Action on Fourth is previewing the Big Ten/ACC Challenge which begins today! We’ll break down the key players and betting spreads.
Let’s take a quick peek at the schedule (All times CT… ESPN MultiCast will be in full use):
Tuesday 12/8
4 pm – Purdue at Miami ESPN2
6 pm – B.C. at Minnesota ESPNU
6:30 pm – #16 UNC at #3 Iowa ESPN
6:30 pm – #22 Ohio St at Notre Dame ESPN2
8 pm – Penn St at #15 Virginia Tech ESPNU
8:30 pm – #6 Illinois at #10 Duke ESPN
8:30 pm – Cuse at #21 Rutgers ESPN2
Wednesday 12/9
4 pm – Maryland at Clemson ESPN2
6:15 pm – IU at #20 Florida St ESPN
6:15 pm – Georgia Tech at Nebraska ESPN2
8:15 pm – Pittsburgh at Northwestern ESPN2
8:15 pm – #4 Michigan St at #18 Virginia ESPN
Postponed – NC St. at Mich & Lousiville at Wisconsin (Wisconsin will now host Rhode Island)
Clearly the two headliners on Tuesday are UNC/Iowa and Duke/Illini. Wednesday features an IU team that is receiving AP votes at FSU, then MSU/UVA. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge is a staple of College Basketball… Let’s breakdown the games.
8:30 pm – #6 Illinois at #10 Duke ESPN Spread: Duke -3.5 O/U: 146.5
Duke hasn’t loss a Big Ten/ACC matchup since 2011. Both teams are coming off losses but respectively to two solid teams (Baylor and Mich St.). Duke is hosting this game, but there’ll be no Cameron Crazies. Duke is coming in with one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, and still returning a core group of guys.
Returning players for the Blue Devils include Jordan Goldwire, Wendell Moore, Joey Baker, and Matthew Hurt. Hurt is a solid player at 6’ 9” he can get buckets and is going to cause fits for whoever matches up against him. Moore and Goldwire are both starters, who act as more role players for Duke’s primary scoring freshmen. These talented freshmen include Jalen Johnson, DJ Steward, Jaemyn Brakefield, Jeremy Roach, and Mark Williams. They all will be fighting for minutes and can all get score the ball. Duke likes to shoot the deep ball shooting 35% from three. Coach K will have his freshmen rebound in a tight one.
The Illini feature a healthy mix of veterans and young guys. The AP preseason All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu leads the charge here. He and the freshmen guard Adam Miller will be looking to rebound after not having their best scoring day against a gritty Baylor defense. Kofi Cockburn clocks in at 7’ 1” and will need to have a field day against a smaller Duke team. Seven-food Mark Williams might get the start tonight to better matchup against Kofi. Da’monte Williams and Trent Frazier are seniors for this Brad Underwood team that need to show up in prime time.
The Play – The play here is Illini +3.5 and the Over… We expect this to be a very close game, which should help the over. Duke may win, but 3.5 is too much for a talented Illini team.
6:30 pm – #16 UNC at #3 Iowa ESPN Spread: Iowa -3 O/U: 157.5
UNC travels back from Maui finishing second place after a close loss to Texas. Iowa has crushed three cupcakes to start the season.
UNC features a mix bag of talent if we’re being honest here. Garrison Brooks is the ACC preseason player of the year, but lots of us think that’s a bit generous as he is not the typical Tar Heel big of old. Brooks at 6’ 10” can score and play D. He averages 12.3 ppg. RJ Davis, Caleb Love, Armando Bacot are the young gunners for the Tar Heels. They all start and can score. Leaky Black is the other big guy for the Tar Heels… hauling in 7.3 rpg.
Iowa returns their same core five starters. Garza… you know him. Wieskamp, McCaffery (Yes, Coach’s kid), Fredrick, and Bohannon. Toussaint has been coming off the bench this year but is also a quick guard who can score. Basically, Iowa is an extremely disciplined team and loves the three ball.
The Play – This one is difficult. Iowa is extremely dominant. UNC did not look good against Stanford and looked a little better against Texas. Does Roy Williams coach his boys up and get the W? Possibly, but instead we are riding the Hawkeyes -3 and the high Under in case UNC’s defense shows up.
4 pm – Purdue at Miami ESPN2 Spread: Miami +2.5 O/U: 136
This game starts the Challenge… Purdue is 3-1 having lose to @ Clemson by 11. Miami is undefeated. It is looking like star Miami guard Chris Lykes who tore up the Illini last year is not going to go, which is why we love Purdue and Matt Painter’s hard-nose D. Miami is also out a couple of other starters too.
The Play – Pretty chalk/ Joe Public pick here. The line started at Pick ‘em and now has gone to Purdue -2.5… follow the public.
6:30 pm – #22 Ohio St at Notre Dame ESPN2 Spread: Notre Dame +5.5 O/U: 141
Notre Dame’s one loss came to Michigan St. Ohio St. hasn’t played anyone noteworthy and is undefeated. Chris Holtman, OSU’s head coach, said he is seeing improvement out of his team. It’s a very similar team from last year minus the Wesson brothers. It features Duane Washington who can shoot lights out, sophomore forward E.J. Liddell, former Mr. Basketball of Illinois, CJ Walker a quick point guard, and the bigs are Sueing and Kyle Young who are decent.
Notre Dame is going to have to target Sueing averaging 15 ppg and 5.7 rpg. If they can get the 6’ 7” forward in foul trouble that would be huge. Hubb and Laszewski lead the way for the Irish averaging 20.5 and 14 ppg. They’ll need career days to avoid a loss on their home court.
The Play – We’re about to do a fourth Big Ten pick, but yes Ohio St. is favorites for a reason. Returning a bulk of their team is going to pay dividends. Take the over if you like it… Notre Dame could shoot their way to a win.
8:30 pm – Cuse at #21 Rutgers ESPN2 Spread: Rutgers -4 O/U: 140
Rutgers are returning a good portion of their squad from last year. Syracuse’ leading score is the Illinois transfer Alan Griffin. That should tell you enough if Griffin is your leading scorer.
The Play – Rutgers -4 and Over… Look if you don’t want to take the majority of the Big Ten teams that’s fine, but the Big Ten is the better conference and will prove it these next two days.
6 pm – B.C. at Minnesota ESPNU Spread: Minnesota -7.5 O/U 149
Doing these in order of prestige… this one comes in last for Tuesday. B.C. almost had the upset of the year a couple of weeks ago almost knocking off Villanova. Then they got their rear ends handed to by Florida. We see Minnesota is returning Marcus Carr, who is a great guard that can score.
The Play – We believe BC will rebound here and be competitive. This is a large spread and look for Boston College to cover
We will update the article with tomorrow’s games soon.