College Basketball Odds: No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 15 Ohio State

This matchup is part of the 2KSports Classic and will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York on Thursday night. The winner of this one plays the Syracuse-Cal winner in Friday's championship game; find lines on all three games at Bodog's college basketball odds.

Of course North Carolina is the defending national champion, but UNC has been uneven in their 3-0 start (1-2 ATS) – which isn't surprising considering the Heels had to replace four starters, mostly with youngsters. On Sunday against Valparaiso, UNC led by just seven points at the half in an 88-77 win. By comparison, the Heels never led by fewer than eight points at halftime of a non-conference game last season, NCAA Tournament included.   But that victory was North Carolina's 43rd non-conference regular-season win in a row.

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Ohio State, picked by most to finish third in the Big Ten and returning five starters, has crushed Alcorn State and James Madison by a combined 68 points. No one in the country has started better than Buckeyes junior swingman Evan Turner. In OSU's opener, he had the second triple-double in team history (14 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists) and first by a Big Ten player in eight years. He followed that with 24 points and 17 rebounds against James Madison. Turner is the first OSU player with back-to-back games with at least 17 rebounds since 1985. Of concern is that that other four starters had a total of 22 rebounds in the first two games, and UNC has a daunting frontcourt and big edge there.

When deciding your college basketball bet on this one, know that the Buckeyes are 2-2 in their last four games against Top 10 teams, with the last win coming over Michigan State in the 2009 Big Ten Tournament.

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