A matchup between two of the most confusing teams in college basketball will take place on Wednesday night with the Seton Hall Pirates face off against the Providence Friars.  This Big East showdown could be a potential eliminator for a shot at a birth in the NCAA tournament.  

Seton Hall is coming off of one of the toughest stretches of any team in the country.  Playing Villanova, Creighton and Villanova over their current three game losing streak.  The Pirates have been a predictable team when it comes to SU wins and losses.  They have beaten the teams they should and lost to the teams they should.  With no marquee wins on their resume they cannot afford another let down to a mid-tier Big East foe.  They have done most of their damage offensively this season by penetrating the paint and making things happen.  Currently they rank in the top 25 in offensive efficiency and effective shooting percentage.  They get to the foul line a lot and shoot at a high percentage.  

Providence is coming off of a loss to Georgetown, where they blew a ten point second half lead.  The Friars lean on the two man show of guard David Duke and center Nat Watson, both average double digits and take over a large amount of the usage rate on the offense.  In the first matchup with Seton Hall they were able to combine for 41 points and 21 rebounds.  The Friars are a strange statistical team, they rank 199th in effective field goal percentage, yet they rank top 50 in adjusted offense according to Kenpom.  They have the ability to put the ball in the hoop but they will be without a key component in point guard Jerad Bynum who sliced up the Seton Hall defense last time they played scoring 9 points and adding 8 assists. 

Providence was able to defeat Seton Hall in their first matchup of the year because they shot 9-18 from three and the Friars had Jerad Bynum.  Seton Hall has issues defending the three but without Bynum the Friars won’t be able to penetrate the defense as easiliy which should allow the Pirates guards to stay home on the shooters.  Seton Hall is in need of a win and they will lean on their star Sandro Mamukelishvli.  This game has a -1.5 spread,  I would lean going with the spread but I figure why not just go ML to be safe.  

Play of the day: Seton Hall ML (-130)