Update: February 18 (Game Results) … With the Cat’s 70-74 collapse to Notre Dame, we congratulate eight VUHoops readers who took medals in this round. Gold Medals: Bill’77 (70-67), Colt (64-73), Dom (74-71), and TopGere (63-74),earning 5.0 points each; Silver Medal: marty1029 (62-74), earning 3.0 points; Bronze Medals: chuck st. petersburg (61-74), Gorms (67-68), and TK87 (64-71),earning 1.0 point each. Our updated leader board is provided below.
VUHoops vs. Vegas: Based on the average predicted scores of the VUHoops Crowd and the posted Vegas line, we would have had a DOUBLE WIN by picking ‘Notre Dame -2.5 points (WIN) and the Over (WIN). The details follow. With the double-loss, we get back to even for the season.
| VU Hoops | Vegas | Bet | Actual | Result | |
| Spread | ‘Nova +5.0 | ‘Nova +2.5 | ‘ND -2.5 | ND by 4 | WIN |
| Over | 135.0 | 133.0 | Over | 144 | WIN |
Leader Board
| Reader | Points |
| Scott0220 | 17.5 |
| Clarkkell | 15.5 |
| TK87 | 15.0 |
| Dom | 14.5 |
| FruitLoops | 13.0 |
| jtc123 | 13.0 |
| marty1029 | 11.0 |
| Jim89 | 10.5 |
| Bri'13 | 9.5 |
| BZ34 | 9.5 |
| Bill'77 | 9.0 |
| schitzengigles10 | 8.5 |
| Bill '62 | 8.0 |
| Loser Cruiser | 7.0 |
| NovaCat94 | 6.5 |
| barry class of 57 | 6.0 |
| Top Gere | 6.0 |
| Colt | 5.0 |
| Kait'08 | 5.0 |
| marc | 5.0 |
| DP5 | 4.5 |
| bhank | 4.0 |
| chuck st.petersburg | 3.5 |
| Steph | 3.5 |
| Stevie V | 3.5 |
| FLM'33 | 3.0 |
| Justin | 3.0 |
| Old School | 3.0 |
| Pretty Toney | 3.0 |
| regred | 3.0 |
| Robertrise | 3.0 |
| Southoftheborder | 3.0 |
| Beardog | 2.5 |
| Bstep011 | 2.5 |
| Nervous Nelly | 2.5 |
| novamsu | 2.5 |
| Gorms | 2.0 |
| Jimmy | 2.0 |
| JDW71 | 1.5 |
| JMac726 | 1.5 |
| Johnnyb1 | 1.5 |
| Rick19 | 1.5 |
| stats | 1.5 |
| TimW | 1.5 |
| Ed'77 | 1.0 |
| LouBevi | 1.0 |
| NovaFlyer | 1.0 |
| StatsManOne | 1.0 |
| TC | 1.0 |
| Two in the Pinkston | 1.0 |
| Jimdribble | 0.5 |
Update: February 18 (Game Time) A season-low 36 VUHoops readers posted predictions, with 22 (61%) picking the Cats to lose. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova losing by a 5.0 points, 64-71, implying an over/under of 135.0. The Vegas odds makers are picking ‘Nova to lose by 2.5 points and setting the over/under at 133.0 points, implying a final score of 65-68.
Scatter Plot of Predicted Scores
Window Opening: February 16, 9:00 PM … The window is now open for our readers to post their predicted final scores for Saturday night’s game against Notre Dame at Wells Fargo Center (9:00PM, ESPNU) in the 18th round of our Closest to the Pin Contest. Scott0220 remains alone in first place; click here to see our full leader board.
Villanova (11-14, 4-9) is unranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls but is ranked #87 by Kenpom.com. The Cats have a RPI of 101, a SOS of 7, and score an average of 72.7 PPG while giving up an average of 71.8 PPG.
Notre Dame (18-8, 10-3) is ranked #23 by AP and #38 by Kenpom.com. The Fighting Irish have an RPI of 33, a SOS of 36, and are scoring an average of 68.0 PPG while giving up an average of 61.9 PPG. The table below sets out their Big East wins and losses so far this season.
| Opponent | RPI | AP | H/A | W/L | ND | Opponent | |
| Pittsburgh | 73 | 22 | Home | Win | 72 | 59 | |
| Cincinnati | 92 | - | Away | Loss | 55 | 71 | |
| Louisville | 22 | 11 | Away | Win | 67 | 65 | |
| South Florida | 57 | - | Home | Win | 60 | 49 | |
| Connecticut | 20 | 17 | Home | Loss | 53 | 67 | |
| Rutgers | 150 | - | Away | Loss | 58 | 65 | |
| Syracuse | 1 | 1 | Home | Win | 67 | 58 | |
| Seton Hall | 30 | - | Away | Win | 55 | 42 | |
| Connecticut | 20 | 24 | Away | Win | 50 | 48 | |
| Marquette | 11 | 15 | Home | Win | 76 | 59 | |
| West Virginia | 35 | - | Away | Win | 55 | 51 | |
| DePaul | 181 | - | Home | Win | 84 | 76 | |
| Rutgers | 150 | - | Home | Win | 71 | 53 |
Be sure to read our game preview tomorrow. Good luck!
Special Note: When posting predictions, be sure to:
- Use a consistent handle / ID so that we can keep an accurate running leader board over the course of the season. Obviously, score predictions posted by anonymous readers cannot be accepted.
- List your predicted score for Villanova first, followed by the score for the opponent (e.g., Cats 100, Irish 75)