Detroit Titans at Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 9:00 PM ET

Opening Line: Detroit +7.5
Current Line: Detroit +7
WagerMinds Game Detail 

What Bettors See:

Looking at this game as an average bettor without any research you would tend to lean towards Notre Dame due to who they are and the competition level they play.  Bettors see a Detroit team coming out of the Horizon League who is 1-0 SU this season and a Notre Dame squad that is 1-0 SU out of the Big East tends to favor the big conference teams in games similar to this one.

Game Analysis:

Detroit enters this matchup tonight off a huge 38 point win over Lake Erie College their last time out on the court. Detroit dominated that game from start to finish with 5 players scoring in double digits and with 4 players having more than 6 rebounds.

Detroit plays out of the Horizon League and is picked by many to take over the top spot from Butler this season. The Titans return all five of their starters from last season’s squad. Detroit is led by preseason conference player of the year pick Ray McCallum (13.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 4.9 APG).  Joining McCallum on the court for the Titans will be Eli Holman (11.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG), Chase Simon (13.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG), Nick Minnerath (11.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG) and Jason Calliste (8.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG).  The bench for the Titans runs extremely deep also considering they did not lose anyone off their bench this past season.  Forward Chris Blake (10.9 PPG, 2.9 RPG) and Donavan Foster (4.9 PPG, 1.9 RPG) will provide veteran depth on this squad. Newcomers P.J. Boutte and Doug Anderson should see plenty of time considering they played more than 17 minutes each in the season opener.

Notre Dame enters this matchup off a 13 point victory over Mississippi Valley State their last time out in which sophomore guard Eric Atkins led all scorers with 27 points to go along with 6 assist and 4 rebounds.

Notre Dame coming out of the Big East is picked to finish in the middle of the pack in this conference. The Fighting Irish have a lot of work to do considering they lost Big East Player Ben Hansbrough and 2 other starters to this starting lineup. Returning to this starting lineup is fifth year senior Tim Abromaitis (15.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG) and guard Scott Martin (9.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG).  Sophomore Eric Atkins did play in all 34 games last season and has now taken over as the go to guy and the leader role as we can see from the 27 points he scored in the first game this season.  Freshman Jerian Grant has been inserted into the starting lineup along with junior forward Jack Cooley (3.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG) and junior Joey Brooks (1.6 PPG).

Final Analysis:

Detroit is an extremely talented team that has plenty of experience coming back this season on their squad. The Titans have the opportunity to make a huge statement tonight by going on the road and knocking off this Big East opponent and show they deserve respect this season.  The Titans though will be without their big man in the middle tonight Eli Holman due to some personal issues.

Notre Dame must be feeling very pleased to have Eric Atkins step up and take this leader role now that Ben Hansbrough is gone. That was one of the questions that the Fighting Irish had going into this season on who would fill that role and after 1 game it looks like Atkins has answered that for them. Notre Dame though will be in a bit of a dilemma themselves tonight since forward Tim Abromatis will be out again tonight as he serves his four- game suspension.

Both of these teams are missing key players to their squads tonight and then depth of these benches is going to come into play for both teams in this matchup.  I have to tend to lean with Detroit in this game due to the experience that they bring to the table and the motivational factor for them to prove something. Throw in the fact that the oddsmakers will add a point or two to this line due to knowing that the public will play Notre Dame I feel we are getting great value on an under the radar team in Detroit who does have a great chance at pulling the upset tonight on the road.

Pick:

Detroit +7

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