Wichita-ND Pick 'Em

[BUSongwriter]

No, I'm not cutting into AZ's action and no, there aren't any prizes other than the admiration of the hundreds who visit this message board. But this should be a great game tonight. Sooooo.....

Who do you like to win?

By how many?

Tiebreaker: How many points will Fred VanVleet score?

I'll go first.

Wichita by 3. VanVleet will score 15. Ron Baker will be the star with 21, including a big '3' in the final seconds.

Your turn!

[Da Coach]

Notre Dame is tough, and they'll have a lot of fans in Cleveland. I'll pick UND by 5.
Van Vleet will get 16.

[ollienanyes]

No, I'm not cutting into AZ's action and no, there aren't any prizes other than the admiration of the hundreds who visit this message board. But this should be a great game tonight. Sooooo.....

Who do you like to win?

By how many?

Tiebreaker: How many points will Fred VanVleet score?

I'll go first.

Wichita by 3. VanVleet will score 15. Ron Baker will be the star with 21, including a big '3' in the final seconds.

Your turn!

I know that Wichita is favored by 2 but I don't know enough about ND to have much useful to say.

I do know that the ACC has been very strong this tournament and that ND has played harder competition (due to the strength of the ACC).

I am certainly pulling for Wichita though!

[basketball nut]

This is real "call it" game but got to go w/ WSU by 2
FVF to score 23

[Tommy]

WSU by 3 points. VanVleet will score 15. ND will most likely focus on him on defense.

I suspect WSU will wear ND down on the defensive end.

[tornado]

Wichita State is a 7-seed

of the 16 teams remaining - only UCLA & NC State were seeded worse..
while 14 better seeded teams have already been knocked out...
I think they are proving the selection committee guys wrong...

[capecod]

ND by 3 in OT

As I posted the other day, Wichita St coach Greg Marshall has beaten Notre Dame & Mike Brey in the past

2007-Marshall and his Winthrop team upset ND in the NCAA first rd

One month later Marshall was hired by Wichita St(beating ND likely helped him get the job)

ND lives(and dies) by the 3 in Coach Brey's offense-but Wichita St matches up well against the Irish-re defending the '3'

It may come down to whether ND's freshmen 'Charles Barkleyish' Bonzie Colson has a big night(Bonzie had a couple of good games vs Duke's Okafor -both ND wins)

Full disclosure before my pick-I'm a Notre Dame alum

ND 77 Wichita St 74 OT

Van Fleet 16 pts(if he scores more, the Irish maybe in trouble)

[Da Coach]

Notre Dame is a 1 point favorite.

[ollienanyes]

Notre Dame is a 1 point favorite.

They opened as a 1 point favorite; right now most books have WSU by 2:

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-basketball/odds/las-vegas/

The Sagarin ratings suggest that on a neutral court, ND should be a 1 point favorite, which is how they opened.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sagarin/2015/conference/

[Braves2006]

SHOX by 3. VanVleet scores 22

[bigjimmy]

ND leads Wichita 33-30 at the half. Not one of the better games that the Shockers have played this year yet they are just down by 3. Van Fleet with 10, Baker and Darius Carter with 9, 2 from the bench and no one else scored. Wichita only shooting 35% for the game, 2 for 9 from 3. ND only 3-11 from 3. Wichita can't keep shooting like this and win.

[Da Coach]

UND is making their shots, and Wichita State's outside shooting has not been good. Notre Dame is outplaying the Shockers in the 2nd half and has pulled out to a 56-46 lead with 11:33 left.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400786505

[ollienanyes]

ND looks to be too strong; the ACC seems very strong this year.

[Da Coach]

Some of the key Wichita State guys looked rattled. Ron Baker had a real bad game, and Tekele Cotton couldn't buy a basket today. The WSU bench was also MIA today. UND shot extremely well, and it didn't help that WSU's inside defense looked out of sync.


Jerian Grant was the only Notre Dame starter who was not in double figures, but his 11 assists and great passing and ball handling probably moved him up some NBA draft boards. I have always thought a team like Notre Dame, with their great shooting, might be the team to upset Kentucky.

[CubbieBear]

The WuShocks folded like a cheap card table