NCAA Basketball Free Picks and Vegas Odds: Notre Dame Fighting Irish at West Virginia Mountaineers Expert Predictions – College Basketball Betting 2/19/11: Head basketball coach Mike Brey will lead the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on the road to the hostile WVU Colliseum to take on head coach Bob Huggins West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday at 1:00 PM ET on CBS Sports. The Mountaineers have lost 1 and sit at 16-9 a disappointing 9th place in the Big East and needing some quality wins to assure a berth in the NCAA tournament while the Irish have won 7 consecutive en route to a 21-4 record and 2nd place in the Big East and a 8th place in the nation.
“It’s a little scary,” Huggins said of Saturday’s matchup in Morgantown. “… I think they’re similar to where we were a year ago, probably even bigger than what we were a year ago. When they play (Ben) Hansbrough at point and (6-foot-8 Scott) Martin at (shooting guard), they’ve got great length and such great size and they really present problems on the offensive glass and problems defensively with their length. And then everybody they put on the floor can make shots. It’s going to be a hard matchup for us.” The odds makers at BetUs Sportsbook have the West Virginia Mountaineers a -3.5 point favorite at home against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The Irish are coming off of a blowout win over the USF Bulls 78-55 on the road leaving them at an impressive 12-8 ATS for the season. Scott led the Irish with 13 points 11 rebounds and 3 assists while Tim Abromaitis and Ben Hansbrough each had 12 points and all 5 starters’ notched double digits. Forward Jack Cooley came off the bench to score 18 points and pull down 8 boards. Notre Dame is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games when playing on the road against West Virginia. Vegas odds makers have the Notre Dame Fighting Irish +7500 odds to win the 2011 NCAA Basketball National Championship.
The Mountaineers are coming of a loss 63-52 at Syracuse and sit at just 8-13 ATS for the season. Forward John Flowers led the starters with 10 points and 4 rebounds while forward Jake Ferguson came off the bench to score 23 points and pull down 2 boards. West Virginia is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games and the total has gone UNDER in 5 of West Virginia’s last 5 games when playing at home against Notre Dame. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 130 1/2 points combined of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and West Virginia Mountaineers.
Recent Trends:
NOTRE are 16-5 ATS in their last 21 vs. Big East.
NOTRE are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 road games.
West Virginia: Over is 9-3 in WVA last 12 home games.
Under is 6-2 in WVA last 8 overall.
Under is 6-2 in WVA last 8 vs. Big East.
Head to Head: Under is 11-0 in the last 11 meetings.
Today’s Vegas Odds: Favorite: West Virginia -3.5 Total: O/U 140.5
Free College Basketball Predictions from NSAwins.com: OVER 140.5
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