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Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks!
Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks!
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Expert Picks
Syracuse finds itself in the familiar position of being a bubble team as the NCAA Tournament approaches. The Orange are again felled by some puzzling losses balanced against some solid wins. A win over North Carolina on Wednesday would be a huge boost to their resume. The Tar Heels have had a bit of a down year, but a win over rival Duke has inspired their best stretch of the year. Even so, this is a finesse team running into a determined and physical Syracuse club with a top-10 defense. Value looms on the home underdog with the points.
North Carolina has beaten Syracuse by at least five points in their last five meetings with four of them going Over the total. Syracuse comes off a road win at Miami, but lost to NC State in its last home game last week. Carolina is playing its best ball of the season and has won and covered its last five, prevailing by a 90-74 average score. Carolina gets the cover here.
The Tar Heels are playing their best basketball of the year at this point, winning their last five and covering the point spread as well. Pittsburgh transfer Cameron Johnson has played 34-plus minutes in three of the last four games. Johnson missed the first 11 games of the season with his new team and has taken time to fit into the Tar Heel continuity and gameplan. It's happening now, which has been a big reason for the five game winning streak. Syracuse is just 6-9 ATS at home and 6-8 ATS in conference games.