Free College Basketball NCAA Tournament Pick
#6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (23-11, 10-8 Big East) vs. #11 Old Dominion Monarchs (26-8, 15-3 Colonial) New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA, 3/18, 12:25 PM
Notre Dame will try to represent the Big East well in its first round matchup against Old Dominion. Notre Dame’s appearance in the tournament, especially with the 6 seed speaks to the power of the Big East conference. Old Dominion isn’t about to be scared off by a team that recently was left for dead.
Old Dominion knows a thing or two about beating a team from the Big East. The Monarchs defeated Georgetown, when they were the #11 team in the nation 61-57. Georgetown is now a 3 seed, so a 6 seed should be simple, right? Old Dominion won their conference tournament to get into the NCAA tournament. They are led by Gerald Lee and his 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. They have won eight out of nine games coming into the tournament.
Notre Dame meanwhile was out of the tournament as recently as the middle of February. Their star player, Luke Harangody, was injured, and they lost three straight games to Seton Hall, St. John’s, and Louisville, respectively. At that point they were 6-8 in the toughest conference in the country. But then the team turned around. Despite the injury, they began winning again. After the losing streak, the next two games were wins against Pittsburgh and Georgetown, both ranked in the top-20. Harangody came back on March 6 against Marquette, as the team had already found new life. Instead of changing what had clearly been working, Harangody came off the bench for the remainder of the season, and the Big East tournament. It worked. Notre Dame made it to the conference semi-finals, and got another quality win over Pittsburgh. They pushed West Virginia, the eventual tournament champion, to the brink, before losing by two.
Harangody brings a 22.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game average to the game and Tim Abromaitis contributes 16.3 points per game.
Old Dominion has the resume that could set up for an upset if Notre Dame falls back into the style of play from earlier in the season. Don’t count on it though, as it seems as if the Irish are ready for a run.
Notre Dame is favored by 3.5 points. The total for this game is listed at 122.
Notre Dame Betting Trends:
Notre Dame is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games |
Notre Dame is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games |
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Notre Dame's last 5 games |
Old Dominion Betting Trends:
Old Dominion is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games |
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Old Dominion's last 8 games |
Pick: Take Notre Dame -3.5
Betting Trends by Bodog.com |
