11. Kansas
  12. Arkansas
  13. St. John’s
  14. Alabama
  15. Gonzaga
  16. Kentucky
  17. Tennessee
  18. Cincinnati
  19. Missouri
  20. Indiana
  21. Miami (FL)
  22. Iowa State
  23. UCLA
  24. USC
  25. BYU

Let’s dive into the storylines, rosters, and sleeper teams defining the early landscape.

College Basketball Top 25 Outlook: The Elite Trinity at the Apex

As we stare into the crystal ball for this upcoming season, a definitive trinity of elite programs sits at the apex of the national rankings: Duke, UConn, and Florida anchor the very top of the polls.

  • Duke Blue Devils: The spotlight in Durham is blinding, but the incoming talent matches the hype. Expect them to push for the top spot instantly.
  • UConn Huskies: Coach Dan Hurley is looking to maintain his ruthless standard of dominance, aiming for yet another historic run.
  • Florida Gators: Keep your eyes glued to Gainesville. Todd Golden has locked, loaded, and built a massive March run contender.

The Rome Game: Notre Dame vs Villanova Historic Tip-Off in Italy

If you think college hoops waits around for Thanksgiving tournaments to give us premium matchups, think again. The season is tipping off with an absolute history-maker. We are heading across the Atlantic to the Holy City of Rome, Italy!

It’s a spectacular, high-stakes neutral site battle featuring Notre Dame and Villanova. Two historic programs with massive fan bases are squaring off on European soil to set the tone for the entire national landscape. You talk about an immaculate backdrop for hoops—Rome won’t know what hit it when the Irish and the Wildcats take the floor.

Transfer Portal Tracker: Cincinnati Gains Utah State Haul While Missouri Retains Star

Sometimes, a massive bounty of Halloween treats trickles deep into the next calendar year. You might remember being a kid, checking your stash, and realizing you managed to make your October candy haul last all the way until Easter. A similar kind of roster holdover exists in the modern college basketball landscape. We are seeing coaches move neighborhoods, but they aren’t leaving their most treasured pieces behind.

Cincinnati Bearcats Add Jerrod Calhoun’s Key Players

Take a look at Cincinnati. Former Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun packed up his loaded bag of tricks and brought it straight to the Bearcats. He didn’t come alone, either. He brought his high-impact transfers, MJ Collins Jr. and Adlan Elamin, to immediately fortify Cincinnati’s rotation. That is a massive haul shifting from one neighborhood to another to shake up the league.

Missouri Tigers Keep Interior Star

Meanwhile, over at Missouri, the Tigers managed to keep their own king-sized chocolate bar perfectly intact. Their star power forward is staying put, anchoring the paint and giving Mizzou the ultimate cornerstone to build around this winter.

Big East Basketball Stress: UConn, Villanova, and Georgetown Outlook

Look, it hasn’t all been sweet treats. Some teams just make you want to rip your hair out. Trust me, the Big East has given hoops fans a literal bald spot in recent years.

First, UConn completely busted brackets across the country when people dared to bet against them. Then you look at Villanova, struggling to consistently live up to those sky-high, gold-standard expectations of the post-Jay Wright era. And don’t even get started on Georgetown—a program that used to strike fear into the hearts of opponents, now operating as a mere shadow of its former self. It’s enough to make any college hoops fan go completely bald from the stress.

Louisville Basketball Sleeper Status: Pat Kelsey Lands Major UNC Transfer

If you were to peek through the bandages and keep a single, hyper-focused Cyclops mummy eye on just one sleeper team poised to explode this season, it has to be Louisville.

Coach Pat Kelsey has turned the Cardinals into a certified track meet. They are playing at a blistering, breathless pace, and a massive reason for the hype is their absolute coup in the transfer portal, landing a dynamic, game-changing transfer directly out of UNC. Louisville is going to surprise a lot of people, so keep that single eye wide open.

College Basketball Eye Test Cameos and Media Collaborations

Why do we hear angels singing in the background? Probably because the college basketball season seemingly starts sooner and sooner every single year, and honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Enjoy this angelic, hoops-filled weekend. Make sure to head over to collegebasketballeyetest.com for film breakdowns, deep-dive metrics, and everything you need to get ahead of the curve.

Dual-Sport Dominance: Which Colleges Can Crash the CFP and March Madness?

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Here are some fun pairings of college basketball futures and college football futures, which gives extreme payouts with compounded odds.

Which universities have a legitimate shot at making both the College Football Playoff (CFP) and College Basketball’s Sweet 16 or Elite 8? If you are looking for long-shot value, these dual-sport powerhouses offer some fascinating futures and parlay opportunities.

Today features massive gridiron matchups, with SMU taking on Louisville and BYU battling Colorado State. But for sports bettors and college fans looking at the bigger picture, today’s games are just one piece of a much larger puzzle.

BYU Cougars: The ultimate high-value sleeper?

The BYU Cougars are flirting with a top 10 football ranking and look like legitimate playoff contenders on the gridiron. But don’t sleep on their basketball program.

Even after navigating massive roster shifts in the modern NIL era, the Cougars return dynamic playmaker Robert Wright III to run the point. Compounded odds for BYU to win a national championship in both football and basketball sit at a staggering 666-1. It’s a massive payout, but as the old saying goes: buyer beware!

Louisville vs. SMU: A tale of two parlays

Louisville and SMU squared off against each other on the day this article was published.

In addition to being in college football’s AP Top 25, the two ACC powers also have a solid shot at making the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Coach Pat Kelsey has turned Louisville basketball into a certified track meet, and oddsmakers have noticed—listing the Cardinals at 22-1 to win the college basketball championship. If you build a two-leg parlay backing Louisville to win both the football and basketball national titles, you are looking at a combined 400-1 ticket.

Want to get truly wild? Betting on SMU to achieve the same historic dual-sport sweep would pay out an astronomical $19,000 on a single $1 dollar bet.

Texas Longhorns: Heavyweight contenders in both sports

Texas survived an early-season football scare against Ohio State, cementing their status as national championship favorites. On paper, their basketball team matches that elite pedigree.

The program generated massive offseason buzz, recently tweeting out a viral video of alumnus Kevin Durant returning to campus for a workout. With the Longhorns sitting at 6-1 to win the football championship and 22-1 to win March Madness, they represent the safest bet on the board to make deep postseason runs in both sports.

The Art of the Hedging Strategy

I’m writing this live from State College, where Penn State is firmly in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth. However, the Nittany Lions aren’t expected to make much noise when March Madness rolls around.

While these dual-sport champion outcomes are highly unlikely, you don’t actually need both teams to win it all to turn a profit. Simply making it into tournament play opens up massive opportunities to hedge your bets and lock in a return.

For more deep dives and analytical breakdowns, visit collegebasketballeyetest.com.

Who is good in college basketball this year? The Answer is still TBD January of 2026

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The college basketball landscape is wide open as the calendar turns to 2026 and these teams outside of the top 5 have built a compelling tournament resume.

BY MATTY D.

Utah State Looking Like the Aztecs in Terms of Mountain West Dominance

College basketball fans like myself, who have been watching for the past 20-30 years, just assume that the San Diego State Aztecs are going to dominate the Mountain West and then represent the conference honorably in March. This year, there’s a different wrinkle to that picture. Utah State is not only winning, but they are dominating. This weekend they went into Boise State and beat the shit out of a Broncos team that actually just took those same Aztecs into triple overtime. And so they’re good. However, it wasn’t a contest when Utah State visited Boise a few days later.

Watch the first half highlights from this game. The Aggies came out angry and athletic, a deadly.combo.

AJ Storr and a talented Ole Miss orchestra of guards playing in harmony after discord

AJ Storr and his coach Chris Beard went viral to start the season because of their uncomfortable moment at the postgame podium. When you’re a player like Storr who has literally played for four college programs, it’s easy for basketball fans to critque you for your lack of coommitment to basketball’s fundamentals. But Storr’s play at times this season, justified that jeering.

This weekend, Storr had his best game in store.

He scored 26 on a highly efficient night. He shot 50% from the field, 4-6 from 3PT, and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.

This could be a turning point to the season to where Ole Miss starts cooking.

Iowa exposed inside on big win by the Baltic built Illinois basketball team

Illinois didn’t just beat Iowa. They physically exposed them.

This was not a game decided by hot shooting or clever sets. This was decided by mass, leverage, and a level of interior strength that Iowa simply did not have answers for. From the opening possessions, Illinois lived in the paint, and Iowa absorbed it. By halftime, Illinois had already dropped 24 points in the paint.

That production came straight from the Balkan Five. Tomislav Ivišić, Zvonimir Ivišić, Andrej Stojaković, Mihailo Petrović, and David Mirković brought a level of size and physical comfort that Iowa could not match. These are adult frames. These are players who are used to contact. And they played like it.

When Illinois rolls that group out, it doesn’t look like a college lineup. It looks like a EuroLeague frontcourt wandered into the Big Ten.

Kylan Boswell was the steady hand that made all of it work. He played 38 minutes, scored 17 points, hit timely shots, and more importantly, kept the offense organized. He didn’t over-dribble. He didn’t force. He consistently got Illinois into their actions and delivered the ball where it needed to go. In a game built on physical advantage, that kind of point guard control is everything. Iowa never disrupted him, and Illinois never lost rhythm.

Stojaković is especially interesting in this group, not just because of his strength, but because of his bloodlines. As Peja Stojaković’s son, he connects Illinois to this growing wave of sons of NBA players currently impacting college basketball (click here for the full article).

Illinois is not just international. They are grown.

Close-up on College Basketball as Conference Schedules Get Rolling

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After an eventful month plus of non-conference games with important outcomes, the college basketball season is transitioning into conference play where we are looking for the best leagues. As for the nation’s best teams, it feels like a band of heavyweights including Michigan, Arizona, and Duke remain squarely at the top. While Purdue was voted just barely outside of the top 5 in this week’s AP voting, they still remain one of the favorites to win a championship.

BY MATTY D.

There is a cluster of teams just below the top 5 that is intriguing to watch. In this week’s AP Top 25 Poll, Iowa State popped into the top 5, ranking as the 4th best team in the nation. This group also includes potential championship pedigree teams such as UCONN, Houston, and Gonzaga. This weekend I wanted to see another potential title contender from this class. I watched Michigan State struggle to separate itself from Penn State in a sleepy Saturday matinee in Happy Valley.

Sparty struggles with PSU signals what’s to come in conference play nationwide

This is a college basketball season where the cream has risen to the top like none other. The best freshman class of players in a generation were the subject of an arms race where major programs have never had more latitude to spend on their stars because of the NIL. However, despite all of this, the underdog still has a shot between the lines and within the 40 minute game clock.

The Michigan State Spartans took their top 10 national ranking into Penn State to play the first of 20 conference games as a heavy favorite, but the pesky Lions were neck-and-neck. This fight reminded me how the top seeded teams need to be on defense this winter against the rogue underdog. Regardless of how many 5-star athletes you have on your roster, a sleepy matinee can always rock a group of college kids who likely would rather sleep-in, anyway.

Arizona Separates Itself in Superior Stretch Against Offensive Juggernaut Alabama

This was the exact stretch where Arizona showed it isn’t just capable of trading blows with an offensive juggernaut — it knows how to end the fight. In a span of barely two minutes, the Wildcats ripped control away through depth, pressure, and poise. Ivan Kharchenkov set the tone with a steal and layup, Brayden Burries followed with another swipe, and suddenly Arizona was running downhill. Tobe Awaka hammered home a dunk off a Burries assist, and when Alabama tried to breathe, Burries calmly buried a three and then leaked out for a layup on the next possession. That sequence wasn’t about one star going nuclear — it was Arizona flaunting waves of contributors, each doing their job at full speed. Burries, though, was the engine. The #12 recruit in the nation looked every bit the part as a freshman, impacting the game as a scorer, facilitator, and disruptor. This is what separates contenders from pretenders: Arizona didn’t just survive the storm — it overwhelmed Alabama with depth, execution, and the kind of finishing instinct that championship teams develop early.

Other Observations from Outside the Top 10 in the AP Top 25

Nebraska is finally getting its due. The Cornhuskers had already proven their worth with a Feast Week tournament championship, but their undefeated record got another notch on the belt this week with an impressive win at Illinois. Nebraska is now finally in the 15th slot in the national rankings.

Kansas freshman superstar Darryn Peterson returned from injury after missing a few games and the Jayhawks responded. KU defeated NC State as a slight underdog and now maintain their ranking at 17th overall.

Florida already has four losses but somehow survived living in the AP Top 25 at 23rd overall.

Georgia and Virginia debut on the Top 25 for the first time this season, with programs like Kentucky, Clemson, and UCLA finding themselves on the outside looking in.

College Basketball Games to Watch for 2025 College Football Conference Championship Weekend

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Although conference championship crowns are being captured this weekend, these are some pivotal college basketball matchups to watch closely as the non-conference schedule winds down.

PICKS BY MATTY D.

Michigan State hosts Duke as Sparty Sees Itself as Surprise +1.5 Underdog

I feel like I’ve seen this movie before. You have a darling blue blood who has all of the nation’s highest rated recruits sprinkled with some long tenured program guards who just know how to play basketball. Duke comes straight out of central casting for that one. Enter Tom Izzo’s bunch. They look more like a defensive line group, with perhaps a few black and blue eyes to match. This Motley Cru normally mucks up the action with physical play.

Michigan State finds itself as a surprising 30-1 underdog to win the National Championship at this point, after its already excelled in the non-conference session throughout November.

Give me the Spartans to win outright, but I’ll take the 1 1/2 points if they’re giving it.

Either way, this will be a very interesting test for Duke super freshman Cameron Boozer (among this incredible list of sons of NBA stars currently playing collect basketball) as he has so far cruised to 30 plus point games against major programs. He has made it look easy doing it.

Overlooked Mid-major pick of the college basketball weekend

Not many people nationally are talking about the big upset win that Bowling Green scored at K-State this week. It was an impressive performance from the three point line and specifically for senior Sam Towns who dropped 17 points in the first half.

This, despite K-State having one of the nation’s highest paid players in Memphis transfer PJ Haggerty.

I don’t see a let down from Bowling Green here in this spot as they are spotting Utah Valley a casual 1 1/2 points, according to DraftKings line as of one hour before tip nationwide.

Men’s College Basketball Picks Against the Spread for February 22, 2025

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Rolling Out of Bed with College Basketball Picks

Matty D here from CollegeBasketballItest.com, and I’m back again with another round of early college basketball picks. This approach worked well for me last week, and I’m looking to keep the momentum going. Let’s dive into some suspect spreads and intriguing matchups from today’s slate.

Tennessee vs. Texas A&M

Texas A&M is favored by 1.5 points in this matchup against Tennessee. This might come as a surprise considering I’ve been high on Texas A&M as a potential championship contender at 40 or 50 to 1 odds. However, despite my faith in the Aggies, I think Tennessee is the better team. The Vols haven’t played to their full potential over the last month, but I see this as a good spot for them. I’m taking Tennessee and the 1.5 points here.

Oregon vs. Wisconsin

Oregon is an 8.5-point underdog against Wisconsin. The Badgers have been playing strong basketball recently, but Oregon is fighting for a tournament spot, and 8.5 points is a lot to be giving up. I like Oregon to cover in this one.

Florida State vs. Louisville

Louisville is favored by 13.5 points against Florida State. The Seminoles have struggled lately, and with Louisville’s up-tempo style of play under head coach Pat Kelsey, I think they have the potential to cover the spread. They’re a top-25 team, and with their current momentum, they could handle this one convincingly.

Texas Tech vs. West Virginia

West Virginia is laying 11.5 points against Texas Tech. This is a tough game to call, especially with West Virginia missing one of its key players, Tucker DeVries, whose father, Darian DeVries, is the team’s head coach. If I had to pick, I’d lean toward West Virginia, but this might be a game to avoid altogether.

Iowa State vs. Houston

One of the marquee matchups of the day features Iowa State taking on Houston. Both teams are elite defensively and could make deep tournament runs. Surprisingly, Iowa State is getting 11.5 points. In what should be a low-scoring defensive battle, that’s a big number to be receiving. I like Iowa State to cover, especially since they might be looking for a bounce-back performance after a disappointing showing recently.

Georgia vs. Auburn

Auburn is a 16.5-point favorite against Georgia. The Bulldogs have been a tough out for some SEC teams this season, making this a tricky game. I’m staying away from this one because I don’t want to be sweating in the final moments to see if Auburn covers or not.

Clemson vs. SMU

SMU put on an offensive clinic against Notre Dame recently, so I’m surprised to see them as an underdog at home against Clemson. With SMU getting 1.5 points, I’m taking them in this spot.

Oklahoma State vs. Kansas

Kansas is giving 14.5 points to Oklahoma State, and I don’t think they should be laying that many points to anyone right now. The Jayhawks have been inconsistent, especially during their trip out west against Utah and BYU. I’ll probably stay away from this game entirely, but if I had to pick, I’d take Oklahoma State with the points.

Florida vs. LSU

Florida is favored by 10.5 points against LSU. The Tigers are one of the few SEC teams unlikely to make the tournament, while Florida is in contention for a No. 1 seed. I believe Florida can cover the spread here, as they have much more at stake.

Kentucky vs. Alabama

This game was an instant classic when these two teams faced off in Lexington on MLK weekend. Now, Kentucky is a 10.5-point underdog as they travel to Alabama. That spread seems a bit high, but I’ll be holding off on making a final call until I see more developments.

St. Mary’s Visits Gonzaga as a 6 Point Favorite

St. Mary’s and Gonzaga battled things out about a month ago with St. Mary’s hosting as a slight underdog. In a bizarre display of many missed free throws, the Gaels survived an ugly contest. I just think Gonzaga is overdue for a good showing here at home and a quality win to solidify a tournament berth as a lower seed than we’re used to seeing the Bulldogs. My guess is that they’ll finish the season as a 9 or 10 seed.

St. Mary’s has a son of a former NBA star on its roster. Can you name him?
👶Click here for the list of sons of NBA players in the 2025 Men’s College Basketball Season👶

College Basketball Against the Spread Picks – Closing Thought

That wraps up my early thoughts as I roll out of bed, checking for suspect spreads. Be sure to check out my website, CollegeBasketballItest.com, as well as my YouTube and Twitter for more picks and insights. Let me know what you’re seeing today, and enjoy the action!