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Big Ten Basketball: Takeaways from 2019 ACC/Big Ten Challenge pairings

By Adam Childs

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts after his teams 68-67 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts after his teams 68-67 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – APRIL 08: Peyton Siva (C) #3 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates with his teammates after they won 82-76 against the Michigan Wolverines during the 2013 NCAA Men’s Final Four Championship at the Georgia Dome on April 8, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – APRIL 08: Peyton Siva (C) #3 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates with his teammates after they won 82-76 against the Michigan Wolverines during the 2013 NCAA Men’s Final Four Championship at the Georgia Dome on April 8, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

3. A rematch of 2013 National Title game

Michigan and Louisville have only met four times in their history, but one was in the 2013 National Title game. In one of the most entertaining title games, Michigan ran out to a big lead before Louisville and Luke Hancock went on a huge run to end the half. The teams would go back and forth before the Cardinals finally pulled away.

Both teams have new coaches but for very different reasons. The Cardinals now are led by Chris Mack after Rick Pitino was fired after a messy divorce. The Wolverines will have first-time head coach Juwan Howard leading them.

Mack is proven and has the Cardinals going in the right direction, while Howard will be hoping to keep Michigan as a national contender after John Beilein built a winner in Ann Arbor.

Both of these teams will be looking to make a statement early and this will be a great way to do that. Louisville is thought of as a team that should be at the top of the ACC and Michigan is a big unknown.

The Wolverines not only lost Beilein but also Jordan Poole, Ignas Brazdeikis, and Charles Matthews to the NBA draft. They will look to replace a lot of scoring, but with Zavier Simpson returning to lead the way the offense should be in good hands. It is still yet to be seen what type of offense Howard will run, but Simpson, Jon Teske, and sixth man Isaiah Livers should be a big part of it.

It’s unfortunate that these two teams don’t play more often, but we should be happy we get the chance to see them in the regular season for the first time since the 1970s. This should show us a lot about where these two teams are.

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