MAC Tournament odds picks, best bets Thursday

The undefeated Miami (Ohio) Redhawks look to continue their MAC dominance on Thursday morning.

With a tip-off slated for 11 a.m. ET, against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, the Redhawks come in as 7.5-point favorites.

Miami is a big favorite in this game, and rightfully so; they are undefeated this season and hope to stamp their ticket to March Madness with a conference tournament win, while UMass checks in at 16-15 for this quarterfinal matchup.

KenPom obviously thinks Miami isn’t as good as its record suggests, ranking them No. 91 in the nation despite the AP and Coaches Polls placing them at No. 20.

UMass is significantly further down the board, coming in as the No. 201 team in the country.

This line sits at 7.5 and has not moved since opening, though the total opened at 166.5 and fell slightly to 164.5 on BetMGM.

Miami (Ohio) vs. UMass prediction

Miami is a solid offensive squad, ranking No. 70 in offensive rating via KenPom.

They have a significantly worse defensive rating – 108.0, 139th in the nation.

The Minutemen come in at 179th in the nation in offensive rating and 220th in defensive rating per KenPom.

Rankings provided by FTN Fantasy are a bit more down on Miami, placing them at

UMass isn’t as far behind there as the Minutemen come in at 185th in the country, while Miami is 102nd.

Betting on College Basketball?

The Redhawks are 2-0 against the Minutemen so far this year, though those two games were close.

Umass lost, 86-84, in Oxford in January and, 86-77, at home in February.

All things considered, I’ll take the points in this spot.

The Play: UMass +7.5 (+100, Kalshi)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.