The San Francisco Dons take on the Pacific Tigers. Check out our college basketball odds series for our San Francisco Pacific prediction and pick. Find out how to watch San Francisco Pacific.
The arrival of mid-February means that the smaller conference tournaments aren’t that far away. Teams which are not going to get at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament are playing for seedings at their conference tournaments. Teams are also playing to get byes at their conference tournaments, so that they have to win only three games instead of four, or two games instead of three, to make the NCAA Tournament as an automatic qualifier. These things really matter, and this game between San Francisco and Pacific in the West Coast Conference is a great example of a game with seeding and tournament bye implications.
Pacific is surprisingly fifth in the WCC with a 6-6 league mark through 12 games. San Francisco is seventh at 5-8 in the conference. The top six teams in the WCC standings get a first-round bye, while teams seven through 10 have to play a first-round game and therefore have to win four games to win the WCC Tournament. San Francisco badly needs this game to get a first-round bye and give itself at least half a chance of winning the WCC Tournament.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the San Francisco-Pacific College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: San Francisco-Pacific Odds
San Francisco Dons: -5.5 (-102)
Pacific Tigers: +5.5 (-120)
Over: 153.5 (-110)
Under: 153.5 (-110)
How To Watch San Francisco vs. Pacific
TV: Local and regional cable
Stream: FuboTV (see below)
Time: 11:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. PT
*Watch San Francisco-Pacific LIVE with fuboTV (Click for free trial)*
Why San Francisco Could Cover the Spread
This team is under pressure to finish in the top six of the WCC and get that crucial first-round bye. San Francisco is talented enough to have led Gonzaga by six points with 4:12 remaining in an earlier meeting this season. The Dons couldn’t close the door, but any team which can lead Gonzaga by six points after nearly 36 minutes of basketball can obviously play. San Francisco has a lot more talent than Pacific. Given that the moment is important to the Dons, one should expect them to come out focused and angry and ready to play well. If they do play well, they should cover the spread by a considerable margin.
Why Pacific Could Cover the Spread
The Pacific Tigers have been better than many people expected at the start of the season. The Tigers have stayed afloat in a very competitive West Coast Conference. They are ahead of San Francisco in the conference standings. They are ahead of BYU in the standings. No one would have predicted this before the season began. The Tigers are overachieving, whereas San Francisco has had a relatively disappointing season one year after making the NCAA Tournament.
The other thing to point out here is that Pacific is getting more than five whole points despite playing at home. All the Tigers have to do is keep this game close, which doesn’t seem like a particularly daunting task, given how unreliable San Francisco has been in WCC play. A 5-8 Dons team has not made the grade within the conference this year. Pacific can keep USF under water.
Final San Francisco-Pacific Prediction & Pick
San Francisco is significantly more talented than Pacific and has something of real value to play for. Take USF.
Final San Francisco-Pacific Prediction & Pick: San Francisco -5.5