Louisville vs. Rutgers
Betting Line: Louisville -3.5
2/22/11
One thing all teams want to be able to do heading into post season, be it the Conference Tournament or the big dance, is win on the road. How well teams play on the road is a crucial aspect of post season success. Being able to win Games without the support of your home fans and comfortable surroundings is very important, which is why when Louisville heads to New Jersey tonight to play Rutgers, it’s close to being a must win Game.
Louisville has lost 3 straight road Games and has just two chances remaining in the regular season to get it right. Tonight at Rutgers and then the last Game of the year, March 5th at West Virginia. Rutgers, of all teams, knows how important home cOurt can be. They are just 13-13 on the year and only 4-10 in Big East play but at home Rutgers is 10-4.
We like Rick Pitino and Louisville here for very simple, basic reasons starting with the fact that Our Score Prediction model has them winning by 8 as a -3.5 favorite. But the fact that it’s such a big Game for Louisville, needing a road win in the worst way and the fact that Louisville is simply the better team here, put it over the top. The number here is reasonable enough that a straight up win likely gets the cover as well. It’s crunch time and the cream rises to the top. Louisville 72 Rutgers 64
Not much else stands out on the Tuesday night card but some Games come close to getting Our attention. Our model likes Xavier by more than enough over LA Salle, Virginia Tech over Wake Forest, Ohio State over Illinois, Memphis over Houston and Weber State over Idaho State. All of those are by margins that are enough to get Our intention but all of which require a much closer look.
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