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The Monmouth Hawks take on the Seton Hall Pirates. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Monmouth Seton Hall prediction and pick.
The Monmouth Hawks came very close to making the NCAA Tournament last season. More than that, they almost prevented one of college basketball's greatest Cinderella stories from getting off the ground. We all know that the Saint Peter's Peacocks made history on a large scale at the 2022 NCAA Tournament. They not only beat Kentucky to create another 15-over-2 upset; the Peacocks then beat Murray State and Purdue to become the first-ever No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight.
Monmouth gave Saint Peter's a real battle in the MAAC Tournament championship game, losing 60-54 in a typically hard-fought back-alley bruiser of a game. Monmouth almost denied Saint Peter's one of the great March runs in college basketball history.
King Rice, former point guard at North Carolina, is the coach of Monmouth. He has done a very good job with the Hawks, making them a factor in the MAAC. Now Monmouth is off to a new conference, the Colonial Athletic Association. It will be fascinating to see how the Hawks fare in their new home.
Shaheen Holloway coaches Seton Hall, but he is very, very familiar with King Rice and Monmouth … because he was the coach of that incredible Saint Peter's team last season. Even though Monmouth is now in a new conference, Holloway went up against Monmouth's personnel in the 2022 MAAC season.
Holloway took the job at Seton Hall after the Pirates' previous coach, Kevin Willard, took the open head coaching job at the University of Maryland. Holloway is expected to do really well at Seton Hall, picking up where Willard left off and trying to build the Pirates into something even greater. Seton Hall had that one glorious Final Four season under P.J. Carlesimo in 1989, coming one bad call (a phantom foul on Gerald Greene against Michigan's Rumeal Robinson) from winning the national championship. Holloway will certainly try to make Seton Hall a contender for Final Fours. Lots of college basketball insiders are excited about what he can do in South Orange, New Jersey.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Monmouth-Seton Hall College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Monmouth-Seton Hall Odds
Monmouth Hawks: +19.5 (-105)
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Seton Hall Pirates: -19.5 (-115)
Over: 134.5 (-115)
Under: 134.5 (-105)
Why Monmouth Could Cover the Spread
The fact that Shaheen Holloway is familiar with Monmouth works two ways. It's also true that King Rice and Monmouth are familiar with Shaheen Holloway. They aren't familiar with Seton Hall's personnel, but they know how Holloway coaches. The spread is also very large, and we have seen plenty of instances early in the season of a team being expected to win by a huge margin but instead failing to cover. Plenty of teams favored by 15 points or more have not even won outright. Seton Hall is definitely going to win outright, but covering the spread of nearly 20? It's still a lot to ask, especially since a new coach is getting used to a new roster with players who are learning a new system.
Why Seton Hall Could Cover the Spread
Seton Hall has much better players than Monmouth. Seton Hall was an annual NCAA Tournament team under Kevin Willard. The Pirates made the 2022 NCAA Tournament and have been a consistently relevant program in the Big East. That doesn't happen without quality players moving in and through the program and staying there. The Pirates simply can reach a level of performance Monmouth can't match.
Final Monmouth-Seton Hall Prediction & Pick
In a first game of the season, and in a first game under a new coach, it's natural to expect some sluggishness from Seton Hall. Take Monmouth.
Final Monmouth-Seton Hall Prediction & Pick: Monmouth +19.5
