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Posted at 1:15 PM EST.

12:00 PM EST. If you pay any attention to this sport or listen to the prognosticators speculating on which teams will make it and which won’t, then you may have heard many or most of them discuss the Marquette Golden Eagles. Marquette is just 7-8 in the Big East and they’re just 16-11 overall but they’ve played a tough schedule and they’ve also accumulated some nice victories, as any victory in the Big East can be considered nice. The Golden Eagles also played (and lost to) Purdue and Wichita State in their non-conference schedule. The résumé looks okay but not quite good enough to get an at-large bid to the dance. In order to do that, Marquette is going to have to run the table and they still might not get in. With three games left including this one, at Georgetown and at home against Creighton, it’s doable. First things first, however and what you are also going to read or hear about today is that the Golden Eagles are on the fringe of the bubble and therefore this is the game they cannot lose.

The “must win” angle is one of the most overused and useless angles that has cost bettors a fortune over the years. History is lined with games just like this with teams’ that failed miserably. There’s a reason that the Golden Eagles are on the bubble and it’s because they are simply not that good. Yeah, they can score and yeah they have some nice wins but their defense is atrocious.

DePaul is just 3-12 in the conference and just 10-17 overall, which makes them fade material in a fickle market. This is the time of year that many bettors, who otherwise pay no attention to college ball, start trying to get a feel for teams so that they’re ready for the tournament. There are no easy outs in the Big East and it is for that reason that DePaul, who is absolutely one of the two worst teams in the conference, only has three wins but they can compete, as a recent five-point loss at Seton Hall and a 17-point win at Providence against another bubble team will attest to. DePaul is surely aware of the Eagle plight and this is a great chance to play the spoiler role in a ESPN televised game but more importantly is that the oddsmakers have hung what appears to be a weak line for the chalk to cover. Yeah, Marquette can win and cover but the oddsmakers say no and that among the other things mentioned above has us leaning to the host.

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