A10 Tournament Preview & Odds: Taking A Flyer On Dayton Flyers

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VCU continues their conference dominance after the Shaka Smart days. In fact, the Rams took down Shaka and his current team in the Texas Longhorns in December. They are a sure thing to be in the NCAA tourney, currently projected as an #8 seed by Joe Lunardi. VCU isn’t a team that is going to kill you with the three ball, ranking 328th in three point shooting. Where they can dominate though is on the defensive end of the floor. They rank 6th in the nation in opponents points per game. They also show up in the top 10 of about 7 other defensive categories.

VCU isn’t the only team that can ball in the A10 though. Steph Curry doesn’t have any eligibility left at Davidson, but that didn’t stop them from snagging the #2 seed in the conference tournament. Dayton and St Bonaventure round out the top 4 in the conference.

March 13th-17th Barclays Center Brooklyn, NY 416e2t

VCU -110
Dayton +270
Davidson +350
St Bonaventure +760
Saint Louis +2200
George Mason +3000
Rhode Island +3200
Duquesne +5100
Saint Joes +5700
La Salle +8200
UMASS +8200
Richmond +9000
Fordham +10000
George Washington +10000

VCU comes in as the #1 seed and a minus money favorite to win the tournament. This tournament crowns a champion on Selection Sunday, which could be a big deal for the committee if anyone other than VCU wins it.

Pick: Dayton Flyers +270 2r2k5r

VCU is the best team in the conference. Keep an eye on them when you build your bracket. We wouldn’t watch if the best teams always won though. Upsets are what makes it March Madness. If the A10 tournament goes chalk, Dayton would be matched up with Davidson in the semi-final round. The Flyers went on the road to beat Davidson in their only matchup this season. I like them in that matchup to set up a likely meeting with VCU in the title game.

Dayton flirted with the bubble for a while, but has fallen out of consideration down the stretch. If they want to get in to the Big Dance, they need to win the A10 Tournament. Give me a desperate team with a good path to the Championship game to snag the automatic bid.