Big East Semi-Finals Wagering Matchups

Sometimes things happen as expected and other times they just happen. The historic UCLA and Houston game in 1969 lived up to its billing with future Hall of Famers Lew Alcinder (Later Kareem Abdul Jabber) and Elvin Hayes playing a classic 71-69 contest, with a young Dick Enberg doing the play by play. A number of memorable NCAA Final Four and championship games have been played and the Duke and Kentucky tournament tilt is widely thought to be the greatest college basketball game ever played.

Fans in the ACC still talk about the Maryland and North Carolina State; I believe it was 1973 or 1974, when the Wolfpack won in triple overtime 103-100, back when only one team out of conference went to the NCAA tournament, which raised the level of importance.

I’m not sure where the Connecticut and Syracuse six overtime game belongs in the annuals of greatest games, but it’s in the mix. I make notes on every game I watch, be it basketball, football and baseball. When the games went to the fourth overtime, I wrote “never to be forgotten” and just sat back and watched.

For anyone that stayed up and watched, there are no words that accurately describe what you saw. The number of descriptive adjectives one could use would wear out the pages of a Thesaurus.

Both coaches had interesting quotes after the game, each following true coaches thinking and lending insight to their beliefs. Jim Boeheim went this way. “I've got no words to even try to describe it," Boeheim said. "I've never been prouder of any team I've ever coached. You get involved after 30 some years and thousands of games, there are a lot of games in there that are pretty memorable, but I think it would be hard to top this game."

UConn coach Jim Calhoun did what coaches do, seek answers. "We lost this game because we had turned the ball over 27 times and couldn't make a foul shot," Calhoun said.

Before I started writing this, the word “epic” popped into my head for two reasons. The first in trying to come up with way to describe what I had watched and the other reason was for what kind of task coach Boeheim has in front of him against West Virginia tonight. Think about it, if the Mountaineers start the game with 8-0 or 12-2 run, what does Boeheim say, “Common guys, wake up, you have play with more passion or effort!” Can he really look at that them in the eyes and say that with conviction? Or do you just go with the old thinking of that was yesterday and today’s a new day, creating a new circumstances.

Bookmaker.com has West Virginia as 6.5-point favorites and you can bet your last dollar, Bob Huggins will tell his team to push the ball up the floor, every single time and to test and further fatigue Syracuse. The Mountaineers got there piece of revenge against Pittsburgh and is 6-0 ATS in road games after allowing 65 points or less two straight games this season.

Look for Boeheim to be like a hockey coach, using his players in two and three minute shifts and going deeper into the bench, after motivating those players about their importance tonight.

In the first Big East semi-final, Louisville and Villanova should be a superior matchup. Both teams controlled their quarterfinal opponents for long periods of time, with top-seeded Louisville showing why they earned top spot in putting away Providence and Villanova needing all 40 minutes to finally take down Marquette.

The Cardinals are on eight-game winning streak (6-2 ATS) and are starting to really look like a team that could be playing on Monday, April 6 for a national championship. The offensive execution is dramatically improved and the defense is tenacious with each of the nine or 10 players who see action. Louisville raised their record to 40-13-2 ATS against Big East competition and is 14-5 ATS in road games after successfully covering the spread in two or more consecutive games.

Coach Jay Wright of Villanova points to one point loss to Louisville as the squad’s more important contest of the year. “That was a really big point for us," Wright said. "The Louisville loss was a tough one. It was at home and we felt like we had a shot to win it.

The way that our guys responded to that game gave us hope that whatever we dealt with this season, we were going to be able to handle it."

The Wildcats responded by winning 12 of next 15 (10-5 ATS) and are 10-3 ATS against teams with winning records. Nova is a four-point underdog and has covered four of last five in that spot.

Had the hard luck loss with Villanova for .500 day, leaving me at 7-5 against the spread and I see Villanova hanging tough and getting the cover and can’t see how Syracuse can play for “only” forty minutes against West Virginia and cover.