Saturday college basketball and we will see the Louisville Cardinals travel to John Paul Jones Arena to take on the Virginia Cavaliers. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas betting odds have Virginia listed as 7 point favorites, while the total is set at 119.
Analysis: The Louisville Cardinals come in having won 4 games in a row, which has propelled them to 9th in the national polls. For the year Louisville is 19-3 overall and 7-2 in the ACC, which has them at a game behind league leading Virginia. The Cards have gone 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600, but just 5-12-2 ATS in their last 19 games overall and 4-10-2 ATS in their last 16 games following a S.U. win. Louisville has been a good offensive team, as they come in ranked 59th in scoring (73.1 ppg), 155th in shooting (43.9%), 301st in 3 point shooting (30.7%) and 269th in FT shooting (66.4%). Defensively the Cardinals have been excellent, ranking 20th in points allowed (58.8 ppg), 9th in defensive FG% (37.4%) and 22nd in 3 point defense (29.5%).
The Virginia Cavaliers come in as ranked in the top 5 in the nation and they come in having bounced back from their first loss of the year with a 75-64 win at North Carolina on Monday night. The win now has them at 20-1 on the year and 8-1 in The ACC, which leads the league right now. The Cavaliers have gone 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 home games vs. a team with a winning road record and 21-7-2 ATS in their last 30 vs. the ACC. The Cavs have been an average offensive team this year, ranking 156th in scoring (68.3 ppg), 37th in shooting (47.2%), 34th in 3 point shooting (38.9%) and 19th in FT shooting (74.4%). Defensively the Cavaliers have been excellent, ranking 1st in points allowed (50.9 ppg), 2nd in defensive FG% (35.1%) and 47th in 3 point defense (30.7%).
Pick: Yes I will be going with the Under here. Louisville is a horrible shooting team and you need to shoot well when taking on this very strong Virginia defense that has allowed just 50.9 ppg overall and just 46.8 ppg at home. How will this poor shooting Louisville squad score vs this stifling defense of the Cavaliers. I don't expect them too much at all. I also don't expect a very slow paced Virginia squad to put too many points on the board vs a Louisville squad that can play solid defense as they have allowed just 58.8 ppg overall. They have allowed 68.3 ppg on the road, but on just 41.3% shooting and Virginia comes in averaging just 62.2 ppg in their last 5 games. This should be a very slow paced game with much more defense than offense.
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College Basketball Free Picks: Louisville vs Virginia Betting
What college basketball bettors need to know about betting Louisville Cardinals vs Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday (2/07/15) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Ken Thomson with added insight from Dave Cokin.