Our free College Basketball picks are out for Monday, December 20th, 2021! Make sure you check our expert College Basketball picks before the action kicks off.
Look below to find our free College Basketball picks for the best games on today’s schedule!
Alcorn State @ #1 Baylor – 7pm ET
Alcorn State comes into this one with a record of 1-9. They have lost their last four games, coming into this game as well. Meanwhile Baylor comes in with a record of 10-0 and ranked as the top team in the nation. In a day full of lopsided games for ranked teams this one may be the worst of them all.
Denis Kirilov
Alcorn State is falling apart as they started off the season with 9 losses from 10 games. The team couldn’t put it up even against smaller teams like Washington State and Tulane. The Braves are far away from the form they have shown the previous year when they finished with a 6-13 record. They have a really low percentage from the field, standing at around 38%, while their defense is also troublesome.
Baylor, on the other hand, kept their undefeated run even after the games against Villanova and Oregon. The Bears are 10-0 so far as they haven’t lost since March 13, 2021, in their last match ahead of the bracket. They continued cruising past their opponents in the NCAA and they only allowed 36 points against Villanova. This was a huge achievement as the Wildcats have fantastic players like Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels. I don’t see how Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua won’t dominate in the paint against Alcorn State and I doubt that nobody among LJ Cryer, Kendall Brown, and James Akinjo will reach at least 20 points. So, my suggestion here is Baylor to cover their spread.
Denis’ College Basketball Pick: Baylor -34.5 (-106)
Noah Dunlap
This is ugly. Alcorn State just isn’t good, as they come in at 1-9, including losing four in a row coming into this one, and that’s about to become five. To make that 1-9 record worse is the fact that it isn’t like they’ve played an absolutely stellar schedule up to this point, as only two of the 10 games have been against ranked teams, and they’ve been destroyed in both.. Now they go on the road to take on the defending champions and number one team in the country.
Flying high and flying home with that W‼️#SicEm | #CultureofJOY 🏀 pic.twitter.com/GeC4jY5UxL
— Baylor Men’s Basketball (@BaylorMBB) December 19, 2021
Baylor comes into this one ranked number one overall, and they’ve been utterly dominant all year long. The schedule hasn’t been brutal by any means, but it hasn’t been awful, and they’ve managed to run through undefeated up to this point. That isn’t changing in this one, as regardless of what the number is the play is to take the Bears and the points.
Noah’s College Basketball Pick: Baylor -34.5 (-106)
Tony Battalio
Baylor comes in as the number one team in college basketball. They have raced their way to an amazing record of 10-0 so far this season. They have huge blowout wins over teams like Villanova and Michigan State. Out of the ten games they have played, only the games against VCU and Oregon have been decided by less than double digit points. Now they will be looking to add their ninth win by ten or more points, with a victory over Alcorn State in blowout fashion in this game.
Alcorn State is in the middle of a nightmare season and it will likely get even more terrifying for them when they take the court to play the number one team in college basketball on Monday. They are coming into this game in Waco against the Baylor Bears with a record of 1-9 on the year. Alcorn State has already played two top 25 opponents in Gonzaga and Houston and in both games they were blown off the court. I expect much more of the same in this one as well as I have the Baylor Bears winning this game easily at home.
Tony’s College Basketball Pick: Baylor -34.5 (-106)
Incarnate Word @ #3 Purdue – 7pm ET
Incarnate Word is yet another team on today’s slate that is having a rough year and having to play a high ranked team in the process. They come into this match up with a record of 2-9 and on a one game losing streak. Meanwhile the Purdue Boilermakers come into this one with a record of 10-1 and on a one one game winning streak.
Denis Kirilov
Incarnate Word started off this campaign with 7 straight losses which raised huge concerns for the management. They were unable to defeat teams like Portland, Southeast Missouri State, and Concordia Texas. At least, in one of their last games, the Cardinals showed some hunger for success as they outclassed Grambling State. However, in their most recent match, they suffered a harsh 30-point loss to Rice. This concluded their season so far to 2 wins and 9 losses as it seems that they will underperform this year.
Purdue had to part ways with the top spot after suffering a tough loss against Rutgers. They had to plan overtime against NC State in the following game which they won by 10 points. In their most recent match, the Boilermakers defeated Butler, thus making up for the bad performance lately. This 29-point win over a team that has been performing really well this year gave them back the lost confidence. Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey are top players who will be eager to further improve their game before hopefully entering the NBA Draft. Sasha Stefanovic will try to impress as many people as possible in his last season for Purdue, so I think we will see even greater performance from the 3-point line. I think the Boilermakers should easily dismantle Incarnate Word and I will go with their spread for this game.
Denis’ College Basketball Pick: Purdue -38.5 (-110)
Noah Dunlap
In another complete mismatch in terms of Monday’s slate, we get a bad Incarnate Word team travelling to West Lafayette to take on a former number one team in Purdue. Purdue only has one loss on the year, and it came on a half-court buzzer beater on the road against Rutgers. Other than that, they’ve managed to put together a perfect season so far, and they haven’t been tested all that much along the way, either.
For Incarnate Word, they come in at 2-9, and it isn’t a great 2-9. They have a 30-point loss to Rice on the resume, as well as a loss to Concordia University Texas. Their two wins are over Grambling and Our Lady of the Lake University. That’s not a resume that screams much success against a really good Purdue team, so I like the Boilermakers and the points in this one.
Noah’s College Basketball Pick: Purdue -38.5 (-110)
Tony Battalio
The Purdue Boilermakers are a half court buzzer beater away from being undefeated and ranked first in the country in the AP Top 25 Poll. However Purdue has bounced back just fine since that upset loss to Rutgers. With a close win over North Carolina State in the Basketball Hall Of Fame Invitational and a blowout win over Butler in the Crossroads Classic on Saturday. Now they will be looking to make it a third straight win in this one.
Incarnate Word comes into this game with a record of 2-9, as they prepare to face their toughest opponent of the season in the Purdue Boilermakers. In their last game they suffered a huge 30 point blowout loss to the Rice Owls on Thursday the 16th. Now they will be looking to bounce back with a better performance in this one but it will not be easy. They will need to play perfect basketball to even have a chance to upset Purdue in this game. That is something that most likely isn’t going to happen which is why I have the Purdue Boilermakers winning big in this game at home.
Tony’s College Basketball Pick: Purdue -38.5 (-110)
Northern Arizona @ #5 Gonzaga – 9pm ET
Northern Arizona comes into this game with a record of 4-7 on the year. They are currently on a one game losing streak and have struggled all season long. The Gonzaga Bulldogs are ranked in the top five of the nation and come into this game with a record of 9-2.
Denis Kirilov
Northern Arizona will have a tough task on Monday night as they travel to Washington where they will face one of the top teams in the NCAA, Gonzaga. The unseeded team is off to a clumsy start this season as they hold onto a 4-7 record. Northern Arizona have won just one of their last 6 games which put them in a really tough spot. They dropped to 8th place in the Big Sky Conference, losing some narrow matches against San Diego Toreros, South Dakota Coyotes, Weber State, and UTRGV.
Gonzaga have caught our attention with an incredible performance in their first six games of the season, dismantling each single opponent. This included wins over UCLA and Texas. The Bulldogs, however, lost two of their next matches against seeded teams. Duke and Alabama took the better of them around the closing days of November and in the beginning of December. In their last game, the Zags outplayed Texas Tech, 69:55 with Andrew Nembhard being most valuable for his team. I expect nothing else than yet another dominating victory for Chet Holmgren, Drew Timme, and the rest from Gonzaga.
Denis’ College Basketball Pick: Gonzaga -35 (-110)
Noah Dunlap
Gonzaga, after being the preseason number one, and many’s preseason favorite to win a title, have struggled just a bit recently, but despite the struggles they still come in ranked in the top-5, and have a good 9-2 record against pretty decent competition. They have two almost sure fire lottery picks in next years draft in Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren, and those two alone, much less the other players on the roster are nearly going to be enough to down Northern Arizona in this one, assuming they play well.
Phoenix flicks 📸 pic.twitter.com/kevt5Jf0DY
— Gonzaga Basketball (@ZagMBB) December 18, 2021
NAU comes into this one at 4-7, and have losses to Weber State and South Dakota on the resume. Gonzaga is certainly going to be the toughest test they’re going to see all year. This is just a huge mismatch for NAU, and even if they play extremely well I don’t see this being a game they can manage to come out on top of. Give me Gonzaga and the points, with ease.
Noah’s College Basketball Pick: Gonzaga -35 (-110)
Tony Battalio
Northern Arizona is 4-7 heading into this game with the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Monday evening. They are currently on a two game losing streak and have lost five of their last six games as well. Now they will come up against their toughest test of the season and it certainly won’t be getting any easier for them in this one. They will need to play an absolutely perfect game of basketball for 40 minutes if they want to even have a chance to upset the Gonzaga Bulldogs at home.
Despite a recent rough patch the Gonzaga Bulldogs still come into this game with a record of 9-2 on the year. While they may not be everyone’s National Championship favorite anymore, they are still a serious threat and will be locked and ready to go by the time March Madness comes around. They rebounded from the Alabama loss with a couple of ones, one of those being a huge win over Texas Tech. They will certainly make it three in a row after this one as they are going to win easily and likely cover the spread.
Tony’s College Basketball Pick: Gonzaga -35 (-110)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
