FiveStarPick.com will be giving its members 5 plays today in both professional golf and college basketball.  The focus of today’s preview is the ACC Basketball matchup between the Miami Hurricanes and the Virginia Cavaliers.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Canes as 3.5-point favorites with the total hovering around 160.

Thursday marks the ninth meeting between Miami and Virginia, with the Hurricanes leading the all-time series, 5-3. Miami has won two straight over Virginia, including a 95-93 victory in their last meeting in Coral Gables on March 1, 2008. 

In that meeting, McClinton knocked down seven three-pointers en route to 34 points, while Jimmy Graham scored a career-high 19 points (7-10 FGs, 5-9 FTs) and Lance Hurdle added 10 points — including a key trey with 9.2 seconds remaining.

Virginia — who has one of the league’s top freshmen in Sylven Landesberg (18.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg) — has won two of its last three games, defeating both Clemson (85-81 OT) and Virginia Tech (75-61) at home.  Miami’s strength of schedule is ranked NINTH in the country and third in the ACC. The Hurricanes have played five games versus teams that have been ranked No.1 this season and have played four of the five teams that have been atop the polls in 2008-09 — UConn, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke. Pitt is the only team that has reached the top spot this season that Miami is not scheduled to face.

The Hurricanes have five wins versus the nation’s top 60 in the RPI  – with a 27-point victory over Wake Forest, a series sweep of Boston College and splits with Florida State and Maryland. In addition, the Hurricanes won at Kentucky and at St. John’s. Their only non-conference losses are to Connecticut in the Virgin Islands and to Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Who covers the spread in tonight’s game?  Step up your game, become a member of our family and find out.  Why not try our service out for 2-days and see if our talent for picking College Basketball winners exceeds your expectations?  With over 3400 active members, you owe it to yourself to find out why FiveStarPick.com is the most accurate sports handicapping service on the net.  Our dime bettors were up over $100K in 2008.  Join today and start winning tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com