March Madness Picks: West Virginia vs Dayton
Written March 18, 2009 by Jay Horne
One of the mighty powers from the Big East will match-up with the 11th seeded Dayton Flyers out of the Atlantic 10 this Friday in the opening round of the tournament. The 6th seeded West Virginia Mountaineers had a fairly strong season, but were beat up a bit in conference play. However, the Mountaineers will get a fresh start against Dayton on Friday and will be near 9 point favorites heading into the contest. Dayton had a solid season as well and had a very impressive 18-0 mark at home this year. However, the Flyers will not get the luxury of playing at home as this game will be decided on neutral ground in Minneapolis. Both teams performed extremely well on the road this season and it will be interesting to see who can come out on top this Friday. Odds makers have West Virginia -9 over Dayton.
West Virginia was consistent on both ends of the court this season. The Mountaineers averaged a respectable 72.4 points per game on the season. West Virginia scoring defense was not too bad either ranking in the top 40 teams in the country holding opponents to a mere 62 points per game this season. West Virginia made a solid showing in last year’s NCAA Tournament making noise with big wins over Arizona and Duke before being knocked out of the sweet sixteen. The Mountaineers will look for some more success this year in March starting this Friday with Dayton. Da’Sean Butler has led the scoring attack for West Virginia this season averaging 17.3 points per game. Butler gives a strong inside presence, but freshmen forward Devin Eubanks could really be a force in the future. Eubanks is already making an impact in his first year averaging 10.4 points and 8 rebounds per contest. If these two guys, can pull down the rebounds in this game it will be hard for the Flyers to overcome.
Dayton finished in a tie for 2nd in the Atlantic 10 this year during the regular season. The Flyers were knocked off by Duquesne in the conference tournament, but they will look to rebound in a big way this Friday. The Flyers are making the first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2004 when they were taking down in the first round by DePaul. Dayton comes into this game as fairly heavy underdogs, but they could present more problems than many expect for West Virginia. Dayton is a team that rebounds well and will slow the ball down which may be a bit out of the normal for West Virginia considering the Big East style of play. Chris Wright and Marcus Johnson lead the Dayton offense averaging slightly less than 13 points per contest. While the Flyers may not have any individuals posting huge numbers, they can definitely be very effective in their style of play. The question is will it be enough to pitch the upset?
Dayton is 4-2 ATS in their last 6 games and is 18-6 SU in the last 24 games. The Flyers have also reached the over total in 5 of the last 6 games. West Virginia is 7-3 SU in their last 10 games and the Mountaineers have reached the under total in 12 of their last 15 outings. The biggest thing to keep your eye on in this game is how well West Virginia can move the ball down the floor and score points before the Dayton defense can get set. If the Mountaineers can score in transition they should control the game. However, if this comes down to a set play style game Dayton could surprise everyone.
Pick – Take West Virginia -9
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