College Basketball Free Picks – #7 Notre Dame Battles West Virginia on Road

#7 Notre Dame battles West Virginia on the road as a likely college basketball free picks favorite on Saturday, Feb. 19th.

The Irish has been spectacular lately and could, if they continue to win, garner a #1 seed in the Big Dance coming up next month. West Virginia is in desperate need of a victory in order to prove that they belong in the NCAA Tournament. A win over a Top 10 ranked team would certainly help the Mountaineers’ cause.

#7 Notre Dame Irish (21-4) at West Virginia Mountaineers (16-9)

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** Records and state not counting Thursday and Friday games.

Where: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia

When: Feb. 19th, 2010 at 1:00 pm EST

TV: CBS

Likely NCAAB Betting Lines

Notre Dame Irish -2 O 126

West Virginia Mountaineers +2 U 126

Check out some trends for this game.

• The Notre Dame Irish is 6 and 1 ATS in their last 7 games.

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

• The West Virginia Mountaineers are 5 and 4 ATS at home this season.

• The West Virginia Mountaineers are 4 and 6 ATS in their last 10 games.

Because of West Virginia’s troubles at covering the spread this season, the Mountaineers are 9 and 13 overall against the spread, my guess is that WV will be a home dog on Saturday, but are the Mountaineers one of the better college basketball free picks for Feb. 19th?

It all depends on the actual betting odds, in my opinion. Notre Dame is a very, very good team, but if they have to give up too many points on the road versus a desperate West Virginia team, then they can be beat. In fact, this might be a good time to play an NCAAB moneyline odds wager on the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Unless WV is the favorite, they should be offering odds above even money to upset Notre Dame straight up. There’s definite value in backing the Mountaineers to do exactly that. West Virginia’s defense is pretty solid. It allows only 64.4 points per game off of 40% shooting. On offense, the Mountaineers average 70 points per game, but aren’t afraid to take their time and play in a defensive contest.

That defensive mindset could really frustrate a Notre Dame squad that likes to go full bore per game when averaging over 76 points per off of better than 46% shooting. Notre Dame has won 7 games in a row including punishing Pittsburgh 56 to 51 as a road dog on Jan. 24th. The thing that hoops handicappers must remember about the Irish, and the reason that ND might not be one of the great college basketball betting free picks on Saturday to cover the spread, is that ND played 4 of those 7 games during the streak on their home court. The other two teams that they faced on the road were Big East doormats South Florida and DePaul.

West Virginia is a much better “home” team than either DePaul or South Florida. Because of that, I believe that should the Mountaineers go off as a home dog, they are deserving of a wager to beat Notre Dame straight up on Saturday.

I’m going to bet on the West Virginia Mountaineers on the moneyline on Saturday vs. Notre Dame.

NCAA Odds Betting Pick: West Virginia Mountaineers moneyline

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