We embraced the weird yesterday and achieved our goal of another winning day. Only USF's OT win fell short of covering, but we will take 2-1 every single day! Today's slate is another goofy one, as Monday's often are, anchored by one of the biggest games this season as KenPom No. 4 Houston heads to No. 7 Iowa State in an enormous Big 12 clash. After thoroughly thrashing Kansas on Saturday, is there more Hilton Magic left in the tank for this one? Let's check out a few appetizers first before we get to that main course.
Top College Basketball Best Bets for Today
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New Orleans Privateers at Incarnate Word Cardinals 
It is hard to believe some conference are down to five games remaining in their regular season, but that is the case in the Southland. New Orleans has had an excellent building season as they currently sit in the upper half of the conference at 9-8. The Privateers have generally taken care of teams outside the KenPom Top 200, and while there have been a couple of exceptions, I don't see Incarnate Word being one of them. IW has taken a step back this year and are just 2-10 in their last 12 conference games. I like the value on the better team getting points.
College Basketball Best Bet: New Orleans +1.5 (Bet365)
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Abilene Christian Wildcats at Tarleton State Texans 
Ahhh, the wacky WAC and their tri-round robin schedule, which results in funky sequences like this one where AC just played Tarleton at home on Saturday and now travel to Tarleton to play again today. This is also a fun one for the "its hard to beat a team three times" crowd as Abilene is 2-0 against the Texans already this seasons (wins of 4 at Tarleton and 14 at home). I had high hopes for Tarleton to start the year but they have been a disaster at every turn with injuries, personnel issues, and in-fighting. ACU has won a couple in a row and has the look of a team that might be figuring things out down the stretch. Once again, I'll take the better team getting points.
College Basketball Best Bet: Abilene Christian +1.5 (FanDuel)
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Houston Cougars at Iowa State Cyclones 
And now, the main course. This should be one heckuva game between the fifth and sixth ranked defenses in the country. These teams have improved their own aspects by being more like each other in the sense that ISU has been all offense and no defense while Houston has been the opposite. Yet, this season, the ISU defense and Houston offense have dramatically improved, resulting in incredibly balanced teams. For me, a deciding factor might be how sharp Houston is right now. The Cougars have played just two Top 50 teams since January 24th: one was a loss on that date at Texas Tech, the other a beatdown of fraudulent BYU. ISU had a similar stretch before a wake-up call loss at TCU last Tuesday set them in the right direction to manhandle a Kansas team that was playing very, very well coming into Hilton. The Cyclones have not lost at home all year and I think they stay hot and get it done again tonight.
College Basketball Best Bet: Iowa State -2.5 (Hard Rock)
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Monday College Basketball Best Bets:
Here's a recap of my best college basketball bets for Monday, February 16:
- New Orleans +1.5 (Bet365)
- Abilene Christian +1.5 (FanDuel)
- Iowa State -2.5 (Hard Rock)
For up-to-date information on the latest college basketball betting odds and props from multiple sources, check out the college basketball odds page on RotoWire.
