The Stanford Cardinal have a brush up on Friday night against UNC Wilmington before taking on the big boys in the UNC family, the North Carolina Tar Heels, on Monday. This will be the biggest test on the young season for Stanford and a bigger name opponent for the Tar Heels after UNC had Wofford and Elon early.
UNC played a bit too close against Wofford in their opener, but the strong Tar Heels roster is set for a coming out party against Stanford unless the Cardinal team can continue building off a strong step forward last season in their first test of the 2018-2019 campaign. Live betting will be available at BookMaker.eu. We’ll see what’s on tap for us in this Friday night showdown between two tournament regulars, but what should we look for in live betting at BookMaker.eu?
NCAA Basketball Betting at Bookmaker.eu
Stanford Cardinal vs. North Carolina Tar Heels
Date and Time: Monday, November 12, 2018, 7 p.m. ET
Location: Dean H. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
College Basketball Odds: Check Back Later
Cardinal vs. Tar Heels TV Coverage: ESPN2
The Tar Heels are a top-10 team in the preseason rankings, but haven’t got as much early press as Duke, Kentucky, Kansas or even Gonzaga, but this team may very well be as talented as it’s been in a while.
Roy Williams is one of those coaches that gets the most out of very good talent, but hasn’t had a lot of truly elite talent lately. That chances with the recruitment of Nessir Little.
Little figures to be a one-and-done which isn’t typical of most UNC players. Instead, they tend to have the kind they can develop like senior Luke Maye who has thrived under Williams, breaking out last year. He’s now poised to lead this team, being named the preseason ACC Player of the Year.
Maye averaged 16.9 PPG along with 10.1 RPG and is a veteran presence inside the paint and inside the locker room. He’s joined by fellow senior Cameron Johnson at the forward position, giving the team plenty of experience inside. Add in the upside of Little and this is a strong front court.
In the backcourt, Kenny Williams steps into a leading role. He’s been primarily a shooter in his first three seasons, but the senior will need to play a bigger part, particularly with the loss of Joel Berry on the outside. Berry’s 17.1 PPG will be hard to replace and his awareness on the outside will be even harder.
Codey White and Rechon Black inject a bit of youth and excitement in the group of guards. White got the start in the opener, playing 24 minutes. He was okay, but didn’t shoot for a high percentage or notch too many assists, but Black and Little were both also eased in a bit in their freshman regular season debuts.
On the other side, Ryan Cormac had a huge debut with 16 points and a high percentage, shooting well from the outside. That said, Stanford needs the young blood to deliver more here early in the year, UNC has more time to wait.
Stanford is a young team this year, having lost three of its top players, including Reid Travis. Ranked 130-spots lower than UNC in the preseason, the Cardinal are longshots at best for the NCAA Tournament and will have a hard time maintaining a winning record when they get to Pac-12 play. This is a tough matchup for Stanford who have Daejon Davis and KZ Okpala and little else.
Marcus Sheffield’s return is much needed for the team and he looked good in his first game, as did the Cardinal team as a whole, but a 22-point win over Seattle University doesn’t give us a whole lot to go on when it comes to a head-to-head battle against a top-10 team in UNC.
Live Betting
This is a rebuilding year for the Cardinal after an impressive step forward a season ago, going from six to 11 conference wins. Reid Travis, Dorian Pickens and Michael Humphrey are all gone. The key players that returned this year are Daejon Davis and KZ Okapala. Fortunately, that gives Stanford a bit of a veteran presence, albeit with both being sophomores, inside the paint and on the perimeter.
We’ve already seen a bit from Cormac Ryan and he’ll need to continue to be a big piece on the outside for the Cardinal to compete.
In the end, look for UNC to have the sizeable edge. The Cardinal team could hold it together early, but won’t be able to last long enough to be a real threat to the Tar Heels.
Key Stats
The key stat here is the 19.5 PPG the team lost with Travis now playing as a grad-transfer in Kentucky. Without Travis, Pickens and, Humphrey, the Cardinal lost three of five players with at least 10 PPG and a combined 44 PPG.
The Stanford recruiting class was solid and included two top-100 prospects, but none of the caliber of Nassir Little. Ryan Cormac did show well on the outside in Stanford’s season opener, shooting 5-of-6 from the arc and nabbing 16 points, second to KZ Okpala’s impressive 29 point performance against Seattle.
Is that enough? It’s hard to say, but one thing is for sure, Cormac did fair better in his debut than did Little. Of course, he had to. UNC has enough talent returning in addition to its high end recruiting class to support a slower transition.
Cardinal vs. Tar Heels Live Betting
Last year, the Tar Heels headed west and topped the Cardinal 96-72. That came a few weeks deeper into the season, but the results could be very similar. Both teams lost some key players from last year’s team, but ultimately, we’re talking one of the top programs in the country in UNC against a school in the midst of a bit of a rebuild after they missed the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
The Tar Heels have a plug and play star in Nessir Little, the Cardinal youngster will need a bit more time to adjust.
Look for a rather easy win for the Tar Heels at home against Stanford with Little having a big game. Luke Maye and Kenny Williams owned the Cardinal last year, too.
Check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for Monday’s college basketball.
Stanford vs. UNC Score Prediction: UNC 81, Stanford 68
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