thatsagoodone says:

Iply2dyIwin2dy says:
Xavier it is

VivaJG says:

yosemitesam says:
Got to love the Mountaineers in this contest for several strong reasons, but let's start with their recent play. Mountaineers effectively shut down two rock-solid offenses in consecutive tourney games. Arizona was a well-balanced team, led by two of the better player in the PAC-10, and what happened? WVU Limited them to 65 points and cruised to a 10-point victory! Then came Duke, a guard-heavy offense built on the perimeter game, and what happened? WVU Limited them to 67 points on 38% shooting, winning outright 73-67 as 4-point dogs!
This brings me to my first mismatch: Xavier's offense versus the West Virginia
man-to-man defense. Make no mistake, the Musketeers played some relatively weak defenses throughout the season, and even into tournament play. Comparing the surging WVU defense to either Georgia or Purdue's defense is like comparing apples and oranges. Statistically, when we talk about defense, we're talking about scoring defense and opponents field goal percentage... The only team on Xavier's schedule ranked higher than WVU in both categories is Arizona State, and what happened in that game? Xavier got crushed 77-55! Now, I'm not saying that's going to happen, but what I am saying is Xavier hasn't seen a defense like WVU in a long time, and they'll have their issues against it tonight.
Next, let's talk match ups, as clearly the best player on the court is WVU F Joe Alexander. I would go as far to say, he's the only true "go-to" player on the court, giving WVU a huge edge when they "need" a basket. Critics say F Josh Duncan can guard him, but I seriously doubt that. While I'll admit Xavier's experience in the backcourt is an edge, point guards Nichols and Mazzulla (who's playing as good as any backup PG in the country right now) are both excellent distributors, and have the size (both 6'2) to take advantage of the elfish 5'7 Drew Lavender.
Finally, you can't tell me the difference between the Big East and A-10 isn't an issue here. While Xavier was losing at Temple and narrowly beating teams like Charlotte (two of the better teams in the A-10), West Virginia was busy battling teams like Louisville and Pittsburgh. Sorry Xavier-backers, but the difference is crystal clear and it'll show in tonight's match up. The fact Xavier also had a much easier path to the Sweet 16 cannot be ignored, as Georgia was lucky to be there, and Purdue was a deeply flawed team that played zero defense against the Musketeers.
Bottom line, Xavier runs smack into wall called the WVU defense, while Alexander and company have the edges necessary to exploit a good, but not great Xavier defense. "Battle-tested" is a word that the media loves to throw around, but in this case, it's appropriate, as the Mountaineers battles in the Big East pay off on the Big Stage tonight in Phoenix.

yosemitesam says:
The Musketeers carry several positive ATS streaks into this contest, including 8-1 in the Tournament, 6-0 as a Tournament underdog, 5-0 in non-conference play, 25-7 at neutral venues and 11-2 as a neutral-site pup. On the negative side, Xavier is 1-4 ATS in its last five after a SU win and 1-6 ATS in its last seven against the Big East.
The Mountaineers are on numerous pointspread upticks, including 8-0-1 in the Tournament, 4-0 as a Tournament favorite, 20-6 as a chalk of less seven points, 9-3 as a neutral-site favorite, 15-6 overall at neutral venues, 44-20-1 outside the Big East and 30-14-1 overall as a favorite. One negative note: West Virginia is 3-7-1 ATS in its last 11 following a spread-cover.