Notre Dame West Virginia Betting – Big East Grinder Is Set To Tip Off In Morgantown
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish love to play defense. So do the West Virginia Mountaineers. It’s yet another example of Big East basketball at its physical best. Just don’t expect elegance.
NCAA basketball betting: Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ West Virginia Mountaineers
Why To Bet On Notre Dame
The sports betting cognoscenti can put two and two together in understanding why Notre Dame has been the surprise of the Big East season (with Louisville close behind). The Irish just don’t beat themselves. This is an extremely efficient team. Coach Mike Brey is getting through to his veteran club, which doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. The Irish, through February 14, averaged just 10.6 turnovers per game, best in the Big East and eighth-best in the United States out of 348 Division I men’s basketball teams. The Irish commit only 15 fouls per game, seventh-best in the country. They shoot 46.2 percent while limiting foes to just 40.7-percent shooting and only 43-percent from two-point range. The Irish are an elite defensive team by many statistical measures, and they get opponents to play at their preferred tempo. If teams fall behind Notre Dame by eight or nine points, that feels like a 15-point deficit, given the tempo the Irish establish. West Virginia is a team with limited offensive options after multiple graduations last season. It’s going to be very hard for the Mountaineers to hit 70 points against Notre Dame, and that’s why the Irish stand a very good chance of winning, even on the road. Online betting experts understand this.
Why To Bet On West Virginia
The NHL trade deadline is making some hockey teams shuffle their rosters for a little more offense. West Virginia could use some since DeSean Butler is gone from last year’s Final Four team. The 2011 Mountaineers don’t have as much scoring punch, but they still defend well and have won 16 games in the process. West Virginia allows foes to shoot only 28.9 percent from three-point range, which is tops in the Big East and fifth-best in the nation. The Mountaineers allow opponents to hit just 40.6 percent of their field goal attempts, which is one tenth of a percentage point better than Notre Dame. Playing at home, West Virginia has every opportunity of staying with the Irish because it can generate just as many defensive stops. The Mountaineers can play an ugly game and make their move by crashing the glass and trying to draw more fouls than Notre Dame typically commits. With few mistakes and a plus-seven advantage in free-throw makes, West Virginia can win.
How The Game Will Play Out
Lovers of NHL trade rumors would surely be listening right now to see if West Virginia could get a high-scoring forward to transform the team’s offensive production. That won’t happen, but in a game matching two teams that employ very similar styles, West Virginia will be well-served by playing at home in Morgantown. The WVU Coliseum will claim a road victim, and the Mountaineers will dig out a win with a score of something like 63-60.
Notre Dame West Virginia Betting Pick: West Virginia
