ESPN’s Big Monday double-dip tips off with a good one in Tallahassee where the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles will attempt to hold serve and bust the brooms out on the No. 11 ranked Louisville Cardinals with ACC regular season bragging rights on the line. The Noles went into the KFC Yum! Center and scored a huge 13-point outright win as 6.5-point underdogs which finds them holding the tiebreaker entering this crucial tilt. Should Devin Vassell and company hold serve at online sportsbooks, FSU would put itself in a position to share bragging rights of the regular season title. That’s something Jordan Nwora and company will without a doubt be looking to avoid!
This ACC tussle is set to tip-off on Monday, February 24, 2020 at 7 p.m. ET from the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, FL. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN. So make sure to fill out your March Madness Bracket today!
Odds Analysis
Off back-to-back head scratching defeats to Georgia Tech and Clemson on the road, the Cardinals returned to the comforts of their home digs on Wednesday of last week and laid the ever-living smack down upon the Syracuse Orange to get back in the win column. It had to feel real good for Chris Mack’s kids to once again flex their offensive muscles after dropping 90 points on Jimmy Boeheim’s head and covering the closing 8.5-point spread with ease; something they failed to do in three of the previous four games. With a down Tar Heels squad set to pay them a visit on Saturday, it’s pretty safe to assume Louisville will still sit perched atop the conference standings come Monday night. Should that be the case, you can expect the Ville to hit FSU’s hardwood intent on making a statement.
Though it’s right there in the running with both Duke and Louisville for conference supremacy, the Pomeroy Ratings don’t paint as rosy a picture for Leonard Hamilton’s Seminoles. It’s got the Blue Devils ranked No. 5 overall and the Cardinals No. 10; FSU is all the way down at No. 22! The fact it’s had its way against a lesser ACC this season but lost against most of the stiff opposition faced doesn’t speak highly for the squad come March. They’ve also got one of their toughest road challenges of the season upcoming Saturday with a visit to Raleigh to battle Markell Johnson and the Wolfpack who just destroyed the Dookies in the same venue. Should it’s two-game win streak come to a close on Saturday, it’s highly likely public bettors will be all over the Noles come Monday night with the team yet to drop a single game at home (14-0, 6-8 ATS).
Series Rivalry
These teams only met once last season in a game the Seminoles came out triumphant in ultimately winning 80-75 as 3.5-point home favorites. The season before that, the teams split their pair of regular season meetings with the road team pulling outright upsets before the Cardinals settled the score in the ACC tournament where they logged the 82-74 win and cover as 2.5-point underdogs. With Florida State going into The Ville and handing the Redbirds a 78-65 defeat back on January 4, the underdog is 4-2 SU and 5-1 ATS in the last six skirmishes dating back to the 2017 season. These teams have also played to three straight high scorers with an average of 151.3 points denting the scoreboard.
Prediction
Something tells me the saying “Revenge is a dish best served cold” speaks volumes for this tilt on Monday night. Louisville has far and away been the most impressive team the ACC has had to offer this season. Sure, it’s gone through some rough patches like everyone else; but for the most part, it’s handled its business just about every passing game. There’s a reason KenPom has the Cardinals ranked so favorably. It boasts the better overall offense by far in this matchup, and the unit will be out to rectify itself after getting embarrassed by the Noles in the first showdown. Then there’s the coaching mismatch. I’ll take Mack over Hamilton every day of the week and twice on Big Monday! If the Cards are getting any points from the linemakers, you take them and back it up with a 25-50 percent unit investment on the $-Line!
College Basketball Pick: Louisville 78, Florida State 68
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