Bet Sports Online – Huge Big East Battle Between #7 ND and #16 UConn

Hoops handicappers should bet sports online this Saturday, March 5, when the #7 Notre Dame Irish takes on the #16 Connecticut Huskies.

Notre Dame has turned into, arguably, the best team in the Big East while the Huskies, who looked oh so good to start the season, have fallen on hard times. Both teams will make it to the March Madness Tournament later on this month, but ND is fighting for a Top 3 seed. Connecticut? They could drop all the way to a 6 seed with a loss to the Irish on Saturday.

#7 Notre Dame Irish (24-5) at #16 Connecticut Huskies (21-8)

Where: Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut

When: March 5, 2011 at 2:00 pm EST

TV: ESPN

Likely NCAAB Betting Lines

Notre Dame Irish +3 ½ -110 O 141 -110

Connecticut Huskies -3 ½ -110 U 141 -110

Check out some trends for this game.

• The Notre Dame Irish is 3 and 5 ATS in their away games this season.

• The Notre Dame Irish is 4 and 2 ATS in their last 6 games overall.

• The Connecticut Huskies are 5 and 5 ATS at home this season.

• The Connecticut Huskies are 1 and 3 ATS in their last 4 games.

Simply put, a bet sports online wager backing the Connecticut Huskies to cover the spread in a game might be tantamount to handing a check over the sports book. It’s a lot less stressful just to hand the check over, however.

Connecticut has been that bad to hoops handicappers lately. They lost to Louisville 58 to 71 as 3 ½ point dogs on Feb. 18. Then, they lost to Marquette in overtime 67 to 74 as -4 ½ point faves.

They did beat the Cincinnati Bearcats 67 to 59 on Feb. 27 as 3 ½ point road dogs, but managed to allow West Virginia to hand them their asses in their last contest, a 56 to 65 loss.

The Huskies just aren’t playing good ball right now. They’ve gone 3 and 7 against the spread in their last 10 games. 4 out of the 7 against the spread losses in the bet sports online book were when the Huskies were favorites. They’re going to be the favorite on Saturday against the Notre Dame Irish. Connecticut is averaging close to 73 points per game, but that’s not what basketball handicappers should be looking at.

They should be looking at the fact that the Huskies are shooting only 42% from the field. Defensively, UConn is still shutting down teams, but that could change on Saturday when they face the Notre Dame Irish.

Notre Dame is 7 and 3 against the spread in their last ten games. More importantly, the Irish are 9 and 1 straight up in their last 10 contests. The Irish shoot over 46% from the field when scoring over 75 points per game. Their D is just as good as UConn’s as ND allows only 65.5 points per contest off of 41.1% shooting.

Because of the stats, and the way that both of these teams have been playing, I’m going to have to back Notre Dame against the spread in the bet sports online book. Notre Dame should go off as the dog in this matchup on Saturday. I believe that the Irish not only should cover the spread but that they might be a decent team to back on the moneyline.

Notre Dame is just better than Connecticut right now. They should continue to play well while the Huskies have come back to the Big East pack. I’ll back Notre Dame to beat Connecticut straight up on March 5.

NCAA Odds Betting Pick: Notre Dame moneyline