2 Best College Basketball Bets and Player Props for St. John's vs. Omaha

At 9:45 p.m. on Thursday night, 2 seed St. John's takes on 15 seed Nebraska Omaha in a first-round matchup.

As you'd expect, the Red Storm are sizable favorites.

To see thoughts on other games, check out our full men's college basketball tournament predictions page. But for St. John's vs. Omaha, here are my favorite bets in FanDuel Sportsbook's college basketball betting odds.

Betting Picks for St. John's vs. Omaha

Omaha Under 29.5 First-Half Points (-118)

St. John's hangs its hat on defense, and it might take Omaha some time to adjust to the Red Storm's speed, athleticism and physicality. That puts me on the under on Omaha's first-half total.

Per KenPom's numbers, St. John's has the nation's top defense, ranking first in adjusted defensive efficiency. Torvik ranks them second defensively. They're clearly elite on that side of the ball.

Although Omaha ranks a respectable 78th in offense on Torvik, they're just 126th in overall rating. St. John's hasn't played too many teams at Omaha's level, so it's tough to find a good comp, but DePaul (112th overall) is pretty similar. St. John's and DePaul played twice in Big East play, and the Red Storm won by 24 and 28 while holding DePaul to 61 and 58 total points -- including 25 and 29 first-half points.

In other words, St. John's two games against the Blue Demons were beatdowns where DePaul really struggled to score. I think we'll see something very similar play out on Thursday night.

St. John's -18.5 (-110)

Along that same vein, I like the Johnnies to cover the 18.5-point spread.

In those two comparable games against DePaul, the Red Storm covered this spread easily. Of course, how St. John's did against DePaul may not mean too much for this game, but it shows that the Red Storm are capable of dismantling teams of a similar ilk to Omaha.

While St. John's hasn't played many teams like Omaha, the Mavericks haven't played many teams the caliber of the Red Storm. Their only game against a KenPom top-75 team came against Iowa State back in December, and Omaha lost by 32.

St. John's just ran through the Big East Tournament and has lost only once since the calendar flipped to 2025. They're playing as well as anyone, and their elite defense should be a huge issue for Omaha. Give me the Johnnies to cover 18.5 points.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.