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College Basketball Betting – Bulls, Wildcats Tip Off Big East Tourney

March Madness betting players are getting ready for the conference tournaments, and the one tournament on the minds of everyone is the Big East, which could put 11 teams in the NCAA field. South Florida won’t be dancing, but they can shine some light on a disappointing season with a good showing in the Big East tournament, and they’ll start off against struggling Villanova.

South Florida Villanova Betting – Tuesday, 7:00 PM ET
Odds: Villanova -9.5
Total: 127
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The Bulls (9-22, 3-15) begin this tournament as the 15^th seed after a 72-56 loss at St. John’s to end the regular season, and while there hasn’t been much to cheer about in South Florida this season, at least they haven’t been getting blown out as 16 of their 22 losses have been by 10 points or less. Offensively, the Bulls haven’t been able to get going this season, shooting 41.7% from the field, and only Augustus Gilchrist is averaging in double figures in terms of points. Baseball betting players watching Philadelphia will point to their great pitching, but that only takes you so far. The Bulls know that you have to be able to score points, especially in the brutal Big East.

The Wildcats (21-10, 9-9) crashed to a No.10 seed by losing their last four of the regular season, falling 60-50 at Pitt in their finale. Villanova’s normally solid defense fell off down the stretch, especially against St. John’s and Notre Dame, and they have been badly beaten on the glass on three of those games. But it seems to be a mental thing with the Wildcats as this is the second straight year in which they’ve encountered a late slide.

Betting services should have the Wildcats as the favorites in this contest, as they’ve never lost in five games SU against the Bulls, while posting a 4-1 ATS mark. The Wildcats pulled away with an 83-71 victory at South Florida on January 6^th, shooting 58.3% from the field, and it doesn’t matter who you play, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win when you shoot like that. The Bulls have an advantage in the post with Gilchrist, but the Bulls turn the ball over far too much and it often doesn’t find its way into the post. Look for the Wildcats to try and push the pace of this game with their perimeter trio of Corey Stokes, Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns, and if they get an uptempo game, that could force the Bulls into making mistakes.

Trends:
USF when playing on Tuesday are 3-7
USF after playing St. John’s are 1-4
USF after a loss are 3-7
Nova is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing South Florida
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of last 12 games
Nova is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games
Nova is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games

Pick: The Wildcats have looked awful down the stretch, but the Bulls just don’t have the talent to beat the top-tier teams in the Big East. Go with Villanova in your sports betting picks.

Poolside Rants hails from beautiful Bozeman Montana by way of Toronto, Canada. (Blame his wife for the move). He’s a Dallas Cowboys football honk. But please….don’t hold that against him. The man knows his sports and has uncanny knowledge when it comes to picking games.

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