There’s one significant injury to a mid-major men’s college basketball program you will want to be aware of as Central Arkansas will be without its best player in guard Camren Hunter for 6-8 weeks with a broken foot. Hunter is one of the best returning players in the Atlantic Sun as he averaged 16.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.7 three-pointers, and 1.5 steals per contest last year. Here are two intriguing early-week matchups and our picks around college hoops.

Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week (November 6th, 2023)

Official preseason College Basketball power rankings pic.twitter.com/KJsbRRJNAJ

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) November 6, 2023

Auburn Tigers vs. Baylor Bears

• When: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023, 9:00 PM ET
• Where: Sanford Pentagon, Sioux Falls, SD
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: Wings 94.3 FM (Auburn) // KRZI-AM 1660 (Baylor)
• Live Stream: WatchESPN
• NCAAB Betting Odds: Auburn (+2) // Baylor (-2)

Game in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Auburn, a member of the SEC, is coming off a 21-13 season which saw the Tigers advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Forward Johni Broome, an All-SEC Second Team selection, is the team’s top returning scorer (14.2 ppg), rebounder (8.4 rpg) and shot blocker (2.4 bpg). Broome, who was selected to the preseason All-SEC First Team by a vote of the league’s media members, is the only returning player in the SEC who averaged 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks last season. Broome enters the season third among active NCAA Division I players with 46 career double-doubles including 10 last season in his first year on The Plains.

Three-time SEC Coach of the Year Bruce Pearl returns for his 10th season at Auburn. He has guided the Tigers to over 170 wins in nine seasons, the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking in both national polls and a memorable run to the NCAA Final Four in 2019. This year, Auburn was picked to finish sixth in the SEC by the media.

It’s an influx of talent from the transfer portal with Denver Jones, Chad Baker-Mazara and Chaney Johnson along with the addition of freshman point guard Aden Holloway that has head coach Bruce Pearl excited about this year’s team. There’s depth and competition at every position. So much so that Pearl has yet to nail down his starting lineup. Of the 10 players in the expected rotation, eight are upperclassmen. None more than Jaylin Williams. With one more win, he will become the winningest player in Auburn basketball history.

“I told the team that I was going to be letting them know this week who the starting five was,” Pearl said. “I’ve not been asked by one player. We’ve got so much parity, so much competition at each position, I’m not sure they want to know – which I think is a good thing.”

BU is playing at the Sanford Pentagon for a second-straight season, after outlasting No. 14 Gonzaga 64-63 in the inaugural Peacock Classic, a rematch of the 2021 national title game. The Bears open the season as a ranked team for the fifth-straight season, and 11 of the last 14 seasons since its first preseason ranking in 2010-11. The Bears have been ranked in 74 of the last 75 AP Polls. BU is 78-20 over the last three seasons, tied for the nation’s best record by a Power-6 team in that span.

Baylor has won 19 of its last 20 neutral-site games against non-conference opponents (only loss in that span was vs. Virginia 11/18/22). Baylor is 77-13 vs. unranked teams over the last four seasons (.855%). Baylor is replacing four of its five starters and 68% of its scoring from a season ago. The Bears welcome in a top-15 recruiting class, headlined by Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Ja’Kobe Walter, who is joined by a pair of four-star freshmen in Yves Missi and Miro Little. Walter joined his teammates Jalen Bridges and RayJ Dennis as Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable mention selections.

Auburn leads the all-time series 5-2.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Auburn

Florida Atlantic Owls vs. Loyola Chicago Ramblers

• When: Wednesday, November 8th, 2023, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: Wintrust Arena, Chicago, IL
• TV: Barstool Sports
• Radio: Fox Sports 640 South Florida WMEN-AM (Florida Atlantic) // Rambler Sports Network (Loyola Chicago)
• Live Stream: Barstool TV
• NCAAB Betting Odds: TBA

Game in Chicago. Florida Atlantic had one of the most stunning runs in NCAA history last season to the Final Four, losing to No. 5 San Diego State in the national semifinals. Just about everyone is back and FAU was ranked at the top of the American Athletic Conference at No. 1 with 11 first-place votes and a total of 167 points in the preseason poll.

The 2022-23 C-USA Champions led the conference in scoring margin, rebounding margin, and defensive rebounds per game. The Owls finished the season with an overall record of 35-4 and 18-2 in Conference USA.

Junior guards Alijah Martin and Johnell Davis were named to the AAC Preseason All-Conference First Team. Martin enters his fourth season with the Owls in 2023-24 after having an astonishing year. Last season, Martin became the 15th player in Florida Atlantic history to join the 1,000-point club. He was named the 2023 C-USA Tournament Most Outstanding Player and named to the 2023 NCAA All-Tournament Team, 2023 All-C-USA Tournament Team, and 2022-23 All-Conference USA First Team along with other accolades. Martin registered 484 points on the season, 13.4 points per game, and 37 steals. He is dealing with a minor injury and in question for Wednesday.

Davis, also entering his fourth season with the Owls, led the team in multiple categories with a total of 509 points on the season, averaging 13.8 points per game, and 56 steals. He is a tremendous player offensively and defensively as he recorded 158 defensive rebounds. Last season, he was named to the 2023 C-USA All-Tournament Team, 2022-23 Conference USA Sixth Player of the Year, 2022-23 All-C-USA First Team, and 2022-23 NABC All-District 17 First Team.

The Owls are one of 17 teams to open the season in the 2023-24 AP Top 25 after also being ranked in the final AP poll last season, taken before the start of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. During last season, Florida Atlantic was a part of the AP Top 25 for the first time and was on the list five times throughout, reaching as high as No. 19.

Loyola Chicago is an Atlantic 10 school that finished 10-21 last year. The Ramblers were picked to finish eighth in the league this year. Philip Alston has been named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference Second Team. Alston, who enters his second season with the Ramblers, was Loyola’s leading scorer and rebounder a season ago after averaging 14.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while blocking a team-high 33 shots. Alston appeared in all 31 games while starting in 30 contests a season ago and shot 46.8% from the field and 40.0% from beyond the arc.

He scored 10 or more points in 25-of-31 contests for the Ramblers, including a stretch of 10 consecutive games from Dec. 6 to Jan. 18. Alston dropped a season-high 25 points at Duquesne on Jan. 25, finishing 8-of-15 from the field while making a career-high five 3-pointers.

Of the 155 starting positions over the course of a 31-game season last year, the Ramblers return 125 combined starts (80.6%). Additionally, Loyola welcomes back 74.2% of its scoring, 71.4% of its rebounding and 75.5% of its assists totals from a season ago. Leading the charge is the quartet of Alston, Braden Norris, Ben Schwieger and Tom Welch.

Over the last five seasons in which the NCAA Tournament has been played, the Loyola men’s basketball program is in elite company when it comes to postseason success. The Ramblers are just 1-of-12 teams across all of Division I men’s basketball to have both a NCAA Final Four and NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance on their resume in that span. Joining the Ramblers on the prestigious list are: Michigan, Villanova, Kansas, Michigan State, Texas Tech, Gonzaga, UCLA, Houston, Duke, North Carolina and Miami.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Loyola

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This is just one of the many sports betting guides that you can read here at Nitrobetting news. Stay tuned for more 2023-24 NCAAB season previews and articles, and don’t forget to check out the latest college basketball betting odds on our online crypto sportsbook.

*All odds stated are subject to change without prior notice.

READ MORE: Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week – November 13th, 2023