The college basketball season is officially underway, and we actually have some great games on the schedule of this opening weekend. Friday features some neutral court matchups at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, which is where this matchup between Tulsa and Rhode Island will take place.
Here’s a college basketball pick for Friday’s game between Tulsa and Rhode Island.
Tulsa vs. Rhode Island (6:00 p.m. ET)
Both the Golden Hurricane and Rams got their seasons underway on the right foot at home this week. Tulsa dominated Oklahoma Christian by a final score of 100-57, while Rhody handled Stetson by more than 30 points. Now the playing field levels off a bit on a neutral floor, but most metrics grade out the Rams as the significantly better team.
Both of these teams had a ton of moving pieces in the offseason, including David Green — who averaged 14.2 points as a starter for the Rams last season, and transferred to Tulsa. While Green headlines a starting lineup of upperclassman for the Golden Hurricane, the players around him don’t come with all that much experience actually playing college basketball.
Meanwhile, Rhody didn’t see a player touch the floor in its opener that even suited up for the school last season. Archie Miller played eight transfers and three freshman, but the roster did seem to be cohesive. While they don’t have much experience playing together, the Rams’ roster is filled with veteran transfers that have played significant roles for other college basketball programs.
All five starters scored in double figures in Rhody’s season opener, as well as Jahmere Tripp off the bench — a fellow Ram A-10 transfer from Fordham. I believe URI has an edge in both experience and talent in this one, both of which will matter even more early in the season. I’ll lay the points with the Rams to improve to 2-0.
College Basketball Pick: URI -3 (-110)
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