December 22 CBB Lines

It’s Tuesday, which means college basketball is offering up a loaded slate of games and some intriguing December 22 CBB lines at BetRivers.com. A top 10 showdown in the Big 12 takes place at Bob Huggins and No. 7 West Virginia head to Allen Fieldhouse to take on the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks. But there’s also a fun ACC matchup between old Big East foes and a surprisingly good Missouri team taking on a surprisingly good Bradley team.

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Rob Dauster, a longtime national college basketball writer, and co-founder of the Field of 68 Podcast Network, analyzed the December 22 CBB lines, and is here to break down the numbers that matter in the key matchups.

RELATED: WHAT WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT CBB THUS FAR

COLLEGE BASKETBALL ODDS: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22 CBB LINES

#7 WEST VIRGINIA (7-1) at #3 KANSAS (7-1), 9 p.m. ET
MONEYLINE: Kansas -120, WVU +100
SPREAD: Kansas -1.5
OVER/UNDER: 138 points

This is a perfect example of what we talked about this morning, where home court advantage, or a lack there of, comes into play when dealing with some of these betting lines.

Phog Allen Fieldhouse is the toughest environment to play in in college basketball, not just because it’s normally loud and packed and Kansas is normally really good, but because all of those things happen to make officials more likely to give the Jayhawks a favorable whistle.

But here’s the thing about this season: Those fans aren’t there. So that home court advantage? It’s just not the same.

I say all that to say this: West Virginia is, I think, a better team than Kansas this year. The Jayhawks are in a nightmare spot here, because they either have to play David McCormack (who has been bad) at the five to matchup with West Virginia’s bigs, or try and go small and create mismatches. Going small-ball has worked for Bill Self thus far, but the problem here is that West Virginia’s bigs can match up with perimeter players. Oscar Tshiebwe is a freak that can move in ways 6-foot-9, 260 pound centers should not be able to. Derek Culver can stay with smaller players on the perimeter. Gabe Osabuohien is the most underrated defender in the country and can guard, quite literally, anyone that Kansas will roll out tonight.

Jalen Wilson has been the gin card for Kansas this year, and I just don’t see how he’ll be able to create mismatches tonight.

So I’ll be on the West Virginia moneyline at (+104).

LOUISVILLE (4-1) at PITTSBURGH (5-1), 7 p.m. ET
MONEYLINE: Louisville -159, Pittsburgh +130
SPREAD: Louisville -3
OVER/UNDER: 137 points
Click here for the full list of Louisville-Pittsburgh odds.

This line just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Louisville is a top 25 team when they have Carlik Jones, an All-American, available. He did not play against Wisconsin and everything fell apart. He is going to play tonight against Pitt. He and David Johnson make up one of the best backcourts in college basketball when they play together. Since both can make open threes and both are elite ball-screen point guards, it makes Louisville really tough to guard.

Plus, it’s the perfect bounce-back spot, a get-right game after getting embarrassed by Wisconsin on national television.

BRADLEY (6-2) at #13 MISSOURI (5-0), 7:00 p.m.
MONEYLINE: Missouri -670, Bradley +460
SPREAD: Missouri -10.5
OVER/UNDER: 137 points
Click here for the full list of Missouri-Bradley odds.

Missouri is really good. Their undefeated start to the season isn’t a fluke. They have a veteran backcourt, they are as tough as their head coach is intense and it’s showing up in their performances this season. They beat Oregon on a neutral court, they beat Illinois in the Braggin’ Rights game and they handled both Liberty and Wichita State relatively easily.

Bradley is tough. They are one of the best teams in the Valley, but so much of what they do well comes from playing through their bigs and there are rumblings that they could be shorthanded in the backcourt on Tuesday night.

Missouri makes too much sense to fade.