Stanford vs Santa Clara prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball
Yesterday at 12:12 PM
It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Stanford-Santa Clara prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Stanford-Santa Clara.
This won’t be the featured nonconference game of the week in college basketball, but it is an interesting nightcap in the West after some of the early Feast Week tournaments unfold on Saturday afternoon.
Stanford is off to a good start under head coach Kyle Smith, who came over from Washington State in one of the more notable coaching changes of the past college basketball offseason. Smith made the NCAA Tournament at Washington State, which is extremely difficult to do. The Cougars had not been to the NCAA Tournament in a decade and a half. Only a handful of coaches have ever brought Washington State to the NCAA Tournament, so Smith did something really special last season. If he can do that at Wazzu, he can lift Stanford to an even greater height. The Cardinal were a strong national program for roughly 25 years from the late 1980s through the early 2010s. They have fallen on hard times over the past 10 years but now have reason to think they can bounce back.
This season’s Stanford team is winning the games it is supposed to win, but the quality of competition hasn’t been that robust. Now the schedule gets tougher for the Trees, and this game against Santa Clara should give us a better indication of where the Cardinal stand.
Santa Clara is a talented team, widely expected before the season as a challenger to Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference. There is potential here, but the start to the season has been a disaster for coach Herb Sendek. Losses to Arizona State and Nevada were not embarrassing, since those two teams look like NCAA Tournament-level squads, but blowing a 19-point lead at home to North Dakota State is a catastrophe which will follow Santa Clara all the way to Selection Sunday. That loss has the Broncos in big trouble, making this essentially a must-win game if SC wants any chance of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. There is really no margin for error for Santa Clara, given the three losses it has endured. The best version of this team has to show up right now, before it’s too late. It’s only November 23, but Santa Clara has already done incalculable damage to its NCAA Tournament resume and has to start stacking wins.
Here are the Stanford-Santa Clara College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Stanford-Santa Clara Odds
Stanford: -1.5 (-110)
Moneyline: -125
Santa Clara: +1.5 (-110)
Moneyline: +104
Over: 145.5 (-110)
Under: 145.5 (-110)
How to Watch Stanford-Santa Clara
Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN Plus
Stream: fuboTV (Free Trial)
Why Stanford Will Cover The Spread/Win
Kyle Smith is a better coach than Herb Sendek, and Stanford will find answers down the stretch if the game is close. Stanford is the team which certainly deserves and has earned the benefit of the doubt to this point in time.
Why Santa Clara Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Broncos are desperate. Their losses mean that this game is more important to Santa Clara than Stanford. Urgency will be Santa Clara’s best friend in this matchup.
Final Stanford-Santa Clara Prediction & Pick
We are leaning to Stanford, but Santa Clara badly needs this game. You should pass on this one.
Final Stanford-Santa Clara Prediction & Pick: Stanford -1.5
The post Stanford vs Santa Clara prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
