3 Best College Basketball Bets and Player Props for Tuesday 2/25/25

The college basketball season is rolling along, giving us plentiful betting options with so many teams in action each day.

Fortunately, we have abundant tools available that can aid our chances of finding good betting value. Bart Torvik and KenPom are excellent sources that give insights into team-level efficiency, and Sports Reference provides a wide range of useful team stats, as well.

Let's check out FanDuel Sportsbook's college basketball odds and select some of the best bets of the day by utilizing the mentioned tools.

Please note lines are subject to change throughout the day after this article is published.

Today's Best College Basketball Betting Picks

Duke at Miami

Duke -22.5 (-110)

Fresh off a 43-point beatdown over a top-25 KenPom team in Illinois, Duke heads south to take on a Miami squad ranked 189th on KenPom -- one they've already defeated by 35 points this season. And while backing road favorites to cover this hefty of a spread isn't my favorite approach for college basketball, it's hard to ignore the Blue Devils only being favored by 22.5 points.

For starters, we shouldn't be scared off by this 22.5-point spread -- not with this Duke team. The Blue Devils lead the country in average point differential (+21.0), and they have made short work of the ACC. Of their 16 conference games, 8 have resulted in a point differential north of 22.5.

That's even more staggering when you take into account Miami's status as the ACC's bottom-feeder. The Hurricanes are the conference's lowest-rated team on KenPom (189), and Duke has routinely posted huge margins against these sorts of teams. They have a +27.8 average point differential against teams outside the top 100 on KenPom, winning 9-of-13 by 23 or more points.

Miami hasn't show much life of late, either. They just lost to Virginia Tech (151st on KenPom) by double-digits at home and are now down to 359th in effective field goal defense. Duke has the third-highest effective field goal percentage in the country -- you do the math.

This is just too short of a line for a team playing as well as Duke right now. In one of the biggest mismatches of the slate, consider backing Duke -22.5 in a game that may be over by halftime.

Washington at Wisconsin

John Tonje (WIS) To Score 20+ Points (-104)

Wisconsin guard John Tonje's points prop is the gift that keeps on giving. Though he's cracked 20 points in eight of his last nine games, reaching 30 twice in that span, his points prop continues to hover in the high teens. He carries -104 odds to score 20+ points tonight -- a prop I'm inclined to continue betting until proven otherwise.

For the season, Tonje is up to 19.7 points per game. But he's been on an absolute tear since the middle of January, averaging 24.8 points on a 31.2% usage rate. He's hoisted at least 15 shots in six of those nine games and attempted double-digit free throws twice.

The grad senior doesn't appear to be slowing down, either. He's scored 32, 31, and 22 points over his last three games and recorded a season-high 20 shot attempts his last time out.

That kind of usage bodes well for his chances against a Washington defense that ranks 17th among 18 Big Ten teams in scoring defense. They've permitted the second-highest effective field goal percentage (eFG%) in conference play and really struggled to defend without fouling. Their 28.7% defensive free throw rate is well above the conference average (24%) -- good news for a guard like Tonje who's hoisted 6.1 free throw attempts per game during this stretch.

On top of that, the Huskies have been an advantageous matchup for backcourts. Big Ten guards are averaging 16.3 points per 40 minutes and shooting 46.8% against Washington -- both above the conference averages (15.6 points; 43.3% FG%).

At home, with the Badgers showing a hefty 82.5-point implied total, look for John Tonje to stay hot and notch 20 points for the ninth time in 10 games.

Iowa at Illinois

Kasparas Jakucionis (ILL) To Score 20+ Points (+186)

Illinois returns home from a 43-point loss to Duke to host Iowa tonight. After being held to 67 points in Saturday's loss to Duke's fourth-ranked adjusted defense, the Illini offense should have a much easier go against an Iowa side letting up a Big Ten-high 83.5 points per game in conference play.

That should benefit leading scorer Kasparas Jakucionis -- a 15.9-point-per-game scorer who has cracked 20 points in 40% of his conference games. With his +186 odds to score 20+ points coming out to 35% implied probability, I like diving into the alt. point market against the Big Ten's worst defense.

Now, Jakucionis has been held under 20 in consecutive games, but he popped for 24 each of the prior two games. He leads the Illini in minutes (31.5) and usage rate (23.6%) in Big Ten play, so he figures to benefit the most from what's expected to be a high-scoring game.

Illinois has a monster 90.5-point implied total tonight, and Jakucionis has notched 20 points in four of the eight games the Illini have scored at least 90 points this season.

He's turned up in fast-paced matchups, too. The freshman phenom has cleared 20 points in two of four games against top-100 tempo teams; Iowa ranks 40th in adjusted tempo.

On top of that, the Hawkeyes have been one of the country's top matchups for guards. They've allowed the sixth-most points (per 40 minutes) to guards among Power Conference teams and the fourth-most to point guards in Big Ten games.

In the slate's premier offensive environment, these +186 odds for Jakucionis to score 20 points are mighty appealing.

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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.