College Basketball Sharp Betting Picks (Jan. 18): Pros Hitting West Virginia vs. Kansas State, Providence vs. Creighton Saturday

College Basketball Sharp Betting Picks (Jan. 18): Pros Hitting West Virginia vs. Kansas State, Providence vs. Creighton Saturday article feature image
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Jamie Squire/Getty Images. Pictured: Bob Huggins and Oscar Tshiebwe

You might say there are a few college basketball games from which bettors can choose today.

A massive 150-game slate presents itself on Saturday, and it includes a few matchups that should draw plenty of eyeballs. Sharps have already hit Louisville-Duke, and they've also made moves on a couple of Power Five matchups out of the Big 12 and Big Ten.

Here's how they're betting West Virginia-Kansas State and Providence-Creighton.


Odds as of Saturday morning. In West Virginia? Check out FanDuel, where Action Network users get a risk-free bet up to $500.


West Virginia vs. Kansas State

2 p.m. ET

It's been made pretty clear how bettors feel about this matchup.

As one of the more heavily-bet Saturday games, this one has attracted public bettors to the road favorite in droves. Seventy-nine percent of bets, in fact, have hit No. 12 West Virginia, which isn't too surprising given the current outlook of the Big 12.

Aside from the little number next to their name, the Mountaineers have gone 3-1 in conference play and 14-2 overall, good for the second-place spot in the conference. Anchoring the standings at 0-4 in conference and 7-9 overall is Kansas State.

Despite all that, oddsmakers opened this spread in the single-digit range, with the earliest books setting West Virginia as just an eight-point favorite. By the time most books joined the party, though, that number had already been brought down to 6.5, and even that number was too high according to sharps.

Two Sports Insights Bet Signals have hit the Wildcats so far, indicating two instances of market-wide movement caused by sharp activity. The 21% backing of Kansas State has also generated 42% of actual money, which is important to note given that sharps are generally the ones making bigger bets.

With the pros clearly backing the dog, sportsbooks have had no choice but to lower this spread, even if it's meant giving the majority of customers a better number.

Sharp angle: Kansas State (moved from +6.5 to +5.5)

Providence vs. Creighton

4:30 p.m. ET

The line movement on this game has been almost exactly the opposite. As early books came to the market around Creighton -5, sharps were quick to make work of the number, and most shops joined by the time the line was up to -6.5.

The bet-vs.-money discrepancy hasn't been quite as eye-catching in this matchup, but Creighton's 48% of bets have still generated a higher percentage of dollars (56%), indicating that the Blue Jays are attracting bigger bettors.

A Sports Insights Bet Signal at -6.5 has confirmed those bigger bettors to once again be of the sharper variety, and oddsmakers have responded by further increasing this spread to -7.

Sharp angle: Creighton (moved from -6.5 to -7)

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Sean Treppedi
Mar 28, 2024 UTC