2007-2008 Game Previews

SUNDAY BIG EAST GAME PREVIEWS (2/17/2008)

Through Friday night’s game, the NBE Blogger was having a good week going 7-1 picking games outright and 6-2 against the spread. Looking to continue the hot streak on Saturday, technological issues put a stop to that and no previews were available.

We are back on this Sunday with a pair of match-up analysis, links to the local stories on the games and a prediction from the NBE Blogger for each game below.

Notre Dame @ Rutgers

Notre Dame Enjoys Success on the Road (Chicago Tribune)
Irish Look to Bounce Back (Journal Gazette)
Irish Eager for Next Road Test (South Bend Tribune)
Irish Playing Well on the Road (Courier News)

Notre Dame will look to bounce back this afternoon from their loss Wednesday night at Connecticut when they visit Rutgers at the RAC. The Irish look to keep pace with the league leaders while the Scarlet Knight try to move out of the league’s basement.

Notre Dame has been riding their bull, Luke Harangody, all season long and today should be no exception as the Rutgers middle has been exposed often this season. Notre Dame will pound the ball inside to Harangody and work inside/out. Kyle McAlarney is the ‘outside’ in the inside/outside duo and is one of the best thee-point shooters in the conference. Tory Jackson orchestrates the ND attack and Rob Kurz does all the little things inside to help his team win.

Rutgers struggles scoring points and that has been a season-long shortcoming. The Scarlet Knights’ struggles continued Thursday night in Morgantown as the turned the ball over often. The freshman backcourt duo of Corey Chandler and Mike Coburn has a promising future, but frosh in this league take their lumps. The disappointing aspect of the Rutgers’ season is mostly attributed to their junior trio of JR Inman, Jaron Griffin and Anthony Farmer still being wildly inconsistent and not stepping up their game as upperclassmen.

A 10-pt spread is a large number on the road. However, Notre Dame is very capable of scoring points and they can do it inside and out. Rutgers has shown to be incapable of scoring at home and on the road, so look for ND to cover the 10.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Notre Dame 74 Rutgers 62

Seton Hall @ West Virginia

WVU Hopes to Extend Seton Hall’s Woes Times West Virginian)
WVU Looks to Stop Running Afoul at the Line (Charleston Gazette)

It has been a streak season for Seton Hall in the Big East. The Pirates lost their first three in the conference, then they ran off five straight wins, which has been followed by a four game losing streak which they are currently in the midst of. More concerning is the way they have lost, in games with Marquette and Notre Dame, they have been completely blown out of their own building. Now, they head to one of the toughest places to play in the conference, West Virginia, to snap the streak.

The Mountaineers snapped out of a funk that saw them lose three of four with a home win over Rutgers Thursday night. Prior to that, WVU lost three of four games to fall to 5-5 in the Big East. At 6-5, WVU is still fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid and a win today is a must.

The Mountaineers are a 13-point favorite for today’s game. That seems to be quite high as I actually think Seton Hall can match up pretty well with WVU and pose some interesting challenges with their speed, quickness and pressing. Neither team will have much inside to fall back on and the Mountaineers are the better shooting team. They will mix in some zone defenses to force SHU to shoot from the perimeter in the half court game.

NBE Blogger Prediction: West Virginia 82 Seton Hall 72

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