NCAA Basketball: Best bets to make for week 2 of 2020-21 season

Western Kentucky vs Louisville in Louisville – 5 pm ET Tuesday

The Hilltoppers were the mid-major darling of Thanksgiving weekend. Charles Bassey (15.7 Pts, 10.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast) and Taveion Hollingsworth (19.0 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 2.3 Ast) were as advertised and the only thing standing between them and a Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic Title was a six-point loss to West Virginia.

One thing to really like about Western Kentucky is that its defense got better in each game as the competition got better. They started off the weekend by giving up 87 points to Northern Iowa, then 75 to Memphis, and finished by holding the Mountaineers to 70.

Louisville has had a very different experience in its 3-0 start. They’ve played each game at the KFC Yum Center, cruised to a couple of wins over Evansville and Prairie View, and held off an underrated Seton Hall team 71-70 last Friday. While not quite as battle-tested as Western Kentucky, they’ve proved they can handle their business, unlike many blue bloods in the first few games of the season, but also that they can win a tight game against a good team.

Carlik Jones (17.0 Pts, 7.3 Reb, 5.7 Ast), the Radford transfer has been outstanding his first three games as a Cardinal and will be the best guard WKU has faced to date, even if AJ Green might take issue with that.

I really like the Hilltoppers, but Louisville is top 25 good and hasn’t had to deal with leaving its home city yet. They will have more in the tank with not having to travel in this climate. WKU keeps this one tight for a while, but the Cards pull away late and win by 7.

{Pick} Louisville (-4) over Western Kentucky