Pacific vs Washington State prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball
Yesterday at 11:33 AM
It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Pacific-Washington State prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Pacific-Washington State.
The Washington State Cougars made a run at the Pac-12 championship last season under previous head coach Kyle Smith. They defeated the Arizona Wildcats in the regular season and had a chance to get the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, but they fell just short. Arizona finished 15-5 in 20 conference games, and Washington State finished 14-6. If the Cougars had tied Arizona in the standings at 15-5, they would have been the top seed in the final year of Pac-12 basketball due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Fast-forward one year. Washington State is not in the Pac-12, but it is once again legitimately in the middle of a conference title chase, this time under new coach David Riley, who replaced Smith when the latter went to Stanford to coach in the ACC with the Cardinal. As Washington State prepares for a WCC game against Pacific on a Thursday night which is loaded with West Coast games, the Cougars are 3-0 in the WCC. Wazzu is one of a few unbeaten teams in conference play. You might have heard of the others: Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are both 4-0 in the WCC. So, Washington State is — for the second consecutive year — battling a familiar superpower for a conference title. Last year it was Arizona. This year it’s Gonzaga plus Saint Mary’s in a different conference. It will be fascinating to see if Washington State, a program without the consistent annual track record of GU and SMC, can battle the two biggest names in the West Coast Conference and ultimately come out on top. The odds aren’t on the Cougars’ side, but let’s step back and realize that the odds did not have WSU beating the Arizona Wildcats head to head last season and finishing second in the Pac-12. No one saw that coming. Washington State made the 2024 NCAA Tournament last season; no one was predicting that would happen when the 2023-2024 college basketball season began. Washington State has had one of the most barren and disappointing histories of any major college basketball program. The Cougars — before last season’s run to March Madness — had made the NCAA Tournament just three times in the previous 40 years. Last year marked just the seventh NCAA Tournament appearance for the school, which made exactly one NCAA tourney appearance before 1980.
Washington State is trying to build an entirely new identity as a program which regularly makes March Madness, instead of parachuting in for a very occasional visit every 10 to 15 years. Making back-to-back NCAA Tournaments has happened exactly once in the school’s history (2008 and 2009), so making March Madness this year would be hugely important and resonant on a national scale.
Here are the Pacific-Washington State College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Pacific-Washington State Odds
Pacific: +16.5 (-110)
Moneyline: +1260
Washington State: -16.5 (-110)
Moneyline: -4000
Over: 153.5 (-112)
Under: 153.5 (-112)
How to Watch Pacific vs Washington State
Time: 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN Plus
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)*
Why Pacific Will Cover The Spread/Win
The spread is huge, and Washington State might be looking ahead to bigger games later in the season. Pacific could catch WSU on a night when the Cougars aren’t fully focused.
Why Washington State Will Cover The Spread/Win
Washington State is a far, far better team, good enough to blow the doors off this game and win by 25.
Final Pacific-Washington State Prediction & Pick
Washington State should absolutely throttle Pacific. Take WSU here.
Final Pacific-Washington State Prediction & Pick: Washington State -16.5
The post Pacific vs Washington State prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
