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NCAA Basketball Pick – January 27th

The Sunday between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl is always a good one for college basketball betting fans, and this year is no exception. The showcase game on CBS pits the Michigan State Spartans against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall.

The Spartans aren’t going to be intimidated going on the road. They’ve got the conference’s best record at 6-1 going into the weekend, and they have scored a pair of wins on the road against probable NCAA Tournament teams already in the Wisconsin Badgers and the Iowa Hawkeyes. If this one is won, there is a good chance that the Spartans could find themselves back up near the No. 1 line in the NCAA Tournament with three of the next four coming at home. It’s going to be up to the play of G Keith Appling to carry the team. Appling is good for 14.0 points and 4.3 assists per game, both of which are leading the team, and he is the man that is going to step up and take the big time shot when push comes to shove. The senior scored 19 of the 49 points scored against the Badgers during the week in Madison, and he clearly could be set for another big one here in Bloomington.

We’re big fans of the Hoosiers, and we think that there is a real chance that they could ultimately cut down the nets this year in the Final Four. They have rebounded relatively nicely after the shocking loss at home two weeks ago versus Wisconsin with wins over the Northwestern Wildcats and Penn State Nittany Lions. This is a tough stretch of basketball ahead from here, though. After this one, it’s off on the road to the Purdue Boilermakers, back home for the Michigan Wolverines, then out on the road to the Illinois Fighting Illini and Ohio State Buckeyes. If the Hoosiers are going to be a No. 1 seed in the dance, this is where they are going to earn that right. F Cody Zeller had a very quiet and unexpected two-point night against Penn State in just 21 minutes played. He is still the team’s leader in scoring at 16.4 points per game, and he has to be a heck of a lot better in this one to lead IU to victory.

Prediction:

As much as we like this Michigan State team, we still think that it is Indiana’s time to shine. The Hoosiers aren’t going to be asked to lay 24 in this one like they were against PSU, nor will they be laying a dozen like they were to Northwestern. This will be a much more manageable game, and the result will be a fitting double digit triumph to officially get back to the top line in the dance in all likelihood. Indiana 72 – Michigan State 62