Winning the Charleston Classic has been a springboard for success in each of the past three seasons. The tournament’s last three winners (Villanova, Virginia, and Miami) all went on to post great regular seasons. There are a lot of smaller schools in this year’s event and they will be looking to make a name for themselves. Among them, Indiana State and Dayton might just be the favorites at this point.
These games will take place at College of Charleston’s TD Arena in Charleston, South Carolina. The Charleston Classic will last from November 16-November 19, with eight schools each playing three games. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for every game in the Charleston Classic.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Auburn vs. Indiana State
If there were preseason lines for this game, it would have seen an insane amount of line movement. The Tigers are in shambles right now. Auburn has had three staffers and two players have to step away from the program after an FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball found a lot of problems at the school. Neither Austin Wiley nor Danjel Purifoy will be play for the foreseeable future and that will hurt Bruce Pearl’s squad.
Indiana State wasn’t expected to be very good this season and was picked eight in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason rankings. That all changed when they blew out Indiana in its season opener. The Sycamores shot the lights out from beyond the arc and ended up with a 90-69 win over their Hoosier State rivals. Auburn better guard the perimeter against this team.
Old Dominion vs. Temple
The Monarchs play solid defense and this should be a low scoring affair. Old Dominion has locked down both Towson and James Madison, holding them to a combined 107 points this season. This team is great at distributing the ball and controlling possession and although it doesn’t score many points they are good at finding mismatches. There were assists on 18 of their 23 made field goal attempts against James Madison.
Temple is one of the few teams in the country that has yet to play a game this season. The Owls were great in the Preseason NIT last season, but finished a disappointing 16-16. Obi Enechionyia and Shizz Alston are projected to carry the team this season and those two will be the ones to watch.
Clemson vs. Ohio
Brad Brownwell must win now. He has been at Clemson since 2010 and hasn’t made the tournament since his very first season on campus. Not only that, but Brownwell has only piloted this team to the NIT twice in seven seasons. Clemson is off to a good start this season with Donte Grantham and Marquise Reed leading the way, but Shelton Mitchell needs to start hitting shots.
If you want to know how hard life in the MAC can be, consider Ohio. The Bobcats went 20-11 last season, but didn’t go to a postseason tournament after losing to Kent State in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament. They aren’t off to a good start this year either with a narrow victory over lowly Alabama A&M being their only result this year.
Dayton vs. Hofstra
Archie Miller left for the allure of Indiana this offseason, giving Anthony Grant the reins of the Flyers program. Grant coached at VCU and Alabama, but didn’t have much success at either school. He is a solid recruiter, but his teams constantly seem to disappoint. The Flyers are optimistic that doesn’t happen this year.
Hofstra is off to a 2-0 start and has a solid big man in Rokas Gustys. Gustys averaged a double-double as a sophomore and nearly did as a junior too. However, there is one major flaw in Gustys’ game, he is a terrible free throw shooter. He has never shot better than 43.6 percent from the line in any of his three previous seasons and bottomed out at 28 percent last season. Don’t be surprised to see Dayton foul him constantly if the Flyers fall behind.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Of the first-round matchups, I like Dayton the most. Grant’s teams typically have performed well in his first season on campus and the Flyers are off to a good start. In the other half of the bracket, I like Auburn to rally.
College Basketball Odds: Bet on Auburn and Dayton in the Charleston Classic
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