2010 NCAA Tournament Odds: Richmond, Texas A&M

Written by :

Don Shapiro

Published on :

16 March, 2010

With the 2010 NCAA Tournament odds all available at SBG Global now (see the SBG Global website here), outside of Notre Dame, Richmond and Texas A&M appeared to be other public favorites among bettors.

Richmond (7^th seeded) was a -2 favorite against Saint Mary's (10^th seeded) and sports bettors overwhelmingly believed that line to be too small. Around 75 percent of gamblers were backing Richmond in this game.

Fox News looked at Richmond's strengths and weaknesses:

STRENGTHS: Richmond was once an NCAA Tournament darling; it was the first program to win first-round games as a 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th seed. This season, the Spiders have earned a much more favorable seeding by beating the likes of Temple, Missouri, Florida and Old Dominion during the regular season and could be primed to win a game or two in the Big Dance. Richmond sports one of the best starting guard tandems in the Atlantic 10 in Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez. In addition, Richmond is home to a rising star in the college coaching business in 37-year-old Chris Mooney, who demands that his team shoots the 3-pointer well and defends it well. His charges listen as they make 35.0 percent of their 3-point tries as a team and hold opponents to just .291 shooting from beyond the arc.

WEAKNESSES: Richmond has two glaring weaknesses and they are both tied to the lack of an in-the-paint stud. Despite a great guard tandem, Richmond struggles to score points because post-up points are rare as lunar eclipses for the Spiders. As a result, Richmond finished the regular season as the No.11 scoring team in the 14-team Atlantic 10 at 69.0 ppg. But, the Spiders' single biggest wart is rebounding, a fatal flaw that figures to haunt them at some point in the NCAA Tournament. On the season, Richmond was second-to-last in the A-10 in rebounding margin (-5.1 per game).

Texas A&M (number 5 seed) 2010 NCAA Tournament odds were at -3 vs. Utah State (a team many pundits believe can shock Texas A&M). Utah State was the number 12 seed. A whopping 90 percent of those betting this game were all over Texas A&M to cover (and there is not much to cover).