Well, the Superbowl is over and now we can get back to the day in/day out work of profitable sports betting.  As has happened after every Superbowl, the sportsbooks are open for business again today and there’s at least a few games on the board for us to work with.  We’ll look to the Big East for a college basketball betting opportunity as Villanova takes on West Virginia.

West Virginia is always on the list of top party schools because, frankly, there’s nothing to do there except drink heavily and indulge in the sort of frenzied depravity that those of us in a more urbane and sophisticated environments can only imagine.  A morally upstanding site such as Sports Untapped is clearly not the place to try and describe the perversion and debauchery that takes place on the West Virginia campus every day of the week.   That is one of the reasons its such a difficult place for opposing teams to play; few college aged athletes are ready for the sordid and tawdry environment in which they must compete.  I’m not a moralist and it is not my place to judge this acquiescence to the most base of human instincts but as a handicapper it is my duty to be aware of it.

Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins understands this fully, and has cleverly leveraged this environment into one of the most oppressive home court advantages in college basketball.  West Virginia has a home record of 11-1 this year and 36-7 over the past three years.  Villanova had played well on the road this season up until a loss at Georgetown this weekend, but the Hoya victory has no doubt set the gears in Huggins’ brain grinding to life as he has the personnel to defeat his Monday night adversary in much the same way after which the student body can resume drinking and fornicating.

VILLANOVA VS. WEST VIRGINIA

Georgetown demonstrated the best way to disrupt the play of Villanova’s talented guards on Saturday–make them play a bruising physical style.  This, combined with Villanova’s weak inside game, gave the Hoyas an easy victory.  West Virginia has arguably better forwards– led by Da’sean Butler and Kevin Jones–than Georgetown does, though they don’t have as strong of a presence inside as the Hoyas’ Greg Monroe.  They’ve got a big body to throw at the Wildcats in Deniz Kilicli, though he’s yet to quite figure out how to use his tight end like build as a weapon.

The Mountaineers’ biggest advantage is their more physical guards, and they’ve got the personnel to turn this into a football game and get Villanova out of their rhythm and the talent up front to put points on the board.  As we’ve discussed on many occasions, as the year progresses you want to look to play against teams with excellent pointspread records YTD and play on teams that have struggled.  Villanova’s 15-6 ATS mark makes them a target to play against for the rest of the year due to the overcompensation against them they’ll receive from the linesmaker.   Very tough scheduling spot for ‘nova going from Georgetown to Morgantown, and facing a physical team in both venues.

PLAY WEST VIRGINIA -4′ OVER VILLANOVA