... and here is why.
First and foremost I have a Big East and Big 12 bias going into this tournament.
Those two conferences were brutal this season and I will tend to favor those two conferences in these types of matchups.
It may not be the most conventional way to handicap a particular game, most place more of a premium on strength of schedule (SoS) than I do, to me it's an ancillary metric, not a go to metric, in this case I'm making an exception.
West Virginia's path to get the tournament was vicious, and a lot of their losses were to the elites, and close ones at that.
Fourth most difficult SoS in the nation
Look at their season, find one crappy loss and win valuable prizes.
An overtime loss to Kansas State, at K St. is not a crappy loss.
A loss to Xavier on the road, with Freemantle, not a crappy loss.
They lost to Purdue twice and Kansas twice.
But Maryland ain't Purdue or Kansas and the Big 10 ain't the Big 12.
West Virginia seems to the much more tested and battle ready team here.
West Va. -3
First and foremost I have a Big East and Big 12 bias going into this tournament.
Those two conferences were brutal this season and I will tend to favor those two conferences in these types of matchups.
It may not be the most conventional way to handicap a particular game, most place more of a premium on strength of schedule (SoS) than I do, to me it's an ancillary metric, not a go to metric, in this case I'm making an exception.
West Virginia's path to get the tournament was vicious, and a lot of their losses were to the elites, and close ones at that.
Fourth most difficult SoS in the nation
Look at their season, find one crappy loss and win valuable prizes.
An overtime loss to Kansas State, at K St. is not a crappy loss.
A loss to Xavier on the road, with Freemantle, not a crappy loss.
They lost to Purdue twice and Kansas twice.
But Maryland ain't Purdue or Kansas and the Big 10 ain't the Big 12.
West Virginia seems to the much more tested and battle ready team here.
West Va. -3
..
