Hoyas visit Mountaineers in Big East showdown
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
03/01/2010 - Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-25 foes come together in Morgantown tonight, as the West Virginia Mountaineers play host to the Georgetown Hoyas in a Big East Conference showdown.
The Mountaineers enter the contest on a winning note, as they captured a 74-68 decision over Cincinnati on Saturday. It was a nice bounce-back effort by WVU, which was upset by Connecticut (73-62) earlier in the week. Winners of three of their last four outings, the Mountaineers are 11-5 in the Big East and tied with Pittsburgh for third place.
The Hoyas meanwhile, have been a model of inconsistency down the stretch and they have gone from Big East title contenders to a middle-of-the-pack squad at 9-7. On Saturday, the team was handled at home by Notre Dame in a 78-64 decision, which was surprising considering the Fighting Irish were without their best player. Georgetown has now dropped three of its past four outings to fall to 19-8 overall.
Georgetown leads the head-to-head series with WVU, 26-21, but the Mountaineers took last season's meeting by a 75-58 score.
The Hoyas shot an efficient 51.1 percent from the floor, but Notre Dame hit on an even better 57.1 percent from the field in an 78-64 decision on Saturday. It was obviously a poor defensive performance from a Georgetown club that is limiting opponents to 65.6 ppg and 41.4 percent shooting from the field for the season. Greg Monroe paced the team in defeat with 15 points and four boards, while Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson chipped in with 12 points apiece. Junior Austin Freeman however, was limited to just five points and he did not start for the first time since his freshman year. Despite the performance, Freeman stills tops the roster in scoring for the season with an average of 17.0 ppg. Monroe follows at 15.7 ppg and he also grabs a team-high 9.4 rpg and distributes 3.6 apg. Chris Wright checks in with 13.9 ppg and a team-best 3.9 apg, while Clark rounds out the double-digit scorers with 10.5 ppg.
The Mountaineers went 5-of-10 from downtown and 14-of-20 at the foul line over the final 20 minutes, as they rallied from a 39-33 halftime deficit for a 74-68 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. WVU also won the battle on the boards, 41-30, including a 15-10 edge on the offensive glass. Kevin Jones headed the charge with 15 points, while Darryl Bryant had 14 and four assists. Da'Sean Butler was limited to just eight points, but he did contribute seven rebounds and five assists. A jack of all trades, Bryant leads the team in scoring (16.9 ppg), to go with 6.1 rpg and 3.2 apg for the season. Jones is second in line with both 13.7 ppg and 7.5 rpg, while Devin Ebanks turns in 12.3 ppg and a team-high 8.5 rpg. Bryant fills out the list of double-figure scorers with 10.8 ppg.
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American University, which is the two-time defending
Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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