A Sneaky Wiseguy Play in Early Thursday Betting

After a quiet college basketball market Wednesday morning, sharp bettors have been all over today's loaded slate that includes a handful of conference tournament matchups. Bigger games like Wisconsin-Maryland and Northwestern-Penn State are dominating in terms of betting handle, but wiseguys have picked off a much smaller matchup that's being overlooked by recreational bettors as one offering immediate value.

Today's matchup takes us out to the Big West for a matchup between Cal Poly and UC Riverside. The Highlanders (that's UC Riverside!) opened as 5.5-point favorites and are only receiving 19% of spread tickets, at the time of writing (8:30 a.m. ET).

With early money backing the Mustangs (that's Cal Poly!), the line dropped down to -3.5 across the market. At first glance, this adjustment seems like a "trendy dog" scenario where money playing the dog has forced oddsmakers to adjust the number down, resulting in a better number, and better value, for those looking to lay the points.

Wiseguys pounced on the opportunity according to our Bet Signals, quietly buying back value with UC Riverside -3.5. That pushed the line back up to -4. At 8:48 a.m. ET, Bookmaker.eu adjusted back to the current number of UC Riverside -3.5, where there's a good chance sharp money will be waiting once again.