Notre Dame vs. Alabama Odds
| Notre Dame Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+4 -110 | 151.5 -110o / -110u | +146 |
| Alabama Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-4 -110 | 151.5 -110o / -110u | -178 |
Which Alabama team will show up in its Round 1 game against Notre Dame?
Nate Oats’ squad finished 8-8 in Quad 1 games this year, defeating three of last year's Final Four teams in Gonzaga, Baylor and Houston. But the group also had some horrid losses to Missouri, Georgia and Iona.
The Crimson Tide will be matching up against a Notre Dame squad that needed double overtime to survive Rutgers.
Paul Atkinson Jr. (@paulwall561) gets the Offensive Board and puts up the GAME WINNING Layup with 1.4 seconds left and Notre Dame Is MOVING On after an 89-87 Win over Rutgers. They will play (6) Alabama Thursday. (Video via @MrMatthewCFB)
pic.twitter.com/xXtQa1vQcz— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) March 17, 2022
The Irish had an impressive victory over Kentucky in the regular season, but finished with just a 4-9 record against Quad 1 and 2 opponents.
Notre Dame’s double-overtime victory will go down as one of the best play-in games in tournament history. But will it cost the Irish against Alabama?
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
After a quarterfinal loss to Virginia Tech in its first game of the ACC Tournament, Mike Brey and the Irish had to sweat out Selection Sunday to hear if their name would be called.
It was called, but with that came a trip to Dayton for the First Four. Notre Dame and Rutgers played what I think was clearly the best game we’ve ever seen in the play-in round on Wednesday.
Notre Dame and Rutgers went punch-for-punch all the way into double-overtime, until Paul Atkinson Jr. laid in the game-winning basket with just under two seconds remaining.
Brey and the Irish boarded a late-night flight to San Diego following the victory, and now have to take on Alabama in under 48 hours.
While fatigue is a concern, I think this group of seniors will have plenty of adrenaline to keep their focus and be ready to go for this one.
Notre Dame is going to have to be really efficient offensively to keep pace with the Tide, and freshman phenom Blake Wesley will need to be much more efficient at the rim than he was against Rutgers.
If shooters like Dane Goodwin and Nate Laszewski can get it going from the outside, the Irish may have the firepower to hang with Bama.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Few teams enter the NCAA Tournament with worse momentum than Alabama.
The Crimson Tide have lost three straight, which includes a home defeat to Texas A&M and a loss to Vanderbilt in their first game of the SEC Tournament.
If there’s one thing this Bama team showed us during the course of the season, it was that it’s remarkably inconsistent. Oats’ team notched victories over the likes of Gonzaga, Houston and Baylor. It also lost multiple games to inferior competition, often in head-scratching fashion.
Alabama should be able to find plenty of open shots against a Notre Dame team that is pretty mediocre defensively. The question will be, can it knock them down? The Tide shoot a lot of 3s, and when they aren’t making them, they can be very prone to an upset.
On the other end, the defense has been the weakness all year. Alabama ranks outside the top 90 in adjusted defensive efficiency, and Notre Dame will test its ability to guard the arc with the shooters it has.
Notre Dame vs. Alabama Betting Pick
The Irish may have some tired legs after the emotional double-overtime thriller over Rutgers. That victory put them in this matchup against Alabama, which plays with a blistering pace that ranks 12th in the nation.
The Crimson Tide will also be well-rested, having not played in over a week.
The Fighting Irish defense doesn’t force many turnovers and often sits back in its zone defense. That will be difficult against a Crimson Tide offense that takes 48% of its shot attempts from deep.
Notre Dame allowed 13 offensive rebounds to Rutgers Wednesday night. Alabama snatches 14 offensive rebounds a game, the 12th-highest rate in the country.
Oats knows how to get his team hyped for a big game, and it’s been proven in the program’s marquee victories this season.
St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone, and the luck of the Irish will run out in the second round against Alabama.
