South Carolina and Mississippi State evenly matched in college basketball picks

Two Southeastern Conference teams likely headed for the other national tournament in March make a final regular season pitch for an invitation to the big dance, and it’s leading to a lot of split college basketball picks as the Mississippi State Rebels host the Gamecocks of South Carolina on Saturday in Starkville.

South Carolina (14-14, 5-10 SEC) at Mississippi State (16-13, 8-7 SEC)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 5, 2:00 PM ET
Venue: Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, MS.
Broadcast: ESPN
Money Line: OFF
Spread: Not available at time of writing
Over/Under: OFF

The Bulldogs are trying to mount a furious finish to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee. With a win on Saturday, Mississippi State would finish the season with three straight wins and four in their last five, including a big road win at Tennessee. That victory makes them an intriguing selection in college basketball picks this weekend. At the very least, they should be able to parlay their recent success into victories in next week’s SEC Tournament, where going deep into that tournament would help their cause.

Still, two losses to Alabama, an RPI of 83, and no quality wins other than a home triumph over Florida, seem to signal that the Bulldogs likely post-season destination is the NIT. But that doesn’t mean bettors shouldn’t shy away from making Mississippi state part of their college basketball picks package this weekend.

Ravern Johnson might one of the five best players in the country that even college basketball fans haven’t heard of. The Bulldogs senior guard from Lyon, Mississippi, is fifth in the SEC in scoring at 17.4 points per game. During this most recent push, he has averaged 19.4 points per game over his last five contests, including 25 in a victory over Arkansas on Wednesday.

On the other side of the coin, the Gamecocks are an interesting dilemma for those wanting to include them in their college basketball picks on Saturday. Once thought to be a potential bubble team for the big dance, South Carolina has dropped seven of their last eight games and fallen to a .500 record overall on the season. If they lose this game, they will need to win two SEC Tournament games next week just to become eligible for NIT consideration.

The Gamecocks have won on the road this season at Florida and LSU, something the Bulldogs couldn’t do, so they have that to hang their collective hats on. They also have the scoring exploits of Bruce Ellington, averaging 13.1 points per game, to try and convince those looking to choose them in college basketball picks.

Still, on senior day in Starkville, it’s hard to go with a team that big a slide like the visiting Gamecocks are in. So we’ll lean towards the Bulldogs.