We had a winning night during the Champions Classic, bringing our overall record to 6-7. This is the week that matters; legends are made during Feast Week. If you can finish positive during Feast Week, statues will be built in your honor. Our journey begins today.

A few rules going into Feast Week:

1. If you can’t name the team's mascots, you can’t bet on the game.

2. If a game is on FloHoops, you can’t bet on the game.

3. If a game starts after 11 pm ET, you can’t double down units.

4. Fade UNC in their opening MTE game.

5. Don’t bet on the NBA.

With all of this being said, let’s make some picks.

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5. UConn (-6.5) vs. 19. Texas O/U 143.5

If you veered away from a miserable NFL afternoon slate, you may have seen Texas go toe-to-toe with a dumpster fire Louisville team.

Max Abmas with a Kemba-like buzzer-beater in Madison Square Garden. This Texas team is much better than what they showed Sunday. Tyrese Hunter was extremely disappointing yesterday, and Kadin Shedrick somewhat carried the Longhorns. It’s astonishing it took a ridiculous buzzer-beater for Texas to defeat Louisville while they were a 17.5-point favorite!

UConn, on the other hand, absolutely dominated Indiana. So far this season, the Huskies look like they’ll be in contention to repeat. Tristen Newton, who established himself as a star in the NCAA Tournament last season, absolutely took over against Indiana and has proven he can be the best player on a top team in the country.

“So, Dr. College Basketball, UConn -6.5 is the play right?”

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No, little Timmy, they aren’t. Texas +6.5 is the play today. Everybody and their meemaw is going to hammer UConn after watching them demolish a flawed Indiana Hoosier team and seeing Texas struggle as a 17.5-point favorite.

Yesterday was a wake-up call for Texas, and they seem like a classic team that will play to their competition. Texas will keep this game close, and I would even sprinkle the moneyline.

GIVE ME TEXAS +6.5.

2. Purdue (-4.5) vs. 11. Gonzaga O/U 155.5

Oh baby. As a college basketball fan, this is a game you’ve had circled on your calendar since the schedule came out. I can’t believe we are getting Purdue vs. Gonzaga as a first-round Maui game. Thank you, College Basketball Gods.

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We all know the cardinal rule of college basketball: Guard play wins championships. Purdue was clearly lacking in that regard last season, but this year is different. Braden Smith has clearly taken that jump to being the guy that can make the big play when it matters most. This kid is legit.

This Purdue team might be a regular-season team, but guess what? This is the regular season. Gonzaga has played absolutely nobody to start the year (like most teams), and they look like a fine Gonzaga team.

I don’t see Gonzaga having an answer for Zach Edey. If Gonzaga wants to win this game, they’ll have to get Edey into foul trouble, but I don’t see Graham Ike or Braden Huff making that happen. I’m rolling with the Boilermakers -4.5 to take care of business against the Bulldogs.

UCLA vs. 4. Marquette (-6) O/U 141.5

I faded Marquette against Illinois, and that was silly of me. Never bet on a dumb team like Illinois. I knew better, and I still fell for it.

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And I’m falling for it again. I’m rolling with UCLA +6 tonight. UCLA is not an explosive team, but this is an elite defensive team. There are three reasons for this play tonight.

First, Marquette is currently shooting 62.9% from the free-throw line, which is awful. If you can’t hit your free throws, you should not be favored by six points against a team like UCLA. UCLA is currently shooting 70.3% from the line this season. That’s a massive free-throw disparity, which is why it is reason number one.

Reason number two: UCLA loves to muck up a game, and Marquette, going back to last season, struggled against teams that can slow it down and make it a rock fight. They lost to teams like Mississippi State and Wisconsin. That’s reason number two.

Reason number three: Time change and time of tip-off. The Hawaii time change is no joke. Marquette is located in a central time zone, which is four hours ahead of Oahu (where the Maui Invitational is being played). Meanwhile, UCLA is only two hours ahead of Oahu. This game is scheduled to tip off at 10:30 pm CT (6:30 pm in Hawaii and 8:30 PT), which means it probably won’t tip off until 11:00 pm CT. Combine that with the extra travel for Marquette traveling from Milwaukee, this is going to benefit the more conditioned team, which would favor Mick Cronin’s group. That’s the third reason.

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Let's go ahead and win all of our bets this week.

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Overall Record 6-7

Picks

Texas +6.5

Purdue -4.5

UCLA +6

Follow for late adds and more on X @karterb8

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