Bears face tall task in NCAA Tournament clash with Mountaineers

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/19/2010 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers are obviously heavily favored in this afternoon's clash with the 15th-seeded Morgan State Bears in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

Awaiting the winner of this tilt is a second-round meeting with either seventh-seeded Clemson or 10th-seeded Missouri, fellow East Region participants.

Not only did Morgan State win the regular-season crown in the MEAC, the team went on to capture the league's tourney title as well. At 27-9 overall, the Bears are a confident club, led by head coach Todd Bozeman. MEAC teams have recorded two wins over second-seeded squads in former NCAA Tournaments, so there is reason for some hope. Last season, Morgan State made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance as a Division I program, and the result was a 28- point loss to Oklahoma in the first round.

West Virginia is making its 23rd appearance in the "Big Dance" and third straight under head coach Bob Huggins. The Mountaineers, who are 27-6 overall, won the Big East Tournament title and had a resume' that was certainly worthy of No. 1 seed consideration, so Huggins didn't attempt to conceal the fact that he was disappointing with the No. 2 seed. The club finished sixth in the final AP Poll, the best finish for the program since placing fifth in 1960. WVU is 20-22 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is heavily favored in this opener.

The Mountaineers beat the Bears by 28 points in the only previous meeting between the programs during the 1995-96 campaign.

Morgan State garnered the top four individual awards given annually by the MEAC. Reggie Holmes is the MEAC Player of the Year, while Bozeman is the league's Coach of the Year. DeWayne Jackson is the MEAC Rookie of the Year, and Kevin Thompson is the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. Let's start with Holmes, an explosive senior guard who nets 21.8 ppg despite shooting just 39.3 percent from the floor. Thompson is ripping down 11.9 rpg to go along with 50 blocks, and he is scoring 12.8 ppg. As for Jackson, he provides 10.1 ppg on the strength of his 43.9 percent three-point efficiency. The Bears are generating 76.8 ppg while allowing 70.2 ppg to foes. Holmes is a streaky shooter who can completely dominate a game when he gets hot. He closed out the regular season with back-to-back games of 32 and 36 points, but then failed to reach 20 points in any of the three conference tournament games.

West Virginia played a couple of tough non-conference games during the regular season, and while the club did fall to Purdue on the road, it managed to knock off Ohio State in Morgantown. The Mountaineers are averaging 73.0 ppg through 33 contests, and they are limiting opponents to 63.8 ppg on 42.4 percent shooting from the floor. Da'Sean Butler is generating 17.4 ppg to pace the team, and the versatile standout has also handed out 109 assists. Kevin Jones, who has started all 33 games alongside Butler, checks in with 13.5 ppg on 51.9 percent shooting from the floor, and he is ripping down 7.1 rpg. The top rebounder on the squad is Devin Ebanks with his 8.2 rpg, and he rounds out the double-digit scorers with 11.8 ppg. WVU is outrebounding foes by 6.8 rpg, key to the team's overall success. Also, the Mountaineers have done a solid job of keeping turnovers to a minimum.