College Hoops Betting: Pitt vs Seton Hall

No. 11 Pittsburgh Panthers (15-3 SU, 8-6-2 ATS) at Seton Hall Pirates (11-6 SU, 4-7 ATS)

Sunday: January 24: 2:00 p.m.

Here are some NCAA Basketball Betting Trends which may impact this game:

• Pittsburgh: 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games
• Pittsburgh: 4-1 SU in their last 5 games
• Pittsburgh: 4-2 ATS on the road
• Seton Hall: 2-5 SU in their last 7 games
• Seton Hall: 2-4 ATS in their last 6 games

Coming off a huge in conference win Thursday night against Louisville, Seton Hall will look to continue their push for an NCAA Tournament berth, when they host the Pitt Panthers in Sunday’s college basketball betting odds.

Seton Hall has been an up and down team all season, but seems to be finally hitting their groove now in conference play. They are led by maybe the most underrated player in the entire Big East, senior guard Jeremy Hazell. For those of you who’ve never seen Hazell, he is a scoring machine, second in the conference to just Luke Harangody of Notre Dame. He averages 23 points per game, but has had some of his best performances in Big East play: 41 against West Virginia, 38 against Syracuse, 33 against Cincinnati and 25 on Thursday against Louisville.

Hazell is not the only weapon that coach Bobby Gonzalez has at his disposal however. Herb Pope is the Big East’s leading rebounder, averaging close to 12 a game. Jeff Robinson and John Garcia add depth in the frontcourt. And point guard Eugene Harvey leads this team with almost five assists per game.

As for the Pitt Panthers, they are coming off their first conference loss of 2010 against Georgetown on Wednesday night. This game Sunday is an absolute must win for Pitt, as they play three of their next four on the road.

Offensively, the Panthers are balanced, getting major contributions from four players. The leader is guard Ashton Gibbs, a little used reserve last year, who has emerged to lead the team in scoring. Gibbs was held in check by Georgetown a few nights ago, scoring just eight points on 3-16 shooting. He’ll need to have a much stronger performance on Sunday.

Whoever wins this game, will have to win the battle of wills on the offensive end. Pitt runs a complicated half court offense, scoring just 68 points per game. While just looking at that number, a lot of people would expect that the Panthers might not be very good offensively, but that is the farthest thing from the truth, as they run a deliberate offense, and still shoot 45 percent from the field. Seton Hall on the other hand averages almost 85 points per game, which ranks fifth nationally.

On Sunday, both teams need this win for completely different reasons. Pitt just needs to bounce back after Wednesday, while Seton Hall on the other hand needs to keep winning to try and improve their tournament resume.

Personally, I like Pitt. It just seems that when you force Seton Hall into a half court offense they struggle. And nobody controls tempo better than Pitt. This will be low scoring, which means that all indications point toward the Panthers.

Because of it, the Panthers will be the oddsmakers favorites in this weekend’s betting odds. They should be your favorites too.

Aaron’s Pick: Pitt by 5