The fading Villanova Wildcats will meet the South Florida Bulls this evening in the opening round of the 2011 Big East Torunament. The 10th seeded Wildcats and the 15th seeded Bulls are scheduled to take the court at Madison Square Garden at 7:00pm ET; tonight's game will be broadcast live on ESPNU. The latest NCAA Basketball Odds have Villanova listed as a -10 against the spread college basketball picks favorite and the game total set at 126.5.
Apparently how a team plays matters little
to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, because as of this morning, the tournament czar had the Villanova Wildcats projected as a seven seed in the Southwest Region. This despite Jay Wright's squad having lost four in a row and six of its last eight games.
Lunardi must be counting on a strong conference tournament push from the 21-10 Wildcats.
Strong push or no, Villanova (1-11 against the spread in its last 12 games) will begin Big East Tournament play with a wonderful opportunity to halt its four game skid.
The Wildcats meet a Bulls squad that it beat 83-71 on the road in early January and one that is a far cry from the quality of its last four opponents (Syracuse, St. John's, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh).
South Florida (9-22 overall, 3-15 Big East) is also riding a losing wave, but its barrel makes the Wildcats' wave look like a paddle boat wake. The Bulls did defeat DePaul 86-76 on February 26th, but that victory marked just their second win in 12 games.
If Villanova, which is 5-0 against USF, comes out strong, it will probably eliminate what little fight the Bulls have in them.
The winner of tonight's game will move on to play the seventh seeded Cincinnati Bearcats tomorrow night.
South Florida vs Villanova Odds 2011 NCAA Basketball Picks:
South Florida Bulls +10 (-110), Over 126.5 (-110), +425 (Moneyline)
Villanova Wildcats -10 (-110), Under 126.5 (-110),-550 (Monyeline)
