Northeastern vs. Connecticut
Free Pick: UConn -7.5 (2010 NIT Tournament – Tom Stryker)
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Off four consecutive straight up losses including an embarrassing first round blemish to St. John’s in the Opening Round of the Big East Tournament, Connecticut will bounce back nicely tonight at home in the NIT matched up against Northeastern.
As stated, the Huskies dropped a 73-51 decision to the Red Storm in their last game and that crushing defeat places them in an automatic “play on” situation. Since the 1990-91 season, NIT 1st Round hosts that enter off a blowout loss of 20 points or more are a respectable 21-5 SU and 17-9 ATS including a solid 16-2 SU and 14-4 ATS in this role carrying a won/loss percentage less than .640. With those two parameters applied and our host favored by -4′ or more, this system tightens up to a rewarding 8-1 SU and ATS mark! UConn applies to all three parameters of this angle.
To help our cause, Big East home teams have dominated the 1st Round of the NIT Tournament posting a solid 20-3 SU and 15-7-1 ATS mark provided they check in off a straight up loss. If our BEAST team spots a won/loss percentage less than .590, this conference situations improves to a superb 11-0 SU and 9-1-1 ATS! On the flip side, since the 2005 season, Northeastern has struggled against teams from the Big East notching a woeful 1-9 SU and 2-8 ATS record.
The Northeastern Huskies participated in the CBI Tournament last year and found a way to pull off an upset win at Wyoming in their first game. Considering these Huskies are just 9-20 ATS priced as a road dog of +5′ or more when matched up against an opponent that holds a won/loss percentage greater than .200, an encore performance against one of the Big East’s better teams isn’t likely to happen. Take Connecticut. Thank you and best of luck, Tom Stryker.
Notre Dame vs. Connecticut
Free Pick: Notre Damme -1.5 (March 3rd 2010 – Matt Fargo)
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The Big East Conference has certainly lived up to its billing this season. The parity has been sensational once again with Syracuse being the only team that has pretty much dominated from start to finish. Five teams are separated by a game and a half in the middle of the pack and two of those teams square off tonight in South Bend. Just a short while ago, Connecticut was on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble but with three straight wins including victories against West Virginia and Villanova, the Huskies have snuck inside the group of 65. However a loss at home against Louisville in their last game has the questions coming up again about whether they should be in or not. As of right now, the projections still have Connecticut in but it is not by much. The home portion of the schedule is done and the Huskies will now have to win out on the road to keep their position and that is not going to be easy. They are 2-6 on the road this season and both of those wins came in their last two home games, including that game against Villanova but consistency remains an issue.
While Connecticut has been up and down, Notre Dame has had the same type of season and it is also making a strong statement to make it into the NCAA Tournament. Three straight losses in the middle of February likely had the Irish destined for the NIT but back-to-back wins over Pittsburgh and Georgetown, the latter being a road thrashing on Saturday, has them knocking on the door. Notre Dame is 16-3 at home this season and this is the final home game of the year and for the careers of five seniors including Luke Harangody who is likely out for the remainder of the year. The fact that Notre Dame has held it together while he has been absent shows a lot about this team and it will not be going out without a fight. In this matchup, Notre Dame has advantages in several important statistical categories including offensive efficiency, overall efficiency, offensive shooting, free throw shooting and assist/turnover ratio. That final category is important all the time, but even more so during the tournament and let’s face it, this is an early tournament game. The Irish have an assist/turnover ratio of 1.70 which is easily the best in the country and in home games, that rises to 1.91 which is almost unheard of in the college game. Conversely, the Huskies have a ratio of 0.75 in road games and that disparity is enormous. This is also a revenge game for the Irish who lost in Storrs by 12 points and that one was due to free throw shooting as Connecticut went to the line 15 more times, making 13 more of its attempts.
Don’t be surprised to see a reversal of that here. Play on home teams with a winning percentage between .600 and .800 that have covered the spread in two or more straight games with a line that is between +3 to -3 and now playing a team with a winning record below .600. This situation is 31-9 ATS (77.5 percent) since 1997. 3* Notre Dame Fighting Irish
