WagerTalk college basketball handicapper Adam Trigger offers his thoughts on the upcoming 2021-22 WAC Basketball season. Which teams are being underrated by the betting market? Which teams should you stay away from? Check out Adam’s WAC Basketball betting preview.<\/p>\n
The 2021-22 college basketball season tips off on Tuesday, November 9th, and Adam Trigger<\/a> wants to introduce himself with a big discount! For a limited time, you can get the opening seven days of the college hoops season for ONLY $39, giving you access to ANY college basketball selections played during opening week, including ANY 5% Best Bets on the hardwood! Stay on top of the latest College Basketball<\/a>\u00a0updates direct from Las Vegas!<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot to unpack and a lot of teams I bet on frequently in this conference last year, some of which were in other conferences. One of my claims to fame last year was being all over Abilene Christian from literally the first day of the season, long before they became a household name during the NCAA Tournament, and the Wildcats will join the WAC from the Southland along with Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State and Lamar. Chicago State is back after canceling their season nine games in last year and New Mexico State will be back in the state of New Mexico (after COVID forced them to play in a HS gym in El Paso) and back to their usual contender status. Grand Canyon are the defending champs and the influx of Southland teams has made this 13 team conference one of the most intriguing mid-major conferences in the country. Like last year, I have big opinions in the WAC, I expect this conference to be a moneymaker again for me and here are a few of the teams I\u2019m targeting as follow\/fades.<\/p>\n Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks<\/strong> \u2013 One could make an argument the best team in the Southland last season was Stephen F. Austin but we will never know because the Lumberjacks were banned from postseason play and, thus, not allowed to play in the Southland Conference Tournament. Of the four teams that come over from the Southland to the WAC, SFA is the best and I think their style of play being an unknown to the other WAC teams has the Lumberjacks undervalued as a big time contender to win this conference. Senior forward Gavin Kensmil was one of the best players in the Southland last year and will be one of the top players in the WAC this season. Kensmil averaged 15.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season, he\u2019s a rebounding machine and SFA should hammer most teams in this conference on the boards this season.<\/p>\n Head coach Kyle Keller is in his 6th season as head coach, he\u2019s taken SFA to a NCAA Tournament and would have gone in 2020 with a Lumberjacks team that was 28-3 before the tournament was canceled so he\u2019s established and there\u2019s precedence for his teams being elite. In addition to Kensmil, SFA starts three other seniors and a junior and have transfers in Jonathan Aku and Latrell Jossell that didn\u2019t play at all at Texas A&M and Kansas respectively but will be in the rotation of the bench here. SFA had their historic upset win at Duke two years ago, the \u2018Jacks will probably be undervalued when they play at Kansas in December and I expect the oddsmakers to have a tough time pricing SFA in their first go around in WAC play.<\/p>\n Seattle Redhawks<\/strong> \u2013 The best player in the WAC and one of the best scorers in the country is Damion Trammell Jr of Seattle and he has enough of a supporting cast where I could see this Redhawks team being way better than expected. Seattle has all five starters back and I\u2019m actually shocked Trammell decided to return as the new transfer rules would have let him play just about anywhere this season. Trammell averaged 20.5 points per game last season and that should pair nicely with 6\u20197\u201d forward Riley Grigsby who averaged 17.8 points per game last year and returns for his senior season. Seattle landed a big transfer in Cameron Tyson who averaged 6.5 points per game off the bench for a Houston team that went to the Final Four last year and Seattle should be able to rebound with Kobe Williamson (6.1 ppg and 6 rpg) and Emeka Udenyi (7.9 ppg, 8rpg) both returning. The final returning starter is redshirt senior Aaron Nettles who managed to average 10.1 points per game despite Trammell and Grigsby taking such a large quantity of the shots.<\/p>\n Seattle wasn\u2019t great defensively last season, but I expect that to improve based on the fact virtually everyone is back and the Redhawks had almost no roster turnover from last year to this year. Seattle has zero history of winning which means the betting public is going to prefer the \u201cname\u201d teams in this conference like Grand Canyon, New Mexico State, Stephen F. Austin and last year\u2019s NCAA Tournament darling Abilene Christian. Lost in the shuffle is exactly where we want Seattle and we should be able to find some nice value with a Redhawks team that will always have the best player on the floor in Trammell and has an outside shot to win this league.<\/p>\n Abilene Christian Wildcats<\/strong> \u2013 You will see this theme as we work our way through the conferences, a team that was a \u201cBET ON\u201d for me last year (if I was right about them) will often become a \u201cBET AGAINST\u201d the following year. The reasoning for that is simple, I\u2019m typically targeting well coached teams with upperclassmen and when a mid-major has those things typically the top players graduate (or in today\u2019s game transfer) and the good coaches end up getting poached by the bigger schools. That\u2019s what\u2019s happened to Abilene Christian as head coach Joe Golding parlayed last year\u2019s incredible run into the UTEP job after a decade in charge in Abilene. Golding\u2019s top assistant, Brette Tanner, takes over as head coach but he will have to do it without Kolton Kohl who graduated (and opted to not use the free year) and Joe Pleasant who transferred to Wichita State.<\/p>\n Abilene Christian did it with defense first last season but this team is undersized big time and I can see the Wildcats struggling with the move to the WAC which, across the board, has far bigger frontcourts than ACU was accustomed to seeing night in and night out in the Southland last year. Abilene Christian will still be a nightmare to play against for teams that can\u2019t handle the basketball but teams with capable guards that can score in the post should have their way with Abilene this season. Unfortunately for Abilene, the new name recognition that comes with what they did last season is going to have the Wildcats priced as if it were last season\u2019s team, with a new coach and no Kohl and Pleasant they just aren\u2019t and that will make ACU a likely fade for me this season.<\/p>\n Im going to go conference by conference & post previews with teams I\u2019m looking to bet on & bet against this season<\/p>\n I\u2019ll post them for free @WagerTalk<\/a><\/p>\n There are conferences I focus on more than others but drop the ones you want \u2b07\ufe0f and I\u2019ll try to go in order of most requested!<\/p>\n \u2014 Adam Trigger (@TopFlightSI) October 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWAC Basketball Betting Preview<\/h3>\n
WAC Basketball ‘BET ON’ Teams<\/h3>\n
WAC Basketball ‘BET AGAINST’ Team<\/h3>\n
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