BetIQ Daily: Maryland-Indiana and Oregon-UCLA Picks

Thursday picks on BetIQ Daily look at Maryland vs. Indiana and the big matchup in Eugene between Oregon and UCLA.

February 24, 2022 - by Jason Lisk

Maryland will look to continue Indiana's slide (Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire)

BetIQ Daily is focusing in on a couple of bubble team situations today. We’re playing against one team trending in the wrong direction and going with another in need of a big win against last year’s Final Four team from Los Angeles.

1) Oregon +3

• NCAAB Spread Pick
• vs. UCLA, Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
• This one has a slight lean toward Oregon in our models but is not a playable pick, according to the Ensemble Forecast Model.
• Oregon is a pick based on player health and team trends.
• UCLA has several key players playing through injuries right now. PG Tyger Campbell missed the last game, Johnny Juzang missed two games ago with a sore hip after falling off his scooter, and Cody Riley, who missed eight games earlier this year, has had his minutes limited recently and sat a game for “load management.”
• Oregon has been inconsistent but has played better overall with its current lineup, nearly six points better on average over last 17 games compared to first 10 games.

2) Maryland +6.5

• NCAAB Spread Pick
• at Indiana, Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET on FS1.
• This is not a playable pick according to our models, but is a lean on Maryland.
• We are adding this as a pick based on team trends.
• Indiana has lost five straight games, going 0-5 ATS.
• Five of Indiana’s eight worst Game Scores have come in the last five games.
• Maryland’s leading scorer, Eric Ayala, had struggled in much of February and sat out the Purdue game with a wrist injury.
• Maryland has responded, though, with a one-point loss to Purdue and consecutive wins over Nebraska and Penn State, and Ayala will likely continue as a sixth man.

Top Pick Performance Trends

Our algorithmic models use over a decade of data to predict every game across five sports.

As of post time, here are some highlights of prediction performance from our primary Ensemble Forecast model this season for playable-rated picks (52.5% confidence or better) against game-day betting lines:

• NFL point spread picks: 48-37-2 (57%, +6.6 units)
• NBA moneyline picks: 109-90 (+14.4 units)
• College football over/under picks: 180-146-3 (55%, +17.7 units)