NCAA Basketball Best Bets & Parlay Pick: UNC-NC State Lead February 17 Games

Quite a few of the nation’s best NCAA basketball teams will see action today with 11 ranked teams scheduled to play Tuesday. There are enough of them that I’ll include a best bet and my favorite college basketball parlay in this article to cover more of these great teams.

This includes teams from the SEC (No. 12 Florida), the ACC (No. 16 North Carolina and No. 21 Louisville) and the Big 12 (Texas Tech).

(Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)

The odds I used in putting together these predictions and bets for Thursday's NCAA basketball slate can be found at DraftKings.

No. 16 North Carolina Tar Heels vs. North Carolina State WolfPack

I always find it interesting when a ranked team is an underdog against an unranked one. In this case, it is not surprising. UNC lost superstar freshman Caleb Wilson to a fractured hand on Feb. 10 in a game against Miami. Wilson leads the team in scoring, rebounding, blocks, and steals.

That’s a lot of production to replace.

North Carolina faced Pitt last Saturday, their first game without Wilson, and won 79-65. Jarin Stevenson and Seth Trimble stepped up to lead the team in scoring with 19 points each. But NC State (18-8) is going to be a much tougher challenge than the Panthers (9-17).

NC State is led by its offense

As for NC State, the Wolfpack have one of the better offenses in the country, averaging 85 points per game (No. 25). Five players average double-digit points per game, led by Darrion Williams with 14.2 ppg. However, NC State is not nearly as good on the defensive end (74.4 points per game allowed, No. 200).

The Wolfpack have had some issues in their last two games, resulting in a 118-77 loss to No. 24 Louisville (Feb. 9) and a narrow defeat at the hands of Miami, 77-76.

• My Pick: UNC +6.5 at -102 (via DraftKings)

Losing Wilson is tough, but North Carolina still has plenty of talent. Someone else will have to step in for the time being. If there is ever a time we can expect someone to do so, it’s a game like this one vs. a hated rival.

NC State is due for a bounce-back game and will play better today, but this is a rivalry game. North Carolina will keep it close if not win outright.

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NCAA Basketball Parlay Pick Featuring the SEC, ACC, and Big 12

• South Carolina +22.5 (vs. No. 12 Florida) at -108

After watching that 95-48 debacle a couple of weeks ago, it is easy to see the Gators winning by more than 23 points in this game. They did it once, they can do it again, right? It is possible against a poor team like South Carolina (2-10 in SEC play). But I can see the Gators stepping off the gas in this one because they can do so and still easily win.

After the first game, South Carolina will play better this time around.

• No. 24 Louisville -4.5 (vs. SMU) at -102

SMU is a solid team, but struggles on the defensive end of the court (No. 17 in the conference) and are not good at protecting the perimeter (No. 9 in the ACC). Louisville has the No. 1 scoring offense in the conference and will abuse SMU’s weak perimeter defense (No. 1 in the ACC in three-pointers).

• Texas Tech -7.5 (vs. Arizona State) at -115

The Red Raiders are coming off a big win over then-No. 1 Arizona, 78-75. They’ve been playing solid offense in the last two games but have really been locked in on defense, holding Arizona to 75, Colorado to 44 and West Virginia to 63. It would be understandable if there was a letdown on the road after the win over Arizona.

But Texas Tech will take advantage of one of the worst defenses in the country (No. 315, 79.2 points per game allowed) and cover the spread.

• Parlay Odds: +613

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