Championship Week Best Bets: Props, Betting Picks for Tuesday, March 11

Championship Week in college basketball rolls along with an excellent Tuesday slate headlined by the West Coast Conference Tournament Final at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

The winner of the WCC will once again be decided by a battle between Gonzaga and St. Mary’s. The No. 19 Gaels are seeking a tournament title to go along with the regular-season crown they earned after a 17-1 finish in WCC play this year.

Gonzaga vs. St. Mary’s tips off at 9 p.m. (all times ET) on ESPN.

Earlier tonight — following first-round games this afternoon in the Big 12 and ACC — the CAA, Northeast Conference and Horizon League Championship Games all get underway at 7 p.m.

WCC Final Betting Preview: Best Props, Picks

Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. St. Mary’s Gaels Betting Odds

TV: ESPN, 9 p.m.

Gonzaga and St. Mary’s have both owned the West Coast Conference for years now, as Bulldogs coach Mark Few and Gaels coach Randy Bennett have built their programs into two of the best on the West Coast.

St. Mary’s (28-4, 17-1 WCC) is coming off its second straight regular-season title and has been ranked in the Top 25 for a couple weeks now thanks to an ongoing eight-game winning streak that includes a dominant win over Pepperdine on Monday.

The Gaels are an impressive 18-1 in their last 19 games, dating back to late December, with two close wins over the Zags. After entering the NCAA Tournament as a 5-seed in ’22, ’23 and ’24, the Gaels are currently projected to once again be a 5-seed by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, but just an 8-seed by CBS Sports’ latest projection.

Gonzaga (24-8, 14-4 WCC) has the talent and experience to make another run in March (hence the spread in this one). A year after kicking off the season at No. 11 in the preseason poll and entering March Madness as a 5-seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, this year’s Bulldogs were No. 6 in the preseason AP Top 25. But they’re currently unranked after another disappointing regular season relative to expectations. ESPN currently projects Gonzaga as an 8-seed in the Big Dance, while CBS Sports projects the Zags to be a 9-seed.

Both of these teams were well-represented, to say the least, on the 2025 All-WCC First Team. Bennett took home Coach of the Year honors and his top players also cleaned up. Augustas Marciulionis was named WCC Player of the Year, Mitchell Saxen earned DPOY, Paulius Murauskas won Newcomer of the Year and freshman Mikey Lewis was recognized as Sixth Man of the Year.

Gonzaga seniors Nolan Hickman, Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard all joined Marciulionis, Saxen and Murauskas on the WCC’s 10-man first-team all-conference squad.

Gonzaga vs. St. Mary’s Best Player Prop Bets

Despite a total of 43 points from big man Graham Ike (he scored 24 in the first clash and 19 in the second), Gonzaga lost to St. Mary’s 62-58 on Feb. 1 and 74-67 on Feb. 22. The Gaels, who are one of the best defensive teams in the nation, limited Gonzaga to a combined 7-of-31 from 3-point land in those games en route to low-scoring wins.

Don’t be surprised if Ike, who shot 17-for-30 from the floor against St. Mary’s in the regular season, has another big night in the paint.

In fact, based the box scores of the previous matchups between these two, St. Mary’s appears willing to live with Ike doing damage on the interior as long as it can limit Gonzaga from outside. Keep in mind that the Gaels also played stifling 3-point defense when these teams met in 2024, winning two of three meetings (including the conference title game) while holding the Zags to 10-for-34 shooting from downtown.

We’ve probably already given this away, but we love Ike’s points props here:

• Graham Ike 20+ points (+135 at DK) — 1 unit

Gonzaga vs. St. Mary’s Prediction, Betting Pick

We have the results of five games between these teams the last two years to give us an idea of how this one will go. With St. Mary’s having gone 4-1 in those games while holding Gonzaga to 62 or fewer points three times, the Gaels are a great bet tonight on the spread or the moneyline.

The answer to that question just depends on how confident you are that they can pull off the three-game sweep over a Gonzaga team that is more highly rated by the likes of KenPom and Bart Torvik’s T-Rank. Both rank Gonzaga as the 9th-best team in the country. St. Mary’s is top-25 by both metrics, but barely, at No. 22 on KenPom and No. 24 on Bart Torvik.

Give me St. Mary’s to cover and the Under, plus a sprinkle on the Gaels to win outright for the fifth time in six games in this rivalry.

• St. Mary’s +3.5 (-105 at bet365) — 1 unit
• Under 137.5 (-110 at DK) — 1 unit
• St. Mary’s ML (+150 at DK) — 0.25 units

Horizon League Final: Best Bets, Player Props

Youngstown State Penguins vs. Robert Morris Colonials Odds

TV: ESPN, 7 p.m.

Youngstown State vs. Robert Morris Best Player Prop Bets

Robert Morris (25-8, 15-5 Horizon) is the better team on paper. Youngstown State (21-12, 13-7 Horizon) did, however, beat the regular-season champs 72-58 in early December before losing a close one, 72-70, when they met again in January.

The Colonials have won 15 of their last 16, but needed overtime to knock off Oakland in last night’s semifinal, and the Penguins also had to grind out a close win in the semis, sneaking by Cleveland State, 56-54.

YSU F Alvaro Folgueiras won Horizon League Player of the Year after averaging 14 points and 9 rebounds this season, and I like him to have a big night tonight after struggling with both his shot and foul trouble in the quarterfinal win over Wright State and last night’s semifinal against Oakland.

The 6-foot-9 Folgueiras, who shoots over 42 percent from oustide, hit just two of seven 3PA vs. WSU, and he fouled out in 24 minutes last night.

• Alvaro Folgueiras 15+ points (-110 at DK) — 1 unit

Youngstown State vs. Robert Morris Prediction, Betting Pick

Robert Morris feels like a safe bet to not only win, but cover, after surviving Oakland despite its top player having to watch overtime from the bench.

• Robert Morris -3.5 (-110 at FanDuel) — 1 unit

Northeast Final Betting Preview: Props, Picks

St. Francis (PA) Red Flash vs. Central Connecticut Blue Devils Betting Odds

TV: ESPN2, 7 p.m.

Fortunately, only one of tonight’s four conference title games looks one-sided on paper. That would be this one, as St. Francis lost both regular-season matchups vs. CCSU big, falling 74-59 on Jan. 3 and 83-67 on Feb. 15.

St. Francis vs. Central Connecticut Best Player Prop Bets

There’s an obvious pick in this matchup. CCSU guard Jordan Jones has been a dangerous scorer all year, and his two highest-scoring nights of the season both came against St. Francis.

After scoring a total of 50 points in two previous games vs. St. Francis (26 points on Jan. 23, 24 on Feb. 15, on a combined 20-of-29 shooting from the floor), Jones’ points props in this game look awfully juicy.

First of all, at FanDuel, he’s even-money (+100) to go over 16.5 points. He’s also great value at +205 to score 20+, and he’s even tempting to get to 25 points (again, that’s the amount he averaged over 80 regular-season minutes) at +620.

• Jordan Jones Over 16.5 points (+100 at FD) — 1 unit
• Jordan Jones 20+ points (+205 at FD) — 0.5 units
• Jordan Jones 25+ points (+620 at FD) — 0.25 units

St. Francis vs. Central Connecticut Prediction, Betting Pick

Let’s not overthink this one — there’s little reason to doubt that CCSU will cruise. We recommend you jumping on CCSU -10.5 ASAP, as the lines have moved in the Blue Devils’ favor since they opened at -9.5.

• CCSU -10.5 (-108 at FD) — 1 unit

CAA Final Betting Preview: Best Props, Picks

Delaware Blue Hens vs. UNCW Seahawks Betting Odds

While the Seahawks (26-7, 14-4 CAA) were one of the best teams in the CAA all season, Delaware was among the worst, at 16-19 (5-13 CAA). But the Blue Hens have been on a heater in the CAA Tournament. They have won four straight over Stony Brook, Campbell, William & Mary and Towson, with at least 79 points in all four victories, to give themselves a chance at one of the most stunning NCAA Tournament berths in a long time.

Delaware vs. UNC Wilmington Best Player Prop Bets

Delaware’s John Camden has been the hero of this shocking run, with 13 made threes in his team’s four CAA Tournament wins. That includes a stunning 8-for-10 night from 3-point land in Delaware’s 100-78 win over William & Mary in the quarterfinals.

I don’t like Delaware’s chances tonight given that it lost to Wilmington 88-58 in the regular season finale, but I expect Camden — who shot over 41 percent on 6.4 3-point attempts per game this year — to get enough attempts to reach 15 points, even if this ends up being a blowout.

• John Camden Over 14.5 points (-115 at bet365) — 0.5 units

Delaware vs. UNC Wilmington Prediction, Betting Pick

Delaware’s run to tonight’s game was impressive, but against a team it lost to 77-67 on Feb. 6 and 88-58 (not a misprint) on March 1, I don’t like their chances of keeping tonight’s game competitive for 40 minutes.

• UNC-Wilmington -8.5 (-108 at DraftKings) — 1 unit

TV: CBSSN, 7 p.m.

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