Northwestern vs Wisconsin CBB Picks
The university has been in the news lately because the football team is talking about forming a union – whatever that means. On the hardwood things have shown some promise with wins over Purdue and Indiana last week but this is still a limited club. [ad-4468020]
Northwestern Wildcats (10-11) vs Wisconsin Badgers (17-3)
Wednesday January 29
Kohl Center – Madison, WI
9:00PM
Moneyline: No moneyline currently listed
Spread: Wisconsin -17
Total: No total currently listed
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ATS Matchup Insight | CP Insider Gambling Preview
Northwestern
They play at a crawling pace which drags down offensive numbers for themselves and opponents. This game should be interesting because that is exactly what the Badgers used to do, almost better than anybody else.
I keep waiting for C Alex Olah to become more of a factor offensively for the Wildcats but that may never happen. What is happening is he is becoming one of the best erasers in the B10 with 13 blocks in his last 3 games alone. The Cats are getting good production out of Drew Crawford and JerShonn Cobb but they are not shooting it very efficiently. In fact no one in their rotatins save Olah shoots it better than 41%. That is a lot of misses.
Northwestern has been the underdog in all of their conference games this season. At +17 this marks the second biggest spread they have faced this season. When an underdog of greater than 10 points the season Northwestern is 1-4 ATS – the one win being an upset of Indiana on the road. I am doubtful they have another one of those in them.
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Wisconsin
The Badgers are good, they always are, but we all knew they were due for a fall when they saw a single digit next to their after a hot start. When it comes to looking at their talent singularly they are a definite notch or two behind the the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and maybe even Indiana. But when it comes to a unit these guys are always effective, this year much more so on offense than we have ever seen.
Over the course of their recent three games losing streak the Badgers averaged only 70ppg, 5 below their seasonal average. The Badgers have one of the most productive starting lineups in the nation as all 5 players average better than 9ppg. This is one of the most cohesive teams in the nation and is the reason they can score like they do while also being a top defensive team. I am not sure what their ceiling is but they are pretty good.
Even when they were racking up an impressive start to their season they were not doing bettors any favours. They are a solid 12-8 ATS this season but really let backers down by losing three straight last week, all as favourites. They should definitely win this one but that is an awful lot of points to give up.
Spread prediction: Northwestern +17
Total prediction: N//A
Spread prediction: Wisconsin 74 – Northwestern 60
