Nova Report
The Purdue Boilermakers stand between the Villanova Wildcats and the sweet sixteen. Cats are+3/138. Purdue is good and a tough matchup for Nova. Nonetheless, they suit up for a 8:40 pm eastern tip in Hartford.
Purdue is led by future NBA?er Carsen Edwards at guard. He has two other 6?6? guards supporting him plus a 7?3? center to clean up the glass. They play pretty consistently. Their only weak spot is allowing 3 point shots. Thus, Nova?s shot to win is to stick 3?s and foul out the 7?3? dude (Haarms). Can it happen, of course! Will it? We?ll see.
Purdue, like St Mary?s and Nova , likes to play slow ball so Under may be a good bet here. The number crunchers give Nova a 40% chance of winning.
The Wildcats just have more heart than Purdue. They will likely have Cosby-Roundtree try to pile up fouls on Haarms and, for sure, hoist a record amount of 3?s. Edwards, for Purdue, will take 40% of their shots and occasionally feed Haarms. In a barn burner, Nova wins by 2.
My bets:
Nova ml+140
Nova+3
Under 138
5 point teaser (POD) Nova+8/Under 143