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The story of the George Washington Colonials is a good one and is why the secondary college basketball tournaments are good for the sport. Instead of going into the offseason thinking about all of the failures down the stretch that led G-Dub to miss the NCAA Tournament, it can go out on the high of having won the NIT.
Of course, the job isn't done yet, and the Colonials are going to be underdogs against the Valparaiso Crusaders in the finale of this tournament at Madison Square Garden.
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HOW THEY GOT HERE
George Washington's defense finally came up big against San Diego State in a game where the pace was incredibly slow. It was finally some proof to live bettors that the Colonials can win games either at breakneck speed or at a snail's pace, as they've now done both in this tourney after they knocked Florida, Monmouth and Hofstra out of the NIT by scoring at least 80 points in each game.
Valpo was cruel to its live bettors for the most part in its NIT Final Four game against BYU on Tuesday night. The Crusaders were favored by 2.5 and jumped out to a 44-30 lead. They needed a late three to break a 68-68 tie, and they ended up finishing on the wrong side of the spread in spite of a 72-70 triumph.
The Crusaders have been all over the place in this tournament, struggling more than they should have against Texas Southern before blowing out Florida State and St. Mary's.
KEY MATCHUP
Malik Pope and Winston Shepard were basically no-shows for San Diego State in the second semifinal in the NIT, and that's largely why the Colonials ended up advancing to the final.
Though Pope and Winston both have the ability to stretch out the floor, neither one is known as a tremendous three-point shooter. That's not going to be the case when Tyler Cavanaugh and Kevin Larsen have to figure out how to defend against Alec Peters.
Peters is a fantastic three-point shooter, and if he can draw the two GW bigs away from the basket, Valpo could find its offense opening up quite a bit. Live bettors will certainly want to keep track of who's defending against Peters at all times. If smaller men step up to try to defend him on the outside, Peters could have a big day, and live bettors could find Valparaiso's successes or failures dependent upon its star and his outside shot.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
With Cavanaugh's double-double against SDSU, the Colonials have now put one of their bigs into double-double status in each game here in the NIT. That's a huge accomplishment, especially knowing that they're not a fantastic outside shooting team, and live bettors can expect more of the same in this one with Valpo's front line badly undersized.
The Colonials had a big problem covering games with close spreads all season long, but they've suddenly won and covered three straight games, two of which were rather emphatic here in the NIT.
Valpo really felt like it was going to end the year on a high note for over backers, but instead, after three straight over games which easily got to the total, the Crusaders have played consecutive under games.
Under bettors almost took a really bad beat in the semifinal against BYU, as it could've ended up in overtime, but it's hard to say anything aside from the fact that the under has been the right side by a convincing margin in consecutive games involving Valparaiso. If this one has a pace anywhere near what the GW/SDSU game had on Tuesday night, live bettors will see a lot of long stretches without much scoring.
Access live betting lines from your mobile device or tablet at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform. Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so start betting with BookMaker today! The George Washington Colonials and Valparaiso Crusaders will square off Thursday, March 31, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden. The NIT Championship Game will be televised live on ESPN.
