Picks for 3/8/26
College Basketball
NOON EST
Rotation #771-772
Penn State/Rutgers Under 150.5 (win)
Minnesota beating Northwestern last night locked Rutgers into the #14 seed in the BIG 10 Tournament. Penn State will be the #18 seed. Neither team has anything to play for this afternoon, so one less hour of sleep on the body clock due to daylight savings won’t matter. Neither team is projected to make a run in the BIG 10 tournament, but the potential of losing key players in a meaningless NOON Eastern time contest won’t make the road any easier. Penn State has been without Kayden Mingo for the past few games, keeping their best playmaker on the bench. The Nittany Lions will have a short turnaround, so there is no reason to put a heavy workload on the starters. Rutgers gets a bye in Tuesday’s opening round and can give their starters an extra day to be at full strength. Today is a day to give some minutes to the deep bench players and to reward players who contribute behind the scenes with playing time. Both teams have cashed in on the total in 60% of their games. The oddsmakers know this, but the total keeps dropping. We will take a chance on a boring, sloppy exhibition like a contest. Look for a lower-scoring game. Take the Under.
NOON EST
Rotation #771-772
Penn State/Rutgers Under 150.5 (win)
Minnesota beating Northwestern last night locked Rutgers into the #14 seed in the BIG 10 Tournament. Penn State will be the #18 seed. Neither team has anything to play for this afternoon, so one less hour of sleep on the body clock due to daylight savings won’t matter. Neither team is projected to make a run in the BIG 10 tournament, but the potential of losing key players in a meaningless NOON Eastern time contest won’t make the road any easier. Penn State has been without Kayden Mingo for the past few games, keeping their best playmaker on the bench. The Nittany Lions will have a short turnaround, so there is no reason to put a heavy workload on the starters. Rutgers gets a bye in Tuesday’s opening round and can give their starters an extra day to be at full strength. Today is a day to give some minutes to the deep bench players and to reward players who contribute behind the scenes with playing time. Both teams have cashed in on the total in 60% of their games. The oddsmakers know this, but the total keeps dropping. We will take a chance on a boring, sloppy exhibition like a contest. Look for a lower-scoring game. Take the Under.