Georgetown vs. Villanova Odds
The headline of “A Tale of Two Teams on Two Different Trajectories” may be the biggest understatement of the century.
In short, Villanova and Georgetown enter Saturday afternoon’s conference showdown chasing history — or, in the Hoyas’ case, hoping to avoid the infamous kind of history.
A victory would secure Villanova yet another regular season Big East title crown and hang another banner in an already crowded trophy case at Finneran Pavilion.
The same outcome would notch another “L” on the Hoyas’ resume, as Patrick Ewing continues to chase that elusive first conference win. Currently sitting at 0-14 in Big East play, the Hoyas are looking to avoid becoming the first team to go winless in Big East play since DePaul in 2009.
All things considered, a Georgetown win would feel like a Herculanean achievement — dare I say, on par with Villanova’s improbable victory over the Hoyas in the 1985 National Championship Game.
Oh, the irony.
There may be a beacon of hope for the crumbling Hoyas in what looks like a lopsided matchup.
Look no further than the first meeting between these two squads in late January. Villanova prevailed by double digits in that matchup, but needed a furious second-half rally to put away the feisty Hoyas.
Georgetown actually held an eight-point lead early in the second half, a sliver of hope that the Hoyas can at least compete in this rematch.
The biggest issue throughout Georgetown’s recent skid is its defense, specifically transition defense.
Per hoop-math.com, the Hoyas are surrendering the 16th-highest rate of transition shot attempts in the country (27% of all opposing field goals), where opponents are converting a hearty 55% of those tries.
Jay Wright & Co. are a well-oiled machine, and his Villanova Way is ho hummin’ along like clock work.
Paced by the unflappable Collin Gillespie at the point of attack, the Wildcats’ balanced and unselfish unit has carved through every Big East foe in its path this season, save Creighton and Marquette, the latter of whom is responsible for two of Nova’s six losses this season.
If there’s a flaw on this roster, it’s the waning depth behind the starting five and super-sub Caleb Daniels. With Bryan Antoine’s minutes slowly eroding, Wright has withered down his rotation to six, putting a strenuous burden on his core nucleus.
To complicate matters, the star-studded backcourt of Gillespie and Justin Moore are reportedly playing through nagging injuries, too — though, you wouldn’t know it from their recent production.
Georgetown vs. Villanova Betting Pick
The common denominator in many of Georgetown’s recent games has been furious — yet meaningless — late-game rallies. Most of these are “too little, too late,” padding the box score with garbage late-game points.
Consequently, four of the last six Georgetown games have gone over the total, as the Hoyas’ mad dash to the finish manifests in a helter-skelter track meet. Fittingly, Villanova’s gone over the total in its last four games as well, and should carve up the porous Hoyas defense once again.
While it seems too good to be true, the over is a no-brainer.
Pick: Over 143.5
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism