The Battle 4 Atlantis kicks off on Wednesday in what could be an odd game to take in. The Gonzaga Bulldogs and Washington Huskies aren't separated by all that many miles when they're both on their home courts, but they've had to travel to the Bahamas to make a matchup between the two come to fruition.
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HOW THE GONZAGA BULLDOGS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
The numbers for Gonzaga are understandably going to be dominant early in the season, knowing that it has only played against a couple lousy teams. That said, the Bulldogs are once again quite legit for Mark Few.
The key is going to be taking advantage of all of the bigs. It's amazing that Domantas Sabonis can't find his way into the starting lineup thanks to Przemek Karnowski, though these two will often play on the floor together at the same time. Both are capable of double-doubles every single night, while Kyle Wiltjer has a knack for getting in on rebounds as well.
What's scary for the rest of the nation is that Wiltjer hasn't started firing on all cylinders yet. He's only shooting .125 from beyond the arc, and we know he has the capability to knock down seven threes in a row if given the chance to step back and take open shots.
HOW THE WASHINGTON HUSKIES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
When Washington upset Texas to kick off the season, it did the best job it could to keep the ball moving quickly. It wasn't the greatest shooting day for either Dejounte Murray or Andrew Andrews, the men projected to be the top two scorers for this team this year, but the two combined to get to the foul line 20 times, and Andrews led the way with 23 points.
That's clearly going to be key again in this one. Gonzaga can move the ball quickly up the court as well, but the bigs are going to end up running out of gas if this game turns into a real track meet for a full 40 minutes.
Murray and Malik Dime are going to have to do a nice job in the paint against the Bulldogs bigs as well, though they're obviously in for a fight against arguably the best combination of big men in America.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
There's just ultimately too much size here for Washington to overcome. There isn't a player on this roster bigger than 6-foot-9, and that means there are a lot of inches being given up to both Karnowski and Sabonis, men who can not only score from the inside with their power, but shoot a little while fronting the basket, too.
Our only fear for the Dogs is that they don't have the same abilities at point guard they've had in recent years with Kevin Pangos, Byron Wesley and Gary Bell Jr.
Still, the Huskies will need to have a tremendous shooting day, something that we just don't see ultimately happening. This will be the first significant win in what promises to once again be a banner year for Gonzaga basketball.
Gonzaga 82, Washington 71
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Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so starting betting with BookMaker today! The matchup between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Washington Huskies will go down on Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at 12:00 p.m. ET at Imperial Arena. You can watch the game live on ESPN2.
