College Basketball Best Bets Wednesday November 12: Top CBB Picks Today

There are only two college basketball games involving ranked teams on Wednesday and both should be major blowouts. We’ll find some plays that make sense as even one-sided affairs can help your pocketbook.

We feel bad for the Oakland Golden Grizzlies as they play the No. 1 team in the nation for the second straight game. Yes, it’s true. Oakland played Purdue so closely on Saturday that the Boilermakers dropped to No. 2. Moving up to No. 1 was Houston – the Golden Grizzlies’ opponent on Wednesday night.

No. 20 Tennessee hosting North Florida is the other game involving a ranked team. We also will dissect the unranked matchup between Minnesota and Missouri.

OAKLAND GOLDEN GRIZZLIES AT HOUSTON COUGARS

Greg Kampe is in his 42nd season as coach of the Golden Grizzlies so he does know something about putting together a schedule. But Coach, what is up with a three-game gauntlet of then-No. 7 Michigan, Purdue and Houston to start the season? "I think we play the Pistons after that," Kampe said jokingly (we think).

The Golden Grizzlies fell 86-76 to Purdue on Saturday and approaching that point total will be very tough against the Houston defense. Zaire Wells put 21 points and 12 rebounds against the Boilermakers so he’ll be a marked man on the scouting report of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson.

The Cougars were just 15 of 53 from 3-point range while averaging 70 points in victories over Lehigh and Towson. But that suffocating defense held those two foes to 7 of 33 from behind the arc and Houston figures to pull away from the Golden Grizzlies.

Play: Houston’s largest lead to be 26 or more points, -275 (DraftKings)

NORTH FLORIDA OSPREYS AT TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

The Volunteers have a budding star in 6-foot-10 freshman Nate Ament, the five-star recruit who chose Tennessee over programs such as Duke, Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisville. He averaged 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in his first two college games, including 23 points in Saturday’s 95-56 rout of Northern Kentucky.

This is another game in which Ament should be able to feast as the Ospreys don’t have the personnel to rattle the freshman. Backcourt mate Ja’Kobi Gillespie is coming off his own 20-point game in his second contest with the program. He previously played two seasons at Belmont and one at Maryland.

North Florida was steamrolled 104-64 by then-No. 3 Florida in its lone contest. The Ospreys trailed by as many as 43 points in Gainesville in Bobby Kennen’s debut as head coach. Kennen may need hazard pay against the Volunteers in Knoxville.

Play: North Florida to score under 56.5 points, -101 (DraftKings)

MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS AT MISSOURI TIGERS

Cade Tyson barely got off the bench at North Carolina last season when he averaged 2.6 points and shot 29.2 percent from the field. Yet he’s opened the season with 30 and 21 points and making plenty of noise for Minnesota. Tyson, who spent two seasons at Belmont before his one campaign at Chapel Hill, is shooting 61.9 percent from the field.

Missouri has its own standout who is familiar with Tobacco Road. Mark Mitchell is in his second season with the Tigers after two with Duke and he has scored 29 and 24 points over Mizzou’s last two games. He’s one of five double-digit scorers for the Tigers.

Minnesota has a new coach in Niko Medved, who guided Colorado State to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons. He’s trying to get things moving but it figures that Dennis Gates’ Tigers have the edge at home after making the NCAA field in two of the past three campaigns.

Play: Missouri minus-7.5 spread, -112 (DraftKings)