The Marquette Golden Eagles take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Marquette Notre Dame prediction and pick.
The college basketball season has been wild thus far. Saturday was a crazy day of hoops, with No. 1 Houston blowing a 15-point second-half lead at home versus Alabama and BYU shocking Creighton, among other stunning plot twists. Marquette has embodied the volatility of the season as well. The Golden Eagles don't have a lot of high-end wins, but they have battled top teams in hard-fought games. They led Purdue for most of the 40 minutes those teams played in November but lost to the Boilermakers late. They played a very close game against Mississippi State before losing to the Bulldogs by three points. They were down by 14 to Wisconsin, rallied and forced overtime, but then lost in the extra period. Marquette has been an up-and-down team which veers from elite to ordinary, and often does so fairly quickly.
Marquette has lost a number of great opportunities to build its resume, but there was one game this season in which everything came together for coach Shaka Smart's team. It scored 96 points on Baylor and thumped the Bears by 26 points. Marquette roared out of the gate in that game, scoring 25 of the game's first 34 points and remaining in control throughout. Marquette shot unbelievably well in that game: 58 percent from the field, 48 percent on 3-pointers, and 93 percent from the foul line. The game was an outlier, but it remains that Marquette can play really well at times. Sustaining performance is the largely elusive key for the Golden Eagles.
Notre Dame is 7-2, but the two losses on the resume for the Irish aren't particularly good. Notre Dame lost at home to Saint Bonaventure and Syracuse, two teams which do not currently have NCAA Tournament-quality profiles. The Irish can't continue to lose games at home to equally capable, equally talented opponents. Notre Dame did beat Michigan State, a quality win, but it needs to stuff its portfolio with more high-end results in the push for an NCAA Tournament bid. The ACC has a lot of weak mid-tier teams. The conference has Virginia and Duke at the top of the conference; beating either of those teams would be huge for any ACC bubble team's chances. However, Notre Dame won't have all that many chances for high-end ACC wins. That magnifies the value of getting a win over Marquette.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Marquette-Notre Dame College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Marquette-Notre Dame Odds
Marquette Golden Eagles: -1.5 (-114)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish: +1.5 (-106)
Over: 145.5 (-110)
Under: 145.5 (-110)
Why Marquette Could Cover the Spread
It's very simple: Marquette might be erratic, but we saw against Baylor how high this team's ceiling truly is. If Marquette plays anywhere close to that ceiling, it should win. Notre Dame has lost at home, so Marquette should not be intimidated by Purcell Pavilion in South Bend.
Why Notre Dame Could Cover the Spread
The Irish are badly in need of a quality win. After the recent loss to Syracuse, expect coach Mike Brey's team to bounce back. This team hammered Michigan State not that long ago. We have seen what Notre Dame can be when it plays well.
Final Marquette-Notre Dame Prediction & Pick
You should frankly stay away from this game, because neither team is reliable or consistent. If you insist on a pick, lean to Marquette.
Final Marquette-Notre Dame Prediction & Pick: Marquette -1.5
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