Brandon Lang
The Pick: My 50 Dime winner is the Illinois Fighting Illini
The Line: The current line is +2 at the majority of books in Vegas and offshore as of 7:50 am EST. Be sure to shop around for the best line available.
My Analysis
I just don't see them losing this game.
Way back on December 13th, the 8-2 Fighting Illini of Illinois found themselves 8-2 when they welcomed the 10-0 Nebraska Cornhuskers to town.
As 9 1/2 point home favorites, they shit the bed losing outright at the buzzer 83-80.
They haven't lost since.
Were talking 10 wins in a row (7-3 ATS) including a neutral site win over Missouri 91-48 and all 4 big ten road wins.
At Penn State 73-65, at Iowa 75-69, at N'Western 79-68 and lastly, the most impressive of them all, a week ago Saturday at Purdue 88-82 getting +5 1/2.
Now comes the rematch against the Huskers.
In that 1st meeting, Nebraska got huge game from forward Pryce Sandfort, who scored 32 in the win.
I just don't see Brad Underwood allowing Sandfort to go off, especially with Nebraska missing 3rd leading scorer Braden Frager (12.2 ppg).
The Huskers return home after suffering their first loss of the year at Michigan Tuesday 75-72, an impressive loss considering the circumstances.
They battled the Wolverines missing 2 of their top 3 scorers, most notably 6'10 forward Rienk Mast, who was out with the flu.
I give Nebraska credit for their 20-1 start but in my opinion, the team playing the better basketball is Illinois.