Villanova Wildcats (20-2) at West Virginia Mountaineers (19-3)Big East College Basketball: Monday February 8, 2010The Line: West Virginia - 4 1/2
Two of the top teams in the Big East and in the country meet as West Virgina hosts Villanova in Morgantown. West Virginia comes into this one riding a six game winning streak and in third place in the very competitive Big East conference. WVU is ranked sixth in the country and has aspirations to do big things this year as Bob Huggins has his team focused and playing tough. Offensively West Virginia has four players scoring in double digits and as a team they are averaging 73.8 points each time out while shooting 44.2 percent from the floor. West Virginia has players that play both ends of the court, who can score and who can play defense. Da'Sean Butler and Kevin Jones both average double digit points and over 6 boards a game. Defensively the Mountaineers allow opponents to shoot 42.8 percent but they pound the defensive boards to the tune of 30.8 per game which is 16th best in the country which has them surrendering just 61.5 points per game which is 35th best in the nation. WVU is 9-1 at home thus far this season and 4-3 when playing teams ranked in the top 25. Villanova is coming off of their first loss after straight wins as they went into Georgetown and ran into a buzz saw as the Hoyas dropped 103 points on the Wildcats. It was Villanova's first Big East loss of the year and leaves them a half of a game behind Syracuse in the conference standings. Villanova poured in 90 themselves in the loss and they average 85.2 points per game, the second highest average points per game in the nation. The Wildcats shoot just 46.6 percent from the floor but the 40.6 offensive rebounds per game is 13th best in the country and gives the Cats plenty of second chance opportunities. Defensively Villanova isn't as strong and if they don't go far when March Madness rolls around it will more than likely be the 72 points per game the Cats allow that catches up with them. West Virginia is 18-7 against the spread in their last 25 games as a favorite of up to 6 1/2 points but they are 1-6 against the spread when playing at home against a team with a winning road record. Villanova is 5-1 against the spread in their last six road games and 8-3 against the spread in their last 11 against the Big East. The homes team has covered six of the last eight in this series. These are two of the best teams and this is a game that will have a post season atmosphere and a fired up crowd like none other. It wouldn't surprise me to see this one come right down to the end or even go to overtime, it really is that close. Being that it should be a razor thin margin separating these two, it's a good spot to take the points. Mitch's Pick: Villanova + 4 1/2
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