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College Hoops Preview: Notre Dame vs. Pitt (Jan. 31)

Several Notre Dame players have described their season thus far as the most difficult stretch of their careers, referring to this season’s Big East schedule. Next up the Irish are traveling to face one of the top teams in the nation in No. 3 Pittsburgh…

Big Boys on the Big East – Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh

A day before the Super Bowl another Pittsburgh team will be in action when the #3 ranked Pitt Panthers hosts Notre Dame. Pittsburgh has been pretty much brilliant this season going 18 and 2 straight-up. Against the BetUS online wagering spread, their record of 8-6-1 isn’t the best in the nation. Sports betting fans can’t like how they have trouble scoring, but their defense is phenomenal. The Panthers did lose by 10 points in their last game to Villanova. So, they might drop in the rankings.

Notre Dame is one of those Big East teams that just hangs around long enough to maybe make the NCAA Tournament. They are currently ranked #22 in the nation with a 12 and 7 straight-up record. Against the BetUS online betting spread, the Irish are 4 and 9. So college basketball betting fans really can’t consider a wager on the Irish unless everything sets up for them.

Game-day: 1/31/2009
Tip-off: 12:00 pm est.

Here are my personal online betting NCAAB odds for this game.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish +13 ½ -110 O 146 ½ -110
Pittsburgh Panthers -13 ½ -110 U 146 ½ -110

Here are a few online basketball wagering trends that might help us find a good online bet in this game.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 0 and 5 against the spread in their last 5 games overall.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is 5 and 1 against the spread in their last 6 games against the Panthers in Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Panthers are 6 and 1 against the spread in their last 7 games following an against the spread loss.
The Pittsburgh Panthers are 15-7-1 against the spread in their last 23 games following a straight-up loss.

I don’t like wasting readers’ time by simply pasting in every single trend available. But let me tell basketball betting fans out there that there isn’t a single trend that says Notre Dame gets close in this game.

I can’t go against so many negative trends. It would really make the gods of gambling angry. So, I’m consigned to the fact that Pittsburgh definitely wins this game straight-up.

But by how many points?

I believe that the BetUS Sportsbook odds makers will make the Pitt Panthers at least a -13 ½ point favorite against the spread. I’m hoping that I’m wrong. Giving up 13 ½ might be too many points since Pitt has lost two out of three straight-up.

But Notre Dame just isn’t the quality team that the Panthers are.

Notre Dame vs. Pitt Prediction:

I’m going to say that if the BetUS odds makers set a point spread at Pitt -12 ½ or lower, then I’ll make the wager. I’ll bet on Pittsburgh to cover the spread.