Saint Mary vs. Villanova

Saint Mary vs. Villanova

2010-03-19

The tournament and March Madness has officially started and from the morning games we already know a couple of the match ups for the South division. The one I want to concentrate on is the game between No. 10 seeded Saint Mary and No. 2 seeded Villanova. Tipoff is March 20, 2010 at 3:00 pm eastern time in Houston.

Villanova barely got out of the first round, they needed extra time to put away No. 15 seeded Robert Morrison. The game started with Jay Wright benching senior Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher, why, no one knows, coaches and players would not comment. Back to the game the Wildcats won in overtime 73 – 70, they were almost the fifth team to lose to a No. 15 seed in the first round. Villanova was simply outworked for most of the game by a sloppy-but-game Colonials squad that attacked the rim and hit the offensive glass, repeatedly exposing the Wildcats' interior defense in the same fashion Big East teams did in the final few weeks of the season.

The Saint Mary Gaels however, have gone on a little run in their last two games, first beating Gonzaga in their conference tournament and now knocking off No. 7 seeded Richmond in pretty convincing fashion, side note I had the Gaels in my bracket. St. Mary's also outrebounded Richmond 40 - 17 for the game, which is a staggering number but didn't seem to surprise the Gaels. The Spiders had no answer for Omar Samhan when he got the ball down low, and the Gaels had no problem getting it to him there.

Villanova and its fans have plenty to worry about. Villanova's bigs had a good game against Robert Morris on Thursday, but they're freshmen, and Omar Samhan might be a lot for them to handle. His post moves have improved considerably. Omar Samhan scored 17 of the Gaels’ 36 points just in the first half. If he continues to get position on the low block against Villanova, he should be able to score throughout the whole game. The Gaels should ensure that he touches it every time down the court. The offense has to go through him for the Gaels to make a decent run.

The lines are out and at www.sportsbook.com Nova is only 4.5 point favorites, which has to scare a lot of people and fans. But this guy does not think the game will be that close. Yes Nova looked pretty horrible today and yes the Gaels looked liked they belong, but I’m sure Jay Wright is tearing into his team right now or just adding to what he said at halftime.

Other interesting lines right now for this game are the Saint Mary Gaels are at +165 while the Villanova Wildcats are money line -190. If you don’t believe that the Nova’s are going to come through in this game I would take the Gaels money line to hedge my bet.

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