The college basketball season is officially underway, and we actually have some great games on the schedule of this opening weekend. Friday features a big matchup in the DMV with Georgetown traveling from D.C. to College Park for a true road game at Maryland.
Here’s a college basketball pick for Friday’s game between Georgetown and Maryland.
Georgetown vs. Maryland (6:00 p.m. ET)
The Hoyas are continuing to rebuild the program under Ed Cooley, while Maryland begins the Buzz Williams era after Kevin Willard left the program for Villanova. This should be a fun game between two programs on the rise with some terrific head coaches.
The Terrapins have a couple of clear advantages in this one, most notably getting a true home game on a Friday night this early in the season against legitimate competition. The Terps should have a great home crowd here, but the roster is completely unrecognizable from last season. Maryland has veteran talent that transferred in with the likes of Pharrel Payne and Elijah Saunders, but also start three freshman. While well coached, the lack of experience in the backcourt is concerning. Some veteran guards do come off the bench, and the Terps likely need to lean on them to win this game.
That said, I feel Georgetown is really being slept on this season. Star point guard, Malik Mack, returns alongside much of the young core that Cooley has been building for the Hoyas. Georgetown also added a terrific transfer in KJ Lewis from Arizona — a veteran do-it-all wing that plays with high energy and is ferocious on the defensive end.
Georgetown has been going hard in preseason scrimmages, and I think it’ll have the Hoyas well prepared for Friday night in College Park. G-Town took down Wake Forrest in a scrimmage behind closed doors, and then saved their best for when the bright lights were on. The Hoyas went to Lexington and defeated Kentucky by 14 points, holding the Wildcats to just 70 points in the game.
All of the metrics sites project Maryland to win this game by double digits, but I disagree. Georgetown has been bet down by a couple of points since the opening number, and the DraftKings Network betting splits are extremely sharp to Ed Cooley’s squad. Look for the Hoyas to make this a game, and potentially even win outright.
College Basketball Pick: Georgetown +6 (-110)
Looking for more betting angles and analysis on college hoops? Check out the college basketball home page on DraftKings Network!
