The defending national champion Baylor Bears are off to a hot start winning all four games ahead of their showdown with the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis. And the Bears aren’t just winning, they’re blowing opponents away. The latest victim was another Pac-12 foe Stanford on Saturday. Baylor ran away in the second half for an 86-48 triumph and has won every game by at least 27 points with a margin of 34.8 points. They should have a stiff test against ASU, a team many expect to be near the top of the strong Pac-12, though the Sun Devils are just 2-2 in the early stages of the new campaign.
This war on the floor will go down Wednesday, November 24, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Imperial Arena in Nassau, Bahamas. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA Basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
For the first time this season the Bears will venture out of Waco to play a game. They took care of business at home looking like a top-10 team hammering the likes of Incarnate Word, Nicholls and Central Arkansas. They also crushed Power 5 Stanford on Saturday, but the Cardinal are rebuilding and didn’t put up much of a fight. The Bears were able to cover in each of their last three games and their matchup with ASU will be the closest on the college basketball betting line. Dating back to their title run last season, Baylor has won 10 consecutive games while going 8-2 ATS.
Arizona State hasn’t played since a heartbreaking 65-63 loss to San Diego State last Thursday. And like Baylor the early season schedule hasn’t been the most difficult. The results show that this is a game the Sun Devils will be getting points. A loss to SDSU isn’t terrible since the Aztecs have been a top-25 squad for years and ASU covered as an 8-point dog. But an upset loss to UC Riverside and a 72-63 win over North Florida as a 16-point favorite are proof there is work to be done.
Baylor Bears
It’s not the same team that won the national title last season with several starters from that squad moving on. But the Bears play the same brand of basketball and they’ve excelled with all four wins by at least 27 points. The offense has clicked scoring 86 or more points and the team is stingy defensively holding all four opponents to 60 points or less. Granted, the competition hasn’t been the stiffest, likely a ploy by Scott Drew to give his team a few easy outs early in the year as they get accustomed to playing to together.
So far that hasn’t been a problem. The Bears like to run and they have the horses. Five players score in double figures led by LJ Cryer at 18.5. He saw limited time for last season’s champs and has taken over the torch. He’s a deadly shooter banging home 63 percent of his field goals and nearly 54 percent of his triples. Blue chip recruit Kendall Brown has been the stud everyone in Waco expected averaging 15 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Arizona State Sun Devils
Rosters change every year with some more drastic than others. After a disappointing last season the Sun Devils made a bunch of changes, including a new starting backcourt. Coming together to win basketball games takes time so we might see ASU endure some ups and downs in the early part of the year. Kimani Lawrence had 19 points and 10 rebounds in a season opening win over Portland. The Sun Devils were stunned next time out by UC Riverside on a buzzer-beating heave from beyond mid court and they responded with a late flurry to beat North Florida, 72-63. They failed on three potential game-winning shots in the final seconds against the Aztecs to even their record at 2-2.
The return of Marcus Bagley after withdrawing from the NBA draft was a huge deal for Bobby Hurley. Bagley averaged 10.8 points last season missing chunks of time due to COVID delays and various injuries. He totaled 30 points in the first two games before sustaining a leg injury and missing the last contest. Arguably the most talented player on the roster, Bagley’s status for Wednesday is unknown. He certainly gives ASU a better chance of winning if he’s on the floor.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Baylor is doing it on both ends of the floor and their depth is something few teams have. Oh, teams have bodies, but they don’t have players who can perform at a high level as the fifth or sixth man off the bench. Throw a suffocating defense, one that forced 29 Central Arkansas turnovers, against a team that’s struggled shooting the basketball, and the Bears are in a good spot to increase their winning streak.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
