NCAA Basketball Picks: Two of the top teams in the country meet on Tuesday night on ESPN as the Ohio State Buckeyes visit the Louisville Cardinals. The game is one of many in this week’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The two conferences have split their most recent meetings in the last two years with each conference winning six games in 2012 and in 2013. The ACC will have the edge in this game as the Cardinals are ranked 6th in the country. Let’s look at the matchup and NCAA basketball picks.
First Test for the Buckeyes
Ohio State has not played any teams of note this season as they have rolled over five weaklings. They won against Massachusetts, a weak Marquette team, Sacred Heart, Campbell and James Madison. They scored 106 points in the win against Sacred Heart. Freshman D’Angelo Russell scored 32 in that win and point guard Shannon Scott set an Ohio State record with 16 assists. The team is scoring 91 points per game and allowing 58 per contest but it is hard to know how good the Buckeyes are because they haven’t played a good team yet.
Louisville Cardinals 5-0 SU, 2-2 ATS
The sixth-ranked Cardinals have been dominating on defense this season as they are allowing just about 46 points per game. They are scoring 77 points per contest so their average margin of victory has been more than 30 points per game. The Cardinals held Cleveland State to just 33 points last time out in a 45-33 win. It was the 700th win in the career of head coach Rick Pitino. “I hope I’m as lucky to (win) 800, because I remember it as if it was yesterday,” said the Pitino, “I don’t think there’s as much significance personally for me, but the significance I take away is that senior class last year, how many games they won. I was the beneficiary today.”
Game Notes
The ACC/Big Ten Challenge gets the spotlight this week and in the past two years the conferences have 12 wins each. The Big Ten won the contest in 2011 with 8 wins and they also won in 2009 and in 2010. The ACC has not won since 2008 but they lead the all-time series with 88 wins to 67 for the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes and Cardinals have not played since 2003 when it was Louisville winning 72-64. The Cardinals also won in 2001 by a score of 66-61.
NCAA Basketball Picks
We’ll look for a low scoring contest that goes under the total.
