The college basketball season features a big event the week after Thanksgiving every year: the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. This event never fails for a few reasons, the main one being that while the lower-end teams in the Big Ten and ACC go up against each other, the Challenge also means that the best teams in each league get to face off. Tuesday night, Michigan State and Duke played, but the Spartans are worn down from all the travel they’ve had to endure early in the season. The crown jewel of this Big Ten-ACC bash comes Wednesday night in Bloomington, Indiana, as North Carolina comes to town. The two other games on this list are also very compelling matchups, ones which should have an effect on Selection Sunday in March.
Virginia Tech Hokies @ Michigan Wolverines
College Basketball Odds: Wolverines -4.5
The first thing to realize about the Big Ten-ACC Challenge beyond the quality of the schedule is simply this: The games are at campus sites. This is not a neutral-site early-season tournament in the Bahamas or Orlando or New York. It’s a home-gym game, and that should mean a lot to the home team in such a situation.
Michigan ran into a hot home team last week. South Carolina, playing tremendous defense on its home floor, hounded Michigan into one of the worst shooting games of head coach John Beilein’s tenure with the Wolverines. That ugly 61-46 loss looked horrible for UM, but the flip side is that this team should be motivated to bounce back at home and fluster Virginia Tech. It is thought by many that Virginia Tech is ready to make the NCAA Tournament this season, and that’s a reasonable thought, but Michigan – before the South Carolina game – won impressively against Marquette and SMU. Beilein should have his Wolverines ready for this game. Take Michigan.
Pick: Michigan
North Carolina Tar Heels @ Indiana Hoosiers
College Basketball Odds: Tar Heels -3
This is the big showdown everyone in college basketball will watch on Wednesday night. North Carolina stormed through the Maui Invitational and sent a very strong message on national television that it can win in different ways. The Maui semifinal against Oklahoma State was a track meet that the Tar Heels won easily. The Maui championship game against Wisconsin was a slow-paced defensive contest, and North Carolina killed the Badgers on the boards. North Carolina has versatility and balance, and that’s tough to deal with.
Indiana, however, gets scoring from many sources. Moreover, the Hoosiers usually play well and shoot well at home in Assembly Hall. Playing at home will help Indiana. More importantly, shooting at home should enable Indiana to hit a lot of threes, which is what it did in its win over Kansas, a top-10 opponent. Bet on Indiana to hit threes, and if that happens, the Hoosiers should win.
Pick: Indiana
Purdue Boilermakers @ Louisville Cardinals
College Basketball Odds: Louisville -6.5
It’s true that Louisville blew a 15-point halftime lead to Baylor last week in the Battle 4 Atlantis. However, that was a neutral-court game. And even though they lost that game, they only fell by three points to the No. 20 team in the country.
As for Purdue, they’re the No. 15 team in the country, so this is not going to be a walk in the part. The Boilermakers are also a one-loss that has a three-point loss to a ranked team. They lost to No. 3 Villanova in their second game of the season but have since won four straight.
It will be interesting to see how Louisville handles the size of Purdue, which is one of the favorites in the Big Ten. They have 7-foot-2, 290-pound center Isaac Haas and 6-foot-9 Caleb Swanigan and the 6-foot-8 Vincent Edwards. Louisville also has a seven-footer in Anas Mahmoud, but he’s only 220 pounds; Haas has 70 pounds on him.
This is a home game, and if the Cardinals establish early on that they have too much quickness for the Boilermakers (which is very possible), don’t expect them to give up the lead. Purdue has shown they have problems with pressure defenses (like Villanova) and Louisville has surely taken notice. Take the Cardinals here in a matchup of teams with Final Four dreams this season.
Pick: Louisville
