Thursday College Hoops Betting – Illinois-Minnesota, MSU and More

The Big Ten remains one of the top conferences in the land and the college basketball betting underdog Illinois Fighting Illini have found out first hand.

The Illini were cruising along early in conference play only to hit a wall and drop all the way down to just 5-5 in conference.

With so many teams bunched up in the middle of the Big Ten, the fight for NCAA Tournament bids is heating up.

[Off topic: by the way, do you want to get a 55% bonus on your first deposit here at BetOnline? Find out more exciting details HERE.]

Illinois and tonight’s opponent, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, have both been ranked for much of the season but they’re in danger of falling out as well at #25.

In other Big Ten action, Michigan State has their backs against the wall at home against Penn State in what is a must-win for the preseason #2 team in the country’s tournament hopes.

Here are college hoops betting picks for tonight’s crucial Big Ten battles:

Illinois at Minnesota, 9 pm ET:

Minnesota is a 2-point favorite going into this one and these teams match up so closely with each other that it’s quite conceivable that this game will end up coming down to a final possession or two.

Illinois’ big man duo of Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis has not shown up well in recent games but they will be challenged by the deep, athletic front-line of the Gophers.

The challenge might be good for Illinois’ twin towers as they seem to play too lax against smaller frontlines.

If they can play to their potential, Dmitri McCamey’s skill and leadership at the PG/SG spot will give the Illini the edge in crunch time over Minnesota.

College hoops betting pick: Illinois (+2).

Penn State at Michigan State, 7 pm ET:

The Spartans are favored by 6 in this one in large part because of how badly they need to win the game.

But they are no stranger to being upset by the Nittany Lions and explosive guard Talor Battle, who seems to have been on campus for the last 10 years for PSU.

This one will likely turn into a back-and-forth shootout with Battle trading buckets with Kalin Lucas and/or Durrell Summers.

MSU will likely win but PSU has the roster makeup to at least hang with them if not pull off a big road win in East Lansing tonight against a struggling MSU team hurt by the loss of Korie Lucious.

College hoops betting pick: Penn State (+6).