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NCAA Basketball Pick – January 28th

The rising Pittsburgh Panthers and the slumping Louisville Cardinals are going to be on the court together at the KFC Yum! Arena on Monday night, and here at Bang the Book, we’re making our NCAA basketball betting picks for this crucial Big East clash.

The schedule for the Panthers really hasn’t been all that tough over the course of the last few weeks, and they have taken full advantage of it to get back on the right side of the bubble for sure for the NCAA Tournament. They crushed the DePaul Blue Demons 93-55 in one of their most impressive wins of the year, and now, they are setting their sights on one of the top teams in the country. Every time we talk about Pittsburgh, we talk about how strong this defense is, but the truth of the matter is that the offense is truly becoming impressive. The team is shooting 49.2 percent from the field, ranked 12th in the country, and the end result is a very healthy 73.0 points per game. There really aren’t any big time scorers for the team, but everyone is chipping in, and all 10 guys in the rotation are averaging at least 4.5 points per game. All of them are playing at least 12:30 per game as well, and that’s giving this team a big time edge over some of the teams that aren’t nearly as deep in the Big East.

What the heck is going on with the Cardinals right now? They have lost three straight games and have failed to cover all three, and these last two losses on the road were awfully suspect at best. The team hasn’t knocked down more than 24 field goals in a game since beating the UConn Huskies back on January 14th, and that just isn’t going to cut it. Worse is that Louisville has been getting beaten on the glass as well, and that’s not something that Head Coach Rick Pitino is used to. Now, he has to play against one of the best rebounding teams in the Big East with just one full day to game plan, and that’s going to make this one awfully tough for the hosts. G Peyton Siva didn’t score a single point against the Hoyas, and that just isn’t going to cut it. G Russ Smith, the team’s leading scorer at 18.4 points per game, only has a total of 20 points in his last two games combined, and he has three games with 12 points or fewer scored in his last five.

Prediction:

For as long as the Cards are sliding, we’re going to keep fading them. Even if they do win this game and get back on track, there is nothing ensuring a cover by any stretch of the imagination. Take the points that are given to you in what should be another one of these really close Big East games that comes down to the wire. Louisville 68 – Pittsburgh 66