This article is part of our College Basketball Picks series.
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How about that nice, little 3-0 day on Sunday! It hasn't been the best opening week of college hoops for me, but Sunday's research finally felt good and the results showed. I'm now 4-2/+2 units on the year as we look for more today with Monday's entertaining schedule. Without further delay, let's see what today brings.
Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at 
Pittsburgh Panthers
Last Monday, I was torn between taking Pat Chambers' FGCU squad at Indiana or UNC Asheville at Michigan -- I chose poorly and have learned from it. Chambers' time battling the big boys in the Big 10 has made his teams adept at playing teams from major conferences very well. His Eagles have another opportunity as they travel to Pitt. FGCU can really shoot the three and is the more experienced team. Pitt has blown out two vastly inferior opponents so far which, in my view, has inflated this line to be a couple points too high. Gulf Coast keeps this one close.
College Basketball Best Bet: Florida Gulf Coast +9.5 (@ PointsBet)
Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders vs 
Western Carolina Catamounts
MTSU is a long team that specializes in defensive pressure making them a tough go for any team early in the season. In fact, the Blue Raiders are No. 7 in turnover percentage already this year, and that is after playing two excellent opponents, coming out the other side 2-0. A big piece of this handicap comes from the result of Western's last game, a 10-point win at Notre Dame. Normally, that would be quite the feather in the cap, but ND is under a major rebuild and rank at No. 201 in KenPom. However, mentally, that is still a big win for the Catamounts, and from a betting perspective, provides value as the general public will see that as a big win and jump on their side. I was hoping the line would be closer to three, but I'll still take it at 4.5.
College Basketball Best Bet: Middle Tennessee State -4.5 (universal)
Xavier Musketeers at Purdue Boilermakers
Yes, yes, I know. It's Purdue. They are huge. They are going to be favored to win every game they play this year. They are unstoppable. And so on. I've seen enough Matt Painter games to know nothing is guaranteed with his teams, no matter how talented. Xavier has Sean Miller back at the helm doing what he does best -- loading up his mid-high-major team with talent to make a run. I'm not saying Xavier is going to win this game outright, but I'll be looking for the public to overvalue Purdue all year. At this number, I'm all over the Musketeers.
College Basketball Best Bet: Xavier +17.5 (universal)
Monday College Basketball Best Bets:
Here's a recap of my best college basketball bets for Monday, November 13:
- FGCU +9.5 (@PointsBet)
- MTSU -4.5 (universal)
- Xavier +17.5 (universal)
For up-to-date information on the latest college basketball betting odds and props from multiple sportsbooks, check out the college basketball odds page on RotoWire.
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