Friday night's Clemson vs. Louisville game will draw plenty of eyeballs from fans across the country as the Tigers and Cardinals will be fighting for improved NCAA Tournament seeding come Selection Sunday.
A win for Clemson likely solidifies at least a 4-seed in the tournament and likely gets the Tigers into the 3-seed conversation and a loss could have them worrying about a 4/5 seed this weekend.
As for Louisville, the Cardinals, too, are locked into the NCAA Tournament but they also need to make some noise this weekend in order to improve that seeding outlook in a weak season for the ACC.
The Tigers are fresh off a scare against SMU in the quarterfinals, holding on for a three-point win over the Mustangs who had a solid season with just nine losses. Chase Hunter was the hero, scoring 21 while the rest of the team finished with just 36 in the winning effort. Hopefully there's more offense on Friday.
Louisville, too, is fresh off a tight contest as the Cardinals needed a double-digit comeback to beat Stanford in their quarterfinal game. A lot of energy was exerted by both teams on Thursday.
We might see some tired legs on Friday, but what does DraftKings have to say about the line?
Line: Clemson -1.5
Over/Under: 141.5
Moneyline: Clemson -125 | Louisville +105
This is essentially a toss-up game and the Tigers are favored just slightly which makes sense as they've been on fire over the past month. They're looking to earn a rematch with Duke (potentially without Cooper Flagg) after beating them a few weeks back.
What's my pick? I feel like I have to go with Clemson to exact some revenge on the Cardinals. If not for that loss to Louisville earlier in the year, Clemson would have shared its first ACC title in over three decades. That has to be looming large in this matchup as the Tigers are hungry to get even and advance to the title game.
I'm going with an 80-77 Clemson win in thrilling fashion as the offense comes alive.