The UMBC Retrievers and the Tulane Green Wave meet Monday in college basketball action from Devlin Fieldhouse. UMBC is fresh off a 18-14 overall campaign and a berth in the Basketball Classic. As for Tulane, they went 14-15 overall last yearner a fifth-place finish in the AAC. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
UMBC had a decent overall season in a crowded America East Conference a season ago, finishing 18-14 overall and 11-7 in conference play. That left the Retrievers in second place in the standings, behind the juggernaut Vermont at 17-1.
UMBC lost four of their first five conference games last year, but eventually they’d right the ship and only lose consecutive games once the rest of the season. UMBC lost to Vermont in the conference tournament championship and had to pull out of the Basketball Classic due to health concerns.
Over on the Tulane side, they continued their upward trend last season with a 14-15 overall record and a 10-8 mark in the American Athletic Conference. Tulane landed in fifth place behind Houston, SMU, Memphis and Temple.
Tulane was pretty choppy in conference play last year; the team failed to win more than two consecutive games but still came out with a conference mark above .500. After a win over Temple in the AAC Tournament the Wave fell to Houston in the semifinals.
The Retrievers are 5-1 ATS in their last six overall and 1-4 ATS in their last five Monday games. Tulane is 5-1 ATS in their last six at home and 12-3-1 ATS in their last 16 Monday games.
PICK: I’m going to stay with Tulane. The Wave are on the upswing right now according to many pundits, and they should be primed for a pretty good season. Tulane brought back almost all of the major names from last year’s squad, most notably Jaylen Forbes and Jalen Cook—the two leading scorers—and rebounding leader Kevin Cross. They’ll be joined by incoming transfer Brailee Albert from Vanderbilt. The team has their sights on a conference championship and a national tournament berth, and they’ve got a great shot at getting there.