March Madness Betting Picks – Champs Battle As No. 15 Morgan State Meets No. 2 West Virginia

The house will be rockin’ at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY today at 12 PM ET when the 15th-seeded Morgan State Bears try to upset the second-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers in their first-round NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament matchup.

Friday, March 19, 12:15 PM ET

NCAAB Betting Odds: West Virginia -17.5

Morgan St. (27-9 SU, 6-5 ATS, 3-7-1 O/U)
West Virginia (27-6 SU, 13-19 ATS, 14-16 O/U)

March Madness basketball betting enthusiasts will see the streaking, two-time defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Bears lay it all on the line against another re-hot ballclub when they battle the Big East Champion Conference champion Mountaineers.

Morgan St. 411

Bears are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall.

Bears are 5-12 ATS in their last 17 non-conference games.

Bears are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 neutral site games as an underdog.

Morgan State has won seven consecutive games and 19 of its last 21 games overall, including a solid 68-61 win over South Carolina State on Saturday.

The Bears got a team-high 18 points from junior forward Kevin Thompson and 17 points from senior guard Reggie Holmes, the MEAC Player of the Year, while shooting a blistering 53.1 percent from the field in the win.

Unfortunately, the Bears failed to cash in as 10-point favorites, snapping a two-game ATS winning streak in the process.

Morgan State averaged a stellar 76.8 points per game (34th) but allowed 70.2 pointes per contest defensively (229th).

West Virginia 411

Mountaineers are 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 NCAA Tournament games.

Mountaineers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall.

Mountaineers are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games.

Mountaineers are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games.

West Virginia surprised the Georgetown Hoyas in their Big East Tournament championship game by recording a scrappy 60-58 victory over the Hoyas on Saturday.

West Virginia shot a dismal 38.2 percent from the field, following the lead of team leader Da'Sean Butler who scored 20 points but shot 7 of 19 in doing so.

The Mountaineers failed to cover the March Madness betting odds as a 2.5-point favorite to fall to 0-3 ATS over the last three games.

Analysis: I’m going to keep this pick simple by saying that the West Virginia Mountaineers are going to win this game, albeit, against a very good Morgan State team that is led by a top notch collegiate coach – which brings me to the reason why I like the Morgan State Bears to cover the enormous spread in this matchup.

West Virginia may be the champions of the Big East, but dare I say, they are not the best team in their own conference.

I don’t want to rip the Mountaineers because they are very good. I just don’t think they’re good enough to beat a Morgan State team that features the nation’s 10th leading scorer by 18 points.

Holmes scored 784 points this season, the second most in the nation, while averaging 21.9 points per game (10th) and teammate Kevin Thompson averaged 11.9 rebounds per game to rank fourth in the country.

Holmes and Thompson should be more than enough to cover the spread against a West Virginia team that has been abysmal against the spread all season long.

I like Morgan State for the easy ATS cover against the Mountaineers.

NCAAB Expert Picks: Morgan State +17.5