A few weeks ago, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were out of the bubble discussion and had lost its best player, Luke Harangody, to an injury. The Irish had lost three games in a row to Seton Hall, St. John's and Louisville, and it didn't look like there was any chance they could get an at-large bid. But after that, the Irish went on an improbable run without Harangody, winning their last four games of the regular season over Pitt, Georgetown, UConn and Marquette, two of which came on the road and three of which came over fellow NCAA tournament teams seeded No. 6 or better. When Harangody came back, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey decided to bring him off the bench for the rest of the season, making the senior forward the best sixth man in college basketball. In the Big East tournament, the Irish won their first two games over Seton Hall and Pitt before losing 53-51 to West Virginia in the conference tournament semifinals.

Old Dominion set itself up nicely going into conference play after playing a tough non-conference schedule and earning a signature victory at Georgetown. The Monarchs dominated CAA play with a 15-3 conference record but a loss to Northern Iowa in their BracketBusters game put them very much on the bubble if they weren't able to win the CAA tournament and secure the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. But the Monarchs left nothing in doubt by winning the CAA championship, defeating William & Mary 60-53 in the title game. They've now won five games in a row and eight of their last nine.

Simply put, this is a terrible matchup for this Notre Dame squad. They have taxed their starters on this tournament push and are facing a team that can defend, rebound, and play in the paint. That’s exactly the way you beat this team and the added motivation of David vs. Goliath is precisely the kind of angle I look for during tournament time. Old Dominion pulls off the upset.

Both teams turn the ball over about 13 times per game, while San Diego State averages about six more rebounds per game than its opponents. SD ST is actually one of the best rebouding teams in the nation.

The Aztecs have won five games in a row and nine of their last 10, with their only loss in that span coming at BYU, a place where not many teams come away with victories. They've defeated UNLV twice during that span. They've held their opponents to 61 or fewer points in seven of those 10 games, including a 55-45 win over UNLV in the MWC championship game. San Diego State is 5-1 ATS in its last six games after allowing less than 50 points in the previous game. The Aztecs are 4-1 ATS in their last five neutral site games as an underdog and 6-2 ATS in their last eight games following an ATS win. They are a very solid team and I like them to shock the Vols and get the win, so lets take the 3.5 points with the underdog tonight.