College Basketball Best Bets Today | ATS Picks & Player Props for New Year's Eve

My college basketball best bets today tackle the loaded New Year’s Eve slate, as games begin as early as noon ET before the ball drops.

Our college basketball player props and expert picks are looking to build off yesterday’s 4-0 sweep and +1363 parlay cash, which improved us to 17-3 in our last 20 plays.

🏀 College basketball best bets today: New Year's Eve

See all of our experts' college basketball picks based on the latest college basketball odds.

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Virginia vs. Virginia Tech prediction: Virginia -5.5 (-102 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐

Mike Young’s teams have not been good at all in the underdog role. Young’s Hokies are 15-25 (37.5%) as underdogs since 2023, and have covered just 10 of 14 games playing on four-plus days off in that span.

While Virginia Tech owns three top-100 wins, it has allowed 1.03 points per possession to all five top-100 opponents, including to Colorado State when the Rams shot 4-of-19 from 3-point range. Virginia’s top 15 ranking in adjusted offensive efficiency, 3-point shooting, and offensive rebounding rate should take advantage of a poor Hokies defense.

Mercer vs. Furman prediction: Furman -3.5 (-110 via BetMGM) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Furman is 8-1 since a poor 1-3 start, in large part because it has done a much better job taking care of the basketball.

The Paladins entered their first game, which they eventually won, against a D-I school (Queens) ranked seventh-worst in turnover rate. Also during that time, Furman was generating a 96th-percentile catch-and-shoot rate, but scoring in just the first percentile on those shots (0.38 points per possession below expectation on those unguarded attempts).

The expected positive regression is the biggest reason for Furman’s uptick, as it now ranks 287th in turnover rate.

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Duke Brennan Over 10.5 rebounds (-130 via bet365) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Villanova’s Duke Brennan ranks fourth among D-I players in offensive rebounding rate, and 30th in defensive rebounding percentage.

Brennan faces a DePaul team that went into its last game against UConn being severely outmatched by top-100 competition. Among other categories, the Blue Demons owned a -3.6 rebound margin per 100 and -16.4% rim field goal percentage against top teams, compared to a -0.6 rebound margin per 100 and plus-18.9% rim field goal rate.

Based on those splits, Brennan should own the paint and exceed this projected total for the second time in seven games.

Braylon Mullins Under 1.5 made 3-pointers (-130 via bet365) ⭐⭐⭐

This is a heavily contrarian play, as UConn star freshman Braylon Mullins has made multiple 3-pointers in three straight games, while shooting 46.2% from beyond the arc in that span.

But I am backing the Under because of how well Xavier runs teams off the perimeter. The Musketeers rank 31st in fewest percentage of field goal attempts coming from 3-point range, and they should force Mullins to have to do more off the dribble in this Big East tilt.

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