Free Pick | NCAA | Monday | Nov. 4

Join Nelly’s for another successful basketball season – 7 straight winning seasons in college hoops. We also went 48-30 in the NBA regular season in 2023-24, off to a winning start at 2-1 already this season!

#782 Kentucky -20.5 over Wright State 6:00 PM CT

Scott Nagy led Wright State to eight consecutive winnings seasons, but he was hired at Southern Illinois in the off-season. Assistant Clint Sargent takes over the program and his first game as a head coach will be a challenge at Rupp Arena. This is a coaching change season at Kentucky as well, but Mark Pope has a ton of talent on the roster and was a proven winner in his time at BYU. This is a much more experienced Kentucky group than typical John Calipari teams filled with freshmen as well. Lamont Butler has been one of the top players in the Mountain West and he and Oklahoma transfer Otega Oweh will bring defensive toughness to the backcourt. Kerr Kriisa will provide a change of pace running the offense and Kentucky has incredible talent and size in the front court with Andrew Carr, Brandon Garrison, and Amari Williams. Koby Brea was one of the nation’s top 3-point shooters last season at Dayton and Pope’s BYU teams were often frequent long range shooters. The top two players from Wright State’s team last season are both gone with Trey Calvin and Tanner Holden graduating. Kentucky won 86-46 in the home opener last season and 95-63 in the home opener two years ago and while there are big changes for the program, a strong showing is likely vs. a Raiders team in a similar transition with far less quality talent imported. Wright State has lost its first Division I game in four straight seasons and that isn’t likely to change tonight. Kentucky losing to Oakland in last year’s NCAA Tournament, with Oakland from the same Horizon League as Wright State, should be a proper motivating factor knowing that Wright State beat Oakland by 21 points last February.