College basketball action continues on Wednesday with seven games featuring top-25 teams, highlighted by defending national champion No. 20 Michigan facing Marquette and No. 21 USC playing at Cal. SportsLine’s computer model and experts have provided best bets for these matchups, alongside Nevada versus UCSB.
Wednesday College Basketball Predictions
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every game 10,000 times and enters the second week of the season on an 11-1 run on top-rated over/under college basketball picks dating back to 2025, alongside a 28-22 run on top-rated side picks.
Wednesday’s featured selections include Michigan as a 3.5-point favorite against Marquette, UCSB as a 1.5-point underdog against Nevada, and Cal as an 8.5-point underdog against USC. Combining these three picks into a parlay creates a payout of +550.
Michigan and USC Matchup Breakdowns
Michigan enters Wednesday following its first loss of the season, an 85-77 defeat against No. 4 UConn last Friday. Although the Wolverines have converted only 22.6% of their 3-pointers through two games, the model projects them to cover the spread in 70% of simulations against a Marquette squad whose first two games came against Mercyhurst and Detroit.
In the late matchup at 11 p.m. ET, USC aims to improve to 3-0 after opening with victories over Milwaukee and Wichita State. Cal enters following a loss to No. 10 Houston where it struggled with size in the paint. Because USC relies more on the perimeter, the model backs the Golden Bears to win outright and cover the spread in 88% of simulations.
Analyzing Nevada against UCSB, SportsLine expert Bob Konarski noted that Nevada required overtime to defeat the Gaels at home in its previous outing. Konarski highlighted that UC Santa Barbara has excelled at home in recent seasons, brings back more production and experience than the Wolfpack, and features more efficient outside scorers.
Fans can access spread, total, and moneyline picks for every game through the CBS Sports platform.
