The BParlay.com team want to focus on discussing College Basketball 2021 Future Bets.
Well, the 2020-2021 season is in the rear-view mirror, and it is time to start looking ahead to next season. Bparlay.com brings you parlay picks from across all sports, but we are going to focus on how next season is looking for college basketball.
When looking for future bets, you need to see who is returning, who is in the transfer portal, and the coaching staff. We are going to see the busiest offseason in college basketball history, with already over 2,000 players in the transfer portal.
One of our favorite things to do is put together a parlay of conference winners. The hope is that your teams will still be in the running late in the season, and you can always hedge to make sure you come out ahead.
The first thing to look for are coaches who are active in the transfer portal. Arkansas, for example, has been a team that has already landed a few significant transfers. Erik Musselman has been the king of the transfer market all the way back to his Nevada days.
Second, look for teams who are returning a lot of key pieces. While one-and-done talent is nice, the teams who were successful last year had a lot of veterans who carried them to conference championships.
Lastly, coaching changes are another big one. There are a few coaches who immediately make an impact. Chris Beard has put together the best staff in college basketball and has already landed some key transfers.
Some of our favorite bets to bring home conference championships are UCLA, Arkansas, and Illinois. If you parlay all three of them together, you can get yourself a pretty nice payout when it is all said and done.
Conference Champion Parlay
UCLA has picked up Myles Johnson, a transfer from Maryland, and Dylan Andrews, one of the highest-rated players in this year’s class. Their national title odds, +1000, are a bit inflated because of their NCAA Tournament run, but they should be the favorite to win the Pac-12.
Arkansas has been the busiest team on the transfer portal. They have picked up Au’Diese Toney from Pittsburgh and Chris Lykes from Miami. Lykes and Davonte Davis should be able to score with any two guards in the country.
Mussleman will lose Moses Moody to the NBA draft, but he will still find another player or two in the transfer portal. The Razorbacks at +3300 are one of the best values to win the national title. Expect them to be around +300 to win the SEC, which I think is a great value.
Illinois will lose Ayo Dosunmu, and most likely Kofi Cockburn, to the draft. Brad Underwood has picked up Omar Payne, transfer from Florida, and Utah transfer Alfonso Plummer.
Payne should help replace Cockburn, and Plummer will immediately be the Illini’s best three-point shooter. Add that to Trent Frazier announcing his return for a fifth season, and Illinois could be a surprise team in the Big Ten even without Dosunmu and Cockburn.
UCLA, Arkansas, and Illinois on a conference championship parlay should pay well over 25/1. It will make an exciting bet that you can follow all the way to early March.
Transfer Portal
This is the busiest transfer portal ever with the adjusted NCAA rules for the upcoming season. There are over 2,000 players in the portal, and while some may return to their schools, most will be playing in a different jersey in 2021-2022.
Walker Kessler has picked Auburn, Timmy Allen is transferring to Texas, and Garrison Brooks is going to Mississippi State. With three of the top 10 players off the board, we will go over some of the big names on the market and where they might end up.
Marcus Carr
The Minnesota guard averaged nearly 20 points per game and almost 5 assists. He is the best offensive player in the portal and an immediate game-changer.
While Carr does leave a lot to be desired on the defensive end, if you need a scorer, he can put you over the top. Imagine Carr as a replacement for Gonzaga when Jalen Suggs turns pro.
Tre Mitchell
The UMass forward might be the best player in the portal. Despite playing in a mid-major conference, the 6’9 forward can play anywhere and put up big numbers.
He averaged 18.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Illinois is in the mix for Mitchell, and he would fit well in Brad Underwood’s system.
Adam Miller
Illinois freshman Adam Miller put his name in the transfer portal. It was a bit bizarre for a freshman who started on a team that was a one seed in the NCAA tournament, but he is in the portal nonetheless.
Miller was good, not great for the Illini. If he goes down a notch and plays for a mid-major, he would be the star of the team; maybe that is what he is looking for.
Mac McClung
McClung will be on his third team in as many years as he is going to use his fifth year away from Texas Tech. Will he join Chris Beard in Texas? I doubt it, but McClung is a good fallback plan for teams who go for Carr and miss.
De’Vion Harmon
Harmon is in the transfer portal but could easily come back and play for Oklahoma. Porter Moser would love a player like Harmon, who competes on both ends of the floor. Harmon averaged nearly 13 points a game for the Sooners last season.
Jalen Pickett
The Siena transfer is not a name you know but will be a good player at any level. Pickett averaged 12.9 points and 4.8 assists per game last season. He averaged over 15 his first two seasons for Siena.
Marcus Williams
The 6’2 guard for Wyoming was one of the best freshmen in the country. He will make the leap and go to a big conference and will be just fine against the better competition. Look for Williams to be heavily sought after with plenty of eligibility remaining.
Coaching Carousel
Along with the transfer portal being as crazy as it has ever been, many coaches were fired, retired, or took another job.
The two big retirements were Roy Williams and Lon Kruger. North Carolina turned to former player Hubert Davis to take over for the Hall of Famer.
Davis’ entire staff is former Tar Heels players. Sean May, Bred Frederick, and Jeff Lebo, who all played at North Carolina, are Davis’ assistant coaches.
Lon Kruger retired from coaching after an outstanding career between Illinois, UNLV, and Oklahoma. Kruger’s teams played in 14 NCAA Tournaments, including a Final Four in 2016 with Oklahoma.
The Sooners lured the hottest name on the market, Porter Moser, away from Loyola-Chicago. The Ramblers made a big-time counteroffer, especially for a mid-major, to keep Moser at Loyola.
Moser will bring his services to Norman after 10 seasons with Loyola. Moser has some work to do to fill the roster as he will most likely lose his top three players to graduation or the transfer portal. When placing bets on the Basketball sport, we highly recommend our readers take a look at the BParlay College Basketball Pick section of our website.
Other Coaching News
The biggest coaching move is Chris Beard heading to Texas. With Shaka Smart heading to Marquette, the Longhorns athletic department threw everything they had at Beard to entice him to leave Texas Tech.
Beard turned the Red Raiders program around with a defense-first mentality. Texas Tech has ranked inside the Kenpom top 25 each of the last four seasons.
Texas has not only lined Beard’s pockets but given him a budget to put together one of the most impressive coaching staffs in college basketball. Beard was able to even hire assistants away from head coaching jobs at smaller institutions.
Arizona parted ways with Sean Miller after a lack of success and some scrutiny from the NCAA. The Wildcats hired away, who most experts thought would be the successor for Mark Few at Gonzaga.
Tommy Lloyd has no head coaching experience but has been the top assistant at Gonzaga, which might be the best run program in college basketball history. Lloyd should have a talented bunch, and recruiting at Arizona is usually never a problem. Look for Lloyd to return Arizona to prominence in the Pac-12 and nationally. As always the College Basketball 2021 season has been challenging with everything that has been occuring around the world with the Pandemic.
Other College Basketball 2021 News
Cincinnati hired away a fabulous coach in Wes Miller after letting John Brannen go. Reports say that Brannen and the Bearcats Athletic Director has not been on speaking terms for weeks before his firing.
Miller had completely turned out the UNC Greensboro program in his ten-year run. The Spartans had at least 20 wins in each of the last five years.
Both Miller brothers were let go as Indiana parted way with Archie Miller. The Hoosiers had a hard time getting their man but eventually settled with former Indiana player Mike Woodson. Woodson has coached in the NBA but has very little NCAA experience.
My favorite hire of the year was Micah Shrewsberry at Penn State. Micah Shrewsberry has been an assistant at Purdue under Matt Painter.
Shrewsberry has been a name at the top of a lot of lists, and the Nittany Lions did well to keep him in the Big Ten. Shrewsberry has worked for Brad Stevens at Butler and in the NBA before returning to the college ranks under Painter.
Utah stayed inside the state to bring in Utah State coach Craig Smith. Smith has already made some noise picking up a few names inside the transfer portal.
Smith has had five straight 20 win seasons between South Dakota and Utah State. Smith’s defense-first approach should help get the Utes back to an NCAA Tournament sooner rather than later.
Texas Tech stayed inside the program with the hire of Mark Adams. Adams has head coaching experience and has coached under Beard since 2013.
Latest Coaching News
Joe Golding’s impressive job at Abilene Christian got him a pay raise, as he will now be the head coach at UTEP. Golding took Abilene Christian from one of the worst programs in college basketball eight years ago to two NCAA Tournament appearances and a shocking upset of in-state rival Texas in this year’s tournament.
The most bizarre hire for me was T.J. Otzelberger at Iowa State. Otzelberger’s UNLV team had a record of 12-15 last season after being slated to finish towards the top of the Mountain West Conference.
Otzelberger has a lot of Cyclones connections but seemed to be a lot of better coaches that could have helped turn the program around. Look for Iowa State to be trying to fill this position again in three years.
