Tag: Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights odds predictions pick betting line spread

The “Big Dance” officially gets underway Tuesday as two of the First Four matchups take place in Dayton, Ohio.

After looking at the NCAA Tournament odds and lines, here is a can’t-miss First Four parlay among our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.

Following a thrilling Conference Championship weekend, fans will be wetting their beak with these four matchups prior to the commence of the Round of 64.

Tuesday, we have No. 16 seed Texas Southern and No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christie tipping off at 6:40 p.m. ET, followed by No. 12 Indiana facing No. 12 Wyoming.

Wednesday, also in Dayton, it’ll be No. 16 Bryant vs. No. 16 Wright State at 6:40 p.m. ET, followed by No. 11 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Rutgers, scheduled to tip at 9:10 p.m. ET to finish off the First Four matchups.

See also: Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports

First Four can’t-miss parlay

Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 1:47 p.m. ET.

Leg 1: Indiana -3.5 (-115) vs. Wyoming, Tuesday 9:10 p.m.

If there’s one team that oddly got screwed out of a guaranteed spot in the Round of 64, it’s Indiana.

Indiana knocked off Michigan, which is an 11 seed in the NCAA tourney, and went toe-to-toe with Iowa, which won the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers actually were in prime position to upset the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten semifinals, holding a 9-point lead with 5 minutes to go. IU ranks 36th per KenPom.

Indiana F Trayce Jackson-Davis is the fourth-leading scorer in the Big Ten, averaging 19.1 PPG, and his size should give Wyoming issues.

Wyoming is just 14-17-1 against the spread (ATS) this season and lost to Boise State in the Mount West Tournament – BSU was the top seed and received a No. 8 seed in this NCAA Tournament. Wyoming has some bad out-of-conference losses to teams like Stanford.

Considering the ceiling Indiana has shown as the 178th-best adjusted strength of schedule for Wyoming, I expect the tested Hoosiers to come out by more than 3 points. Plus, they should have somewhat of a home-crowd advantage as Dayton is within 45 miles of the Indiana border.

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Leg 2: Bryant vs. Wright State UNDER 153.5 (-108), Wednesday 6:40 p.m.

There are reasons to like the Over in this situation. Bryant’s adjusted pace (according to Kempom.com) is among the best in the nation. However, I’m not going to buy stock in the Bulldogs to continue their offensive dominance.

Bryant averaged 75.9 points per game (PPG), good enough to rank 59th in the nation, but its field-goal percentage didn’t reflect that at just 43.5%. It’s not a great 3-point shooting team either, connecting on just 30.9% from deep.

Bryant went Under in all 3 of its Northeast Conference Tournament games. When the going gets tough, pace may not be enough.

While Wright State was 2-1 O/U in the Horizon League Tournament, only one total eclipsed 145 and none went over 150. The Raiders average 75.4 PPG, yet sit 263rd in 3-point shooting (32.3%).

The two teams are a combined 8-10 O/U against non-conference opponents. Given their success is tied to pace and not shooting, I’ll take UNDER 152.5 (-115).

Leg 3: Rutgers (-105) vs. Notre Dame, Wednesday 9:10 p.m.

Ironically, both Rutgers and Notre Dame lost to teams in their respective conference tournaments that went on to win those tourneys. Both teams have had an immense amount of highs on the season.

Rutgers had a four-game winning streak in which it ripped off victories against four ranked teams: then-No. 13 Michigan State, then-No. 16 Ohio State, then-No. 14 Wisconsin and then-No. 12 Illinois.

On the other hand, Notre Dame features wins over current No. 2 seed Kentucky, No. 9 seed North Carolina and 10th-seeded Miami this season.

Rutgers definitely has more, high-quality wins. Also, Notre Dame’s strength has been in its 3-point shooting, ranking 18th, connecting on 38.0% of its attempts.

Rutgers, per Kenpom, is 43rd in adjusted-defensive rating. Having a win over the teams like Iowa, which is among the best in the nation at shooting, I’ll side with RUTGERS (-105) to lock down Notre Dame’s shooters and win outright.

Parlay payout: Bet $100 to win $602.98.

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