Baylor vs. Gonzaga prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball
11/04/2024 09:05 AM
It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Baylor-Gonzaga prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Baylor-Gonzaga.
Here we go. This is the number one game on the board for the first night of the new college basketball season. Baylor and Gonzaga are both viewed as legitimate frontline Final Four contenders, both in the top 10 of the rankings and loaded with talent under proven coaches. What adds to the allure of this game is that it is at a campus site, with Gonzaga hosting Baylor in Spokane. There are plenty of neutral-court showcases in November college basketball, but this game is a school game on a school night in The Kennel. It should be an electric atmosphere for a game every college hoops fan is eager to watch.
Mark Few doesn’t have a national championship, but he continues to prove how good a coach he is. Gonzaga looked like an NIT team in late January of last season. Then Gonzaga won at Kentucky and began stacking wins to make the NCAA Tournament. Once in the field, the Zags then pounded Kansas to make the Sweet 16. Mark Few is a Sweet 16 machine at Gonzaga. He has reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament each of the last nine times he has been there. Keep in mind that in 2020, the pandemic canceled the NCAA Tournament. Few is nine of nine in March Madness in terms of making the Sweet 16. It’s one of the most underappreciated great feats in modern college basketball coaching.
Few brings back Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike from last season’s team, giving the Zags a core nucleus to build around. The stability provided by Nembhard and Ike gives Gonzaga a chance to dictate tempo and play the game it wants to, both on the perimeter and in the paint. This is not a team which is imbalanced in terms of perimeter-paint quality, which gives Few hope that this team can be excellent from start to finish instead of needing three months to mesh the way last season’s team did.
Baylor has some elite transfer pieces in place for Scott Drew, the man who denied Few a national title in the 2021 championship game at the Final Four in Indianapolis. Drew was able to get Jeremy Roach from Duke and Norchad Omier from Miami. If you follow college basketball closely, you instantly recognize how significant those two transfers are. They have both made the Final Four. Roach did it in 2022 with Duke. Omier did so one year later with Miami in 2023. Drew doesn’t just have quality transfers; he has seasoned and proven transfers. A lot of coaches make a run at transfers they hope will be good; Roach and Omier are already known to be good. We don’t have to wonder if they will be good or not. That gives Baylor a significant leg up on the competition heading into this season.
Here are the Baylor-Gonzaga College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Baylor-Gonzaga Odds
Baylor: +4.5 (-105)
Moneyline: +164
Gonzaga: -4.5 (-115)
Moneyline: -200
Over: 157.5 (-106)
Under: 157.5 (-114)
How to Watch Baylor vs. Gonzaga
Time: 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN2
Stream: fuboTV (Free Trial)
Why Baylor Will Cover The Spread/Win
Baylor, with two Final Four transfers now on its roster, is getting 4.5 points from a Gonzaga team which lost an exhibition game to USC roughly a week ago. Even though Gonzaga has this game on its home floor, that seems like a very big misread from Vegas with the point spread. This seems like a gift.
Why Gonzaga Will Cover The Spread/Win
Gonzaga is at home. Baylor is really good, but opening-night games on campus are always very hard for road teams to win in college basketball. Nembhard and Ike can give the Zags what they need to win.
Final Baylor-Gonzaga Prediction & Pick
Baylor has some of the most proven players in major college basketball, and its getting 4.5 points? We’re going to take the bait. Pick Baylor.
Final Baylor-Gonzaga Prediction & Pick: Baylor +4.5
The post Baylor vs. Gonzaga prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
