NCAA Basketball: 10 best bets to make on opening night of 2022-23 season

8. Houston (-25.5) vs Northern Colorado

The Cougars are a preseason top-3 team that can win a national title but after last year’s near-defeat to Hofstra to open the season, I feel that Coach Kelvin Sampson will have this team’s attention. Plus, the two returning guards from injury (Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark), will be chomping at the bit to get on the court and put up some numbers.

Northern Colorado does bring back a 21 ppg scorer in Daylen Kountz and was a top-30 scoring offense last year. However, they also were a bottom-30 team in scoring defense and Houston is one of the best defensive units in NCAA Basketball. The Bears are a threat in the Big Sky this season but against what should be a motivated Cougars team, won’t be much of a challenge.

7. The Citadel (+18) vs Clemson

The Citadel pulled off the upset against Pittsburgh a year ago, who was depleted in the backcourt. This time around, they take on a Clemson sqaud that’ll be missing its best player in forward PJ Hall. They have a bunch of guards but none have had big roles before and it’s a big question mark as to how good they’ll be this season.

The Bulldogs lost their two best players in Hayden Brown and Jason Roche, so they have question marks as well. But the typically fast-paced program still has seniors, Rudy Fitzgibbons and Stephen Clark to lead the way. I don’t think the Tigers are on upset alert but for a roster with new parts, I don’t know if they’re ready to blow teams out yet.