College basketball predictions, picks: Washington vs. Washington State and more

It’s hard to get your heart ripped out more than we have this week with our college basketball picks against the spread.

A day after watching Clemson (+6.5) kill its chances with a late foul down five, we had to witness TCU (-2.5) allow Texas guard Sir’Jabari Rice to drill a meaningless three as time expired to close an eventual 2-point win. Ouch.

And so we pick up the pieces and move onto Thursday, which features just four ranked teams but boasts a handful of exciting matchups further down the board, especially out west.

Here are our favorite bets for the night of hoops, with odds courtesy of BetMGM:

College basketball Thursday odds and picks

(via BetMGM)

• Portland vs. San Diego over 158.5 
• Washington State -1.5 @ Washington

Portland vs. San Diego prediction and analysis

(9 p.m. ET)

You probably didn’t expect you’d be betting on the first round of the WCC Tournament, especially on a game between two teams with losing records.

But when the defenses are as bad as they’ll be on Thursday, you’ve got to take a shot.

San Diego’s defense might legitimately be the worst in all of college basketball: it ranks dead last in 3-point percentage allowed (40.4%) and second-worst in opponent effective FG% (57.9%) while allowing more than 40.8% of opposing attempts from deep.

That’s a brutal recipe against the Pilots, who rank in the top 40 in 3-point percentage (36.9%) and 3-point rate (44.5%) entering this matchup.

Portland’s defense isn’t quite as atrocious, but it’s still among the worst in the country at defending threes and has allowed 80-plus points in four straight games.

This one should be fun.

Portland vs. San Diego pick

Washington vs. Washington State prediction and analysis

(11 p.m. ET., ESPNU)

This sure feels like it could be Mike Hopkins’ final regular-season game at Washington after six seasons of mostly mediocrity. I’m not counting on an inspired effort from the players to preserve his job in Thursday’s home finale.

The Huskies have lost five of their last eight games and 11 of their previous 18 dating back to Dec. 21, with three of those seven wins coming in overtime.

Betting on College Basketball?

That stretch includes a 5-point loss at rival Washington State last month and a 12-point loss to Stanford on Sunday when Hopkins’ trademark zone defense allowed the Cardinal to shoot 12-of-24 from deep.

That’s concerning ahead of this test against the Cougars, who lead the Pac-12 in 3-point rate (43.6%) and have won five straight dating back to that Feb. 11 win over Washington.

This team would love nothing more than to punctuate a frustrating season with a potentially fatal blow to Hopkins’ tenure in Seattle.

Washington vs. Washington State pick

• Washington State -1.5 (BetMGM)