Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs West Virginia Mountaineers Betting Odds

Opening Line: Notre Dame +4 / West Virginia -4 O/U 128.5

Time: 9 PM EST Thursday March 12, 2010

Tonight in the semifinals of the Big East conference tournament the 6th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Since the Irish have made the semis they should make the Big Dance. WVU is in the NCAA tournament, but if they can win tonight and win in the finals they may snag a coveted #1 seed.

This season Notre Dame is 16-10-1 ATS and WVU is 13-17 ATS.

In the only meeting between these 2 teams this season Notre Dame beat WVU at home 70-68.

In the quarterfinals of the Big East tourney yesterday WVU needed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Cincinnati 54-51 and Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 50-45.

Notre Dame is on fire, as they have not only won 2 straight in the conference tournament, but they won their last 4 regular season games.

The Mountaineers are the highest seeded team left in the Big East tournament, as #1 Syracuse, #2 Pittsburgh, and #4 Villanova all lost in the quarterfinals.

The Mountaineers have a solid frontcourt with 3 forwards averaging in double figures led by Da'Sean Butler (17.2 ppg) and the Irish will have to play D like they did last night when they held Pitt to only 38.6% shooting.

Notre Dame F Luke Harangody (23.2 ppg 9.7 rpg), who is averaging 26.5 ppg and 10.5 rpg in his last 5 games versus the Mountaineers, has been coming off the bench in the conference tournament still nursing a knee injury, but he may get more playing time tonight, as the Irish will need his rebounding.

The Irish have a better backcourt led by Ben Hansbrough (11.9 ppg) and they have to shoot the rock well tonight. Conversely, the WVU defense has to keep the Irish guards from bombing away from deep.

WVU only shot 35% from the field last night in the win over Cincinnati and they have to shoot the rock better tonight to advance to the finals.

West Virginia is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 neutral site games and has an Under record of 11-1 in their last 12 games against teams that have a winning record.

Notre Dame is 7-0 ATS in their last 7 games, 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games following an ATS win, and has an Under record of 6-0 in their last 6 games.

In the last 12 games between these 2 teams the total has gone Under 11 times.

Our Selection : The Irish instilled a new defense 6 games ago. The result? Six straight unders. Want more? Notre Dame and West Virginia match-ups have resulted in ten straight unders. Take Under 126.5 points.