The Portland Pilots take on the BYU Cougars. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Portland BYU prediction and pick.

The BYU Cougars have had to fight to stay above water this season. For a period of time, it looked like they might not be able to swim. Coach Mark Pope has needed to make a lot of roster adjustments on the fly this season. Guards Spencer Johnson and Trevin Knell got hurt. BYU lost home games to South Dakota and Utah Valley. However, the Cougars stuck with it and did not give up on their season. They beat Utah. They beat Creighton. They won authoritatively earlier this week at Pacific, a road game the team didn't win last season but was able to figure out this time around. BYU has shown real resilience, and looks a lot more like the team everyone expected to see this season. The problem for BYU is that those really bad losses still look horrible on an NCAA Tournament resume. The Cougars have a lot of work to do. They will probably need to beat Gonzaga and Saint Mary's, but first things first: They have to take care of business against the Portland Pilots.

Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Portland-BYU College Basketball odds.

College Basketball Odds: Portland-BYU Odds

Portland Pilots: +8.5 (-110)

BYU Cougars: -8.5 (-110)

Over: 145.5 (-106)

Under: 145.5 (-114)

Why Portland Could Cover the Spread

The Pilots did beat Villanova earlier this season. They did test Michigan State and North Carolina. This was a really good team in November, but one month later, it has struggled. Yet, the awareness of what this team once was four weeks ago is something the Pilots can rally around. They took a lot of good teams into the final few minutes of regulation. They showed a lot of fight and were able to execute at both ends of the court. They have run into a slump, but a team which could compete at the highest level can certainly regain a winning edge. The arrival of West Coast Conference action against visible national opponents such as BYU could give Portland the juice and energy it needs to revive its season and perform at the standard we saw in November.

Why BYU Could Cover the Spread

The Cougars are so much better than they were one month ago, an inversion of what we have seen with Portland. BYU looked like a team which would fail to win 15 games this season when it stumbled around and lost to South Dakota and Utah Valley. The season looked like a complete trainwreck. It was easy to wonder if the team would ever find a winning identity. It has. The win over Creighton came when the team was still searching for a spark. That win really got the ball moving in the right direction. The Utah win came later. BYU then looked like a complete team at both ends of the court in the blowout win over Pacific.

We also have to note that Portland has lost four of five. The team we saw in November did not show up in December. Portland has clearly regressed, and it lost its most recent game, the WCC opener to Loyola Marymount, earlier this week. The Pilots were decisively outplayed. BYU is on the upswing, and Portland is on a downswing.

Final Portland-BYU Prediction & Pick

BYU is playing great. Portland is playing poorly. This is not a complicated pick.

Final Portland-BYU Prediction & Pick: BYU -8.5