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We’ll continue our March Madness betting analysis of the Sweet 16 with a Thursday night game between Washington and West Virginia.  The Mountaineers finished 2nd in the Big East this year while Washington finished 3rd in the Pac 10 despite having the best overall record in the conference at 23-9.  I was able to find a good picture of a West Virginia cheerleader and her Uncle Skeeter, who came to visit her right after he got off work at the local auto parts store.

MARCH MADNESS–WASHINGTON VS. WEST VIRGINIA:

Washington was able to run a depth shy and fatigued New Mexico team off the court, but its doubtful they can do that to the Mountaineers with a decent layoff between games.  Neither team was great against the pointspread this year, so in theory this is a matchup of two teams that we’d rather bet against than bet on.  West Virginia just lost guard Darryl Bryant to a season ending foot injury but have good depth and should be able to overcome this.  Washington’s catalyst is guard Venoy Overton, who won the Pac 10 defensive player of the year award.  He’s only 5′ 10″ and the Mountaineers have some size that could give him trouble.

The Huskies biggest matchup problems came against teams like USC who played nasty interior defense.  That makes this a favorable matchup for them, as WV coach Bob Huggins has been pulling his hair out over his team’s often weak interior defense all year.  Ultimately, no real wagering interest in this game–all of my power ratings and score projections come in right around the pointspread and there’s no real value position on the total either.  With no statistical edge or matchup advantage either way you’re better off looking for a better position elsewhere.  West Virginia should win by a margin right around the pointspread, though if you held a gun to my head and forced me to take a side I’d probably go with Washington plus the points.

PASS