With March Madness right around the corner, a college basketball card presents one huge matchup this coming Saturday, along with plenty of others for our NJ bets of the week.
That includes the Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury mega-fight, several XFL games, the Philadelphia 76ers vs the Brookly Nets, and more.
XFL Week 3 – NJ Bets Of The Week
New York Guardians at St. Louis BattleHawks
- Odds: BattleHawks -9 at DraftKings
- Date: Sunday, February 23rd
The XFL continues to deliver a lot of entertainment value, which they deserve credit for. The non-stop player interviews delivered quite the gem last week when New York Guardians quarterback Matt McGloin ripped his team and coaching staff publicly. That led to his bench as the Guardians were shutout 27-0.
The Guardians did get the win in Week 1 but they beat the Tampa Bay Vipers, who have proven to be one of the weakest teams in the XFL. The Guardians offense has been stuck in the mud, totaling just 95 passing yards this week after compiling just 226 yards of offense in Week 1.
St. Louis has been a decent team so far as they lost to a good Houston team in XFL Week 2 action but beat Dallas in Week 1. Their defense has been strong as they held Dallas to just nine points in Week 1 and while they gave up 28 points in Week 2, they held Houston to just 240 yards of total offense. Two St. Louis turnovers put the defense in bad spots.
We’re starting to see a lot of XFL totals drop as the offenses just aren’t delivering across the board. While the gameplay clock is supposed to move faster and the rules are supposed to be more conducive to higher-scoring games, we’re just not seeing it.
Part of it is because these rosters haven’t really had a preseason or a full training camp, as NFL teams do, so they’re just trying to make it work on the fly. With the Guardians offense struggling so much and them going up against a decent team in St. Louis this week, I’m expecting another low-scoring output from them and an under in this game as well.
So place your bet at DraftKings Sportsbook or FanDuel Sportsbook and take advantage of their NJ sports betting bonuses.
Pick: Under 41
Brooklyn Nets at Philadelphia 76ers
Date: Thursday, February 20th
Following the All-Star break, the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers continue their seasons on Thursdays when the Nets visit the 76ers. The 76ers have become one of the easiest teams to bet this season as they’re fantastic at home (25-2) and terrible on the road (9-19).

We’ve seen that play out the same in this series as the 76ers lost 109-89 at Brooklyn on December 15th but rebounded with a 117-106 win on January 15th when they played host. We should see something similar on Thursday as the Nets are just 9-16 on the road.
- The 76ers have won 11 straight at home, winning their last eight by a margin of 10.4 points per outing.
- As for the Nets, they’ve dropped nine of their last 11 on the road. Look for the 76ers to win and cover in this spot.
Houston Astros 2020 Season Win Total
Odds: Over/Under at 94.5 wins at FanDuel Sportsbook
The Astros head into the season with a boatload of distractions. The cheating scandal has forced them to fire manager A.J. Hinch and go with Dusty Baker instead. On top of that, the players are getting excoriated by both members of the media and fellow players in the league. It’s a very ugly situation.
On the surface, the Astros might still be a very talented team. They still have Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke in the starting rotation and they still have a stellar batting lineup with guys like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correia, Alex Bregman and others, but it’s going to be very hard for them to tune out the noise.
Teams are going to give their best effort to stick it to this team and that might include a lot of beanballs. We’ll hear a lot of garbage can drumming too.
Don’t forget that this team lost Gerrit Cole in the offseason and just lost a key arm in Francis Martes to a season-long suspension.
Add in the fact the Los Angeles Angels (Joe Maddon, Anthony Rendon), Texas Rangers (Corey Kluber) and maybe some of the other teams in the American League West will slightly improve and we might not see another 100-win season from the Astros. I’d bet the under.
Pick: Under 94.5
More NJ Bets Of The Week
UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. Hooker – The UFC heads to New Zealand this weekend as Philadelphia native, Paul Felder, will take on New Zealander Dan Hooker in a Lightweight bout. These two are the No. 6 (Felder) and No. 7 (Hooker) ranked fighters in the division and one will move up the ladder with a win to get closer to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury II: One of the most anticipated boxing matches of the year as heavyweights Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury clash in their rematch. The two fought to a tie in their first contest as Fury’s defense frustrated Wilder. Wilder eventually connected with his power shots but it wasn’t enough to earn the win.
No. 3 Kansas vs No. 1 Baylor: One of the biggest games of the college basketball season will take place next Saturday. Baylor has emerged as the surprise top team in the country. They’ve won 22 games in a row. They’ll take on Kansas, who has won 12 in a row and is not only one of their chief competitors in the Big 12, but in the NCAA Tournament as well.
See you same time next week when we start off the week with our Best Bets Of The Week!