Morehead St. vs. WVU Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
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Nik Kowalski
It’s easy to see the West Virginia as a 3-seed and think Bob Huggins is back up to his “Press Virginia” tricks, but it’s a different Mountaineers squad in 2020–21. West Virginia scores at a high rate, shooting the three-ball well. Their tournament begins with the 14-seed Morehead State Eagles, who are coming off their first Ohio Valley Conference Title since 2011.
Tip-off at Lucas Oil Stadium is slated for 9:50 p.m. EST.
Morehead State vs. West Virginia NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The Eagles cruised through the OVC, winning their final seven games while going 17-3 in the conference. This includes a 4-1 ATS run over their last five, and 19-9 ATS record overall. The Mountaineers have won seven straight against OVC clubs, but are going into the tournament covering just once in their last five games and losing back-to-back games to Oklahoma State.
Oddsmakers still like West Virginia to win with ease, listing the Mountaineers as 12.5-point favourites with the total at 138. Eighteen of West Virginia’s 27 games went over this season.
(14) Morehead State Eagles
The Eagle, 23-7, gave up just 63.4 points a game on the season. It’s played a key part in them losing just once in the 2021 calendar year, a 15-point defeat to Belmont back on February 13. Morehead State got revenge in the OVC title last Saturday, returning the 15-point loss back to Belmont behind 27 and 12 from freshman forward Johni Broome. The 6’10 stud led all Eagles players with 13.9 points and nine rebound a game.
Some lingering problems for Morehead State are free throws and turnovers. As a team the Eagles ranked 261st with a 68.2 conversion rate, and gave the ball up over 15 times a game.
(3) West Virginia Mountaineers
The second-hardest schedule in the country faced the Mountaineers this season and they came out 18-9 and 5-7 against top 25 teams. A quarterfinal loss in the Big 12 tournament was not the desired outcome, but this is a West Virginia team that beat Kansas and Texas Tech by double-digits and stayed within five to Baylor and Gonzaga.
The Mountaineers scored over 77 points a game while having the 242nd-best field goal percentage. Sophomore guard Miles McBride lead the team in scoring with 15.4 points a game and recorded 4.7 assists and 1.8 steals a night too. Forward Derek Culver is a force down low with 14.6 points and 9.8 rebounds a game, while guards Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil can also get buckets from the perimeter.
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