Those of you lucky enough to have your Christmas vacation starting on the 23rd will be pleased to know that there is a full slate of college basketball games on tap for the day, including a couple featuring ranked teams. One of those games sees the #14 Wisconsin Badgers welcome in the Rattlers of Florida A&M for a game that should be comfortable for the ranked guys. The beauty of college basketball, though, is that we are always waiting for that next big upset, as there are times when they seem to come thick and fast. I’m not so sure that we are going to see it here, as these are two teams heading in very different directions. The Badgers are moving higher up the rankings with each passing week, jumping 3 spots from where they were last week. The Rattlers only have 2 wins on the season, with both of those coming in the very early part of the year. The biggest question here is whether the Badgers will be able to cover what may well be a very large college basketball spread.
College Basketball Expert Picks: Rattlers At Badgers
When: Friday, December 23 at 9 PM EST
Where: Kohl Center, Madison
TV: BTN
Live Stream: NCAA Live
NCAAB Odds: TBA
Why bet on the Florida A&M Rattlers
You have to go all the way back to November 17 to find the last time the Rattlers won a game, a 100-91 win over Johnson University. Since then, Florida A&M has lost 8 in a row, and have looked pretty bad in doing so. This is a team that is averaging a respectable 76.3 PPG, but which is giving up 84.5 PPG, which is 342nd in the nation. The good news here is that they are going against a Badgers team that does not really light up the scoreboard on the offensive side of the ball, but the downside is that they have reached their lofty rank by effectively shutting their opponents down. This could well turn out to be a long night for the Florida A&M Rattlers, especially as it will be their second game in consecutive nights.
Why bet on the Wisconsin Badgers
The Badgers are a healthy 10-2 on the season, and both of their losses this year have come at the hands of ranked opposition. Where Wisconsin has shined is on defense, as their 61.2 PPG allowed sees them in the top 20 best defenses in the nation. As mentioned earlier, this is not a team that blows their opposition away, as they are averaging just 77.0 PPG, which has them well down the offensive rankings. The fact that they are just 5-4 ATS this season gives you some indication of the fact that this bunch tends to keep things close throughout.
Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction
Wisconsin are a tough team to predict when it comes to selecting a final score, as they just don’t have a killer instinct on offense. There is no doubt that they are going to win this one, but will they be able to pad their offensive stats a little?
