Analyzing the Atlantic 10 Tourney

Sportsbook customers who follow college basketball closely and place their wagers on it are aware that quality basketball is being played in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Three teams - Temple, Xavier and Richmond - have been in the Top 25 lately, and are all likely to qualify for at-large berths in the NCAA's. Can anyone come along and upset that applecart?

Odds To Win Atlantic 10 Conference Championship

March 9-14, Atlantic City (after first round)

• Charlotte +1400
• Dayton +750
• Richmond +450
• Temple +140
• Xavier +150
• Saint Louis +600
• Rhode Island +1000
• Field +1400

Is TEMPLE (+140 to win the A-10) the best team in this tournament? That much would seem to be a subject of much dispute. The Owls have nice balance on offense, with Lavoy Allen one of the toughest big men to stop in the league (11.7 ppg, 10.8 rpg) and teams really have to get out on the perimeter to deal with Ryan Brooks, the team's leading scorer (14.5 ppg) and Juan Fernandez, who hits 44.7% from the three-point arc. They are deliberate and frustrating for a lot of teams, allowing just 38% shooting and 57 points a game. Temple finished the season with seven straight wins, scoring solid wins over Dayton and Rhode Island along the way, and beat Xavier 77-72 in their only meeting. they also have wins over Villanova, Siena and Virginia Tech, but lost to Kansas by 32 points.

XAVIER (+150 to win the A-10) has been around the Top 25 for most of the year, and this program has recently been characterized as one which tight defense and a lot of physical toughness. The Musketeers have some of that, but they are also a better shooting team than a lot of recent editions, and Jordan Crawford, the sophomore transfer from Indiana, was a big reason for that. he averaged 19.9 points in the conference, which was the league's top figure. Teams also have a hard time getting room against burly center Jason Love inside. Love makes an intriguing duo with Jamel McLean, an undersized power forward. It would be interesting to see this team rematch their thrilling double-overtime win over Richmond.

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RICHMOND (+450 to win the A-10), by the way, is the team I would go with here, based on value. The big components of the Spiders' success are ball control (11.8 turnovers per game) and strangling defense (38.8% FG's allowed). Over the last eleven games of the season, the only blemish was 78-76 double-overtime road loss to Xavier. In the only meeting with Temple this season, Richmond shredded the Owls defense for 77% shooting in the first half and held Temple to 32% shooting overall for a 71-54 win. This is a team that seems to enjoy traveling as well, as they have posted an 11-4 ATS record on the road.

SAINT LOUIS (+600 to win the A-10) really came on for Ric Majerus toward the end of the season, winning eight of its last ten games. This may be a real team to watch, especially after the Billikens sowed up fourth place in the conference with a win over Dayton on Saturday. Majerus' team slows the game down to a crawl if it can, and he's got them playing the kind of defenses that have characterized many of his previous teams (allowing just 39.9% FG's). Scoring points will be a problem, and the second-leading scorer, Willie Reed, is a possible Achilles heel as he makes less than half his free throws.