The West Virginia Mountaineers have accepted the invitation to play in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Their first round matchup is tomorrow against the Grand Canyon Antelopes.
Before we dive into this matchup, a quick update on our pick between the Trailblazers and Pacers. We picked the Trailblazers to win by more than four points. They pulled off a win by eight points, covering our spread easily. Congrats on the 90.91% payout for your bet. It’s our third win in a row, looking for our fourth tonight with the Islanders.
For our matchup today, it’s a story of David vs Goliath, but this time I expect Goliath to win.
West Virginia: The Elephant in the Room
The elephant in the room for the entire CBI is West Virginia.
It’s no secret they had an awful year, but after two big wins in the Big 12 tournament over Oklahoma and Texas Tech, a nine and three-seed in the NCAA Tournament, could have propelled them to at least an invitation to the Division 1 National Invitational Tournament (NIT). But it didnt.
With no invite to the more prominent tournaments, they accepted to play in the CBI to salvage a year driven by injuries, transfers and dismissals. The recent wins showed the have the talent to play with some of the best teams in the nation, and now they get a chance to prove it by stomping the teams in the CBI.
First up, Grand Canyon.
They have a better record, average more points per game and keep opponents to less points per game. I’m still going with WVU in this matchup.
And I have two reasons – strength of schedule and WVU is at home.
Schedule and Home Court
That’s right. Unlike NCAA Tournament, the CBI is played at the favorite teams stadium. Playing at home gives them a huge advantage to run up the score.
And the West Virginia Mountaineers had a much tougher schedule, playing nine teams that were a top-25 team at the time, compared to just one for Grand Canyon.
It’s important to note that before they were plagued with injuries and other factors, WVU was a top 25 team, listed at 13 to start the season.
They still have the confidence of a top team, even after a tumultuous season. The Texas Tech win was a huge boost and will carry over into the home game against Grand Canyon.
The book makers are listing West Virginia a five point favorite. I’ll take them to win by more than five points, paying out at -110 odds. That means a $110 bet will pay out $100. If you bet $100 on this pick, it would pay out $90.91, 90.91%.
Search for a smaller spread. Other book makers may consider it a closer game than expected. Taking anything fewer than five points is better.
To profitable bets,
Ryan
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