NCAA Basketball Betting – Mountaineers, Panthers Prepare for “Backyard Brawl”

Those betting on March Madness should have an eye on the Big East, which has been acknowledged as the toughest conference in the country and on Thursday, we’ll get another meeting between arguably the two biggest rivals in the Big East. You know it’s heated when a rivalry is called the “Backyard Brawl”, so West Virginia and Pittsburgh should give us a great matchup.

West Virginia Betting – Thursday, 9:00 PM ET

The Mountaineers (17-9, 8-6) would likely roll in another conference as they seem to play a top-15 team every other game, and they flexed their muscles with a 72-58 win over Notre Dame at home on Saturday. Darryl “Truck” Bryant led the way with 24 points, while Joe Mazzulla chipped in with 16 points, seven assists and five boards for the Mountaineers, who shot just 40.7% from the field but they held the Fighting Irish to 35%. They also won this game at the foul line, where they went 20-of-27 while Notre Dame was 8-of-13. Baseball betting players would compare the Big East to the American League East, and West Virginia would probably be Toronto; they could win it, but they would be better off in another conference.

The No.4 Panthers (24-3, 12-2) became the latest team to fall at Madison Square Garden as they were edged 60-59 by St. John’s, and they were done in by 16 turnovers. Ashton Gibbs came off the bench but played 34 minutes, scoring a game-high 26 points, but he was the only Panther to notch more than seven points. Pitt was also brutal at the charity stripe, hitting just 10 of their 18 attempts, and those are the little things that can cost a team when March rolls around.

Betting services will likely favor the Panthers at home, where they have won five in a row SU, posting a 2-2-1 ATS mark. Three of those wins have come by three points or less, and it’s usually a close affair when these rivals get together. The Panthers will be going for the season sweep after a 71-66 win in Morgantown on February 7t in which they outrebounded the Mountaineers 39-25, and Gibbs wasn’t even in the lineup because of a knee injury. The Mountaineers will need Bryant to play like he did against Notre Dame as he has been cold shooting the rock this season, because we know Pitt has a proven scorer in Gibbs. This game will likely be won on the interior like the last meeting, and we think the Panthers will come out hungry because of the St. John’s loss, not that they needed any added motivation with West Virginia coming to town. Go with Pitt in your sports betting picks.