The ACC championship and Big East championship both tip off Saturday night, and I’ve got picks from those matchups in my +260 parlay.
The pregame narrative: I like the underdogs, the Creighton Bluejays (Big East) and Louisville Cardinals (ACC), to keep things tight and cover alt spreads. Later on, look for the Grand Canyon Antelopes to secure its fourth March Madness berth in five seasons.
Check out my NCAA basketball predictions for March 15.
NCAA basketball predictions
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Parlay: Creighton +10.5 | Louisville +8.5 | Grand Canyon ML (+260)
Creighton +10.5 (-200): St. John’s won its first two conference tournament games in dominant fashion, but I expect Saturday’s finale to be more of a struggle.
Creighton has played St. John’s awfully tough this year.
- The Bluejays won the first matchup, 57-56, on New Year’s Eve.
- In the rematch, Creighton led inside of the 15-minute mark of the second half before losing, 79-73.
All told, the Bluejays have covered this number in 20 of their past 21 games. St. John’s, meanwhile, has only covered a -10.5 spread in four of its past 12.
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St. John’s struggles mightily to generate offence from the perimeter, where the Red Storm shoot just 30.0% (343rd in NCAA Division I). Good luck finding easy buckets inside, though, where four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner awaits.
Also, Creighton is 7-1-1 ATS as an underdog this year, per Team Rankings.
Other parlay predictions
Louisville +8.5 (-165): Cooper Flagg is out for the Duke Blue Devils, which should open a door for Louisville.
Without Flagg for half of the ACC quarterfinal and the full semifinal, Duke went 0-2 ATS. The Blue Devils didn’t cover this number either time.
As for Louisville, the team has covered a +8.5 spread in 24 straight games (going 22-2 SU in that span).
I’m not holding my breathe for Reyne Smith to suit up for Louisville, but the sharpshooting guard hasn’t been ruled out as of this writing, either.
Smith, who averages 3.5 threes on 38.3% shooting, is listed as questionable after missing three-plus games with an ankle injury.
With a pair of 6-foot-11 starting forwards, the Cardinals have enough size to go with a primarily inside-the-arc offence if Smith is out.
Grand Canyon moneyline (-205): The WAC final is set to tip off at 11:30 p.m. ET, but hopefully it’s worth the wait for the sake of this parlay.
Real ball knowers should remember Grand Canyon from its upset win in last year’s March Madness tournament over the No. 5-seeded Saint Mary’s Gaels. Well, three starters plus a few other contributors are back from that squad.
Look at the experience and continuity discrepancies between Grand Canyon and the Utah Valley Wolverines, as measured by KenPom.com:
- Grand Canyon: 44th in average D-I experience (2.61 years), 29th in minutes continuity from last season (57.9%)
- Utah Valley: 333rd in average D-I experience (0.78 years), 181st in minutes continuity from last season (34.1%)
Grand Canyon is 22-6 SU as a favourite this year and has gone 3-1 against Utah Valley since the start of last season. I’m counting on the Antelopes’ experience guiding them to victory.
NCAA basketball picks made at 11:05 a.m. ET 03/15/2025
Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles — especially for MLB markets or NFL/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he’ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.