Big 12 Battle Will Bring Bearcats Cover

West Virginia vs. Cincinnati, 3:00 ET

Is there anything better than watching college basketball in the middle of the day? I remember when I was in high school hoping to try and sneak into the teachers lounge to try and see score updates and a little bit of the games. Now, thanks to streaming options, you pretty much can catch them anywhere. And, with a dual monitor setup like I have, it is nice to be able to have the games on one screen and work on the other. Today, we take on a game between West Virginia vs. Cincinnati and look to make some money on a game in the Big 12 tournament. 

West Virginia did not have a good season this year, ending with a 9-22 record overall and going just 4-14 in the conference. Over the past ten games, West Virginia has only gotten one win. It doesn't get much prettier over their past 15 games either as they are just 3-12. The good news for West Virginia that one of those three games was a win over Cincinnati. In that one they were able to win on their home floor, taking down the game 69-65. The bad news is that the last time the two teams played was the last game of the season. This game took place on Saturday and saw West Virginia lose on the road to Cincinnati by almost 40 points. What does West Virginia do well? As you can guess by their season record, not much. Looking at their roster, they should be better than the results that they've gotten. Their top four players are diverse with two frontcourt guys and two backcourt guys averaging double figures. They are combining to average 54.4 points per game. The problem is they aren't getting much production outside of their top six players. One of the bigger problems I have with the Mountaineers is that they don't rebound very well. Jesse Edwards, their center, is decent enough at it, but the rest of the team is not. 

Cincinnati is not a bad team and could probably win a game in the NCAA Tournament if they are able to make it and if they are able to get a good draw. Obviously, that is a lot of ifs, but I feel it is important to share to give some context about the Bearcats. Over their past 10 games, Cincinnati has struggled a bit as well. They are 4-6 in those games and have beaten Texas Tech and UCF on the road and Kansas State and West Virginia on the home court. The Big 12 was on of the better conferences in the sport and they ended up with a 7-11 record for the season. Against ranked opponents this season they were 3-7. Against non-ranked conference opponents, they are 4-4. The majority of those games were fairly close. This team doesn't really have one dominant player, they have a balanced team that tends to feed the hot hand. Their top three scorers are all guards, and then another two forwards are averaging just under 10 points per game. Outside of their starters, they have another four players that are scoring six or more points per game. I wouldn't call Cincinnati a good rebounding team, but they are better than West Virginia. 

Tonight is one of those games that I think we see the better team win with ease. Cincinnati might not have a great team this season, but I think that they are good enough to win this first game. They probably won't go deep into the tournament, but this is one they should be able to dominate. West Virginia played fairly well at home, but struggled on the road. Cincinnati should be able to win this one by 10 or more points, but we only need them to cover 9 right now. I'll take them to cover this one. 

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