College Hoops Betting – Big East Showdown between #25 Cincinnati and #4 Notre Dame

Yup, just another great game in the Big East Tournament, this time it’s the 25th ranked Cincinnati Bearcats and 4th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish going head to head. The College Hoops Betting action has been outstanding in this tournament, and this one figures to be just another wire to wire classic as both clubs come in playing good ball. The Bearcats absolutely crushed South Florida last night by an 87-61 final, which makes that three straight for this team going back to their wins over Marquette and Georgetown to close out the year.  Notre Dame has won 11 of 12 including wins over 19th ranked Villanova and 16th ranked Connecticut, so who’s the hotter team?

#25 Cincinnati Bearcats (25-7) vs. #4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (25-5)

Thursday, March 10 – 7 PM ET (Madison Square Garden – New York, NY)

TV: ESPN

That’s a tough question to answer as both these teams are clearly peaking at the right time, but one way to get a read on tonight’s game is to see how these two faired head to head this year. Back on January 19, the Bearcats played a visit to the Fighting Irish campus and it was the home team walking away with the 8 point win. That was a great team effort as all five starters for ND scored in double digits, which is symbolic of this team as everyone on the court has the potential to hurt you.

College Hoops Betting Spread:

Cincinnati Bearcats +110
Notre Dame Fighting Irish -2, -130   

Total: 131

Oh yea, Notre Dame does have the Big East Player of the Year as well in Ben Hansbrough which would have been unthinkable of you said that at the start of the year. Yet, he’s been a scoring machine all year, especially from outside, nailing 45.1 percent of his shots from downtown. Not only that, he’s putting up over 20 points per game in Big East contests, which means he’s at his best when the competition is the stiffest.

Here are some Big East Tournament Betting Trends:

• Favourite is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
• Bearcats are 1-6 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
• Fighting Irish are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
• Fighting Irish are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games as a favourite of 0.5-6.5.
• Fighting Irish are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games as a favourite.

Cincinnati got a huge game out of Yancy Gates against South Florida as the center put up a career-high 25 points, but he’s yet to prove he can do that on a nightly basis. Although the Bearcats are a talented team, they just won’t be able to keep up with pace Notre Dame is going to push tonight and I see the Irish winning by at least 6.

College Hoops Betting Pick:  Notre Dame -2