Best College Basketball Bets for Thursday, March 12: Big 12 and Big East Quarterfinal Games

• Houston leads the all-time series vs. BYU, 5-1; the Cougars won the regular season matchup in Provo, 77-66

• UConn leads the all-time series vs. Xavier, 8-5; the Huskies have won six of the last seven vs. the Musketeers

The conference tournaments are starting to get pretty interesting as we get down to the best teams. Today’s schedule features a number of quarterfinal matchups, which is where I’ll get today’s “Best College Basketball Bets”.

Let’s get things started with one of the Big 12 Quarterfinal games, with BYU taking on Houston, and then move on to a Big East Quarterfinal, Xavier vs. UConn.

Big 12 Tournament - Quarterfinal: BYU Cougars vs. No. 5 Houston Cougars Odds & Pick

• Spread: BYU +8.5 (-106) | Houston -8.5 (-114)     

• Moneyline: BYU +265 | Houston -335

• Total: OVER 151.5 (-115) | UNDER 151.5 (-105)

Odds from FanDuel Sportsbook. Join FanDuel and claim your welcome offer: Get up to $300 back in Bonus Bets every day for 10 days. Get more info on the FanDuel Promo Code in our detailed overview.

BYU will come into this game with confidence despite losing to Houston in the regular season, 77-66. With freshman AJ Dybanysa leading the way with 40 and 27 points, they took care of business with wins over Kansas State and West Virginia to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

They’ll certainly need Dybanysa (he had 28 points in the regular season game) and the rest of one of the most efficient offenses in the country (top 15) to be at their best against Houston’s suffocating defense (No. 3 in the country; 62.7 points per game).

However, turnovers can be an issue for the Cougars against elite defenses. Then there’s the matter of their own defense. It’s one of the weaker ones in the Big 12 (ninth in the conference, 76.3 ppg allowed).

As for Houston, they had a bad stretch late in the season against ranked teams but appeared to have bounced back during the last few regular-season games. Known for their defensive play, the Cougars are among the best in the country at forcing turnovers (first in the Big 12).

They do not tend to score a ton of points (77.6 ppg, No. 138 in the country and No. 11 in the Big 12).

• My Pick: Houston -8.5 at FanDuel

Houston will undoubtedly try to slow the pace down and limit the number of shots BYU takes, especially Dybanysa, with their pressure defense. BYU handled it for much of the regular season game before the Cougars pulled away late in the game.

This time, they’ll be at a rest disadvantage since Houston had a double bye in the tournament, and this will be their third game in three days. Because of that, I expect this game to turn out much like the first, but Houston will not wait until late in the game to pull away.

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Big East Tournament - Quarterfinal: Xavier Musketeers vs. No. 6 Connecticut Huskies Odds & Pick

• Spread: Xavier +14.5 (-110) | UConn -14.5 (-110)

• Moneyline: Xavier +680 | UConn -1100

• Total: OVER 151.5 (-110) | UNDER 151.5 (-110)

Odds from FanDuel Sportsbook

As the 10-seed of a tournament with 11-seeds, Xavier was not supposed to make it past the first round. But despite being 4.5-point dogs to Marquette, they pulled off the upset, winning 89-87. But they're going from a narrow win over a 12-20 team to one that went 27-4 and beat them by 23 and 32 points.

They will need to lean into their strengths and get everyone’s A+ game to take down the Huskies. For the Musketeers, it all starts with the inside scoring game. They’ll also try to play at pace and push the tempo to get a higher volume of shots off.

However, while it may be their strength, UConn dominated the paint in the second regular-season game, 46-20. Xavier was just 6-17 from three-point range. So, the Huskies have already proven they can shut down what the Musketeers are good at.

It is worth noting that UConn was terrible ATS down the stretch, going 2-6. But they did cover in both games vs. Xavier.

• My Pick: UConn -14.5 at FanDuel

Their performance ATS down the stretch is disturbing, but they covered in both regular-season games, and the spreads were even bigger. Xavier earned the right to move on by beating a poor Marquette team in a nail-biter. They don’t stand a chance against the Huskies.

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