Nova favored by Five??

[mileskishnish72]

Was thinking 3 would be the max the way Nova has been playing lately. I know the Pavillion is a strong home court, but it makes me wonder about Markus.

[Bocephys]

We got this

[🏀]

I was thinking -3.5 would be a number.

[oldwarrior81]

opened at 3.5

MU 16-5 against the spread since Kansas

[tower912]

Take Nova, give the points.   Nova jumps out big, MU unable to come all the way back.   Just a gut feeling.

[Boozemon Barro]

Moneyline +190

[CountryRoads]

Seems about right. Heard they are really angry about losing a few and a row and are going to try extra hard tonight.

[MUfanatic45]

That line has been jumping. People all over Nova

[NickelDimer]

Expect Nova to play like their season's on the line. This will be a tough one to pull out. That said from what I've seen Nova is tough when they're hitting shots but very beatable when they're not. They don't have a counterpunch. Kind of remind me of our teams the past few years.

[brewcity77]

I've been thinking about what the real Villanova is. The team that lost to Furman & Penn? The team that started 10-0 in the Big East? The team that's gone 1-4 since?

I think they're all the same team. One that generally handles lesser teams, but struggles with similar or better competition, even at home. The Furman loss wasn't really an outlier. Since then, Nova had significant trouble with Temple, DePaul, St John's, Georgetown, & Creighton at home. The only remotely comfortably NCAA team they played at home was Michigan, and that went disastrously.

I think we win somewhat comfortably. 5-10 point margin. Yes, they made that push in Milwaukee, but that game was well in hand most of the second half. We're the better team and they aren't near as invincible as they've been in years past. We got this.

[Oldgym]

Philly writer thinks it's regression to the mean

https://www.philly.com/college-sports/villanova-jay-wright-saddiq-bey-ed-croswell-jared-bynum-20190226.html

So this is a eulogy for Villanova? No, no, no. If Paschall and Booth are hitting a fair number of shots and Collin Gillespie or Saddiq Bey heats up, too, the Wildcats won't be a fun team to play in March. They probably won't be a fun team for Marquette to play Wednesday night.

I think our success tonight pivots on Markus's health.

[MUfanatic45]

I've been thinking about what the real Villanova is. The team that lost to Furman & Penn? The team that started 10-0 in the Big East? The team that's gone 1-4 since?

I think they're all the same team. One that generally handles lesser teams, but struggles with similar or better competition, even at home. The Furman loss wasn't really an outlier. Since then, Nova had significant trouble with Temple, DePaul, St John's, Georgetown, & Creighton at home. The only remotely comfortably NCAA team they played at home was Michigan, and that went disastrously.

I think we win somewhat comfortably. 5-10 point margin. Yes, they made that push in Milwaukee, but that game was well in hand most of the second half. We're the better team and they aren't near as invincible as they've been in years past. We got this.

Man I love the optimism, I don't see it but would love to be wrong.

I think we can definitely win tonight(though not counting on it) but I feel like if we do it will be down to the wire.

[goldeneagle91114]

Philly writer thinks it's regression to the mean

https://www.philly.com/college-sports/villanova-jay-wright-saddiq-bey-ed-croswell-jared-bynum-20190226.html

I think our success tonight pivots on Markus's health.

+1

With a healthy Markus, I like our chances, especially with the conference championship on the line. However, if Markus is still hurt i think its a toss up at best.

[VegasWarrior77]

One handicapper likes Marquette over Villanova:
https://www.sportsbookreview.com/picks/ncaa-basketball/ncaab-pick-marquette-will-cover-spread-against-villanova-on-wednesday-february-27/88948/

Of course, he liked Wiscy over Indiana too...

[Bocephys]

I think our success tonight pivots on Markus's health.

Our success tonight depends on the Scoop poll results about Markus' health.

[79Warrior]

I would take MU and the points if I were gambling.

[muguru]

Lock up Booth and Paschall and win the game. Period. They have no one else that can step up enough. That's their problem...Booth and Paschall have to carry so much of the load..they are gassed.

[HowardsWorld]

In my opinion tonight is going to show us just how good or bad of a coach Wojo is. You have a game where you can clinch the #1 seed in conference while winning at least a share of the conference title and only won't clinch it outright if they lose there remaining 3 games. We have all waited for this season for 5 years and the game of the year yes year is tonight. Whether our players show up to win the crown tonight or not this game win or lose falls on Wojo.

[wadesworld]

In my opinion tonight is going to show just how good of a coach Wojo is. You have a game where you can clinch the #1 seed in conference while winning at least a share of the conference title and only won't clinch it outright if they lose there remaining 3 games. We have all waited for the season for 5 years and the game of the year yes year is tonight. Whether our players show up to win the crown tonight or not this game win or lose falls on Wojo.

Not really.  There's a reason we're expected to lose this game.

[HowardsWorld]

Not really.  There's a reason we're expected to lose this game.

I completely disagree. Its time to make a statement. If not this year then when?

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Whether our players show up to win the crown tonight or not this game win or lose falls on Wojo.

Interesting take.  No matter how the players play, the result is on Wojo.  OK.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

In my opinion tonight is going to show us just how good or bad of a coach Wojo is. You have a game where you can clinch the #1 seed in conference while winning at least a share of the conference title and only won't clinch it outright if they lose there remaining 3 games. We have all waited for this season for 5 years and the game of the year yes year is tonight. Whether our players show up to win the crown tonight or not this game win or lose falls on Wojo.

So we're just going to ignore the previous 27 games where Wojo has been excellent most nights?

[HowardsWorld]

So we're just going to ignore the previous 27 games where Wojo has been excellent most nights?

No but we are going to the crown tonight against the champ. This will show us what kind of coach he really is and if he learned anything over the last 5 years.  You don't need to agree with what I am saying thats what I believe.

[MUfanatic45]

In my opinion tonight is going to show us just how good or bad of a coach Wojo is. You have a game where you can clinch the #1 seed in conference while winning at least a share of the conference title and only won't clinch it outright if they lose there remaining 3 games. We have all waited for this season for 5 years and the game of the year yes year is tonight. Whether our players show up to win the crown tonight or not this game win or lose falls on Wojo.

[Its DJOver]

I completely disagree. Its time to make a statement. If not this year then when?

Would winning the conference 4 days later really make that much of a different statement?  Even if we lose @Nova, 15-3 is still very realistic, that would be quite a statement following three years of .500 play. IMO of course.