Posted at Thurs, March 16 at 5:00 PM EST odds are subject to change.

Pinnacle -4½ -106  BET365  -4½ -110 Sportsinteraction -4½ -115 888Sport -4½ -110

MVP Arena, Albany, NY - West Region - 1st Round

Streaming: TBS

St. Mary's -4.5 over VCU

Friday - 2:00 PM EST. In most years, the Atlantic 10 has often sent teams to this tournament that have been a thorn in the sides of those higher seeds they inevitably face. However, this is not one of those years. The A-10 only sent champion VCU to March Madness, which is indicative of just how down the conference was this season. In case you were wondering, the Rams were ranked 56th, so while they are not out of place among the final 64 teams that are set to tip off in the first round, they got the short end of the stick when it comes to their opening-round opponent.

Saint Mary's is great. Period. Full stop. The Gaels are being disrespected so hard here that it’s hard to put into words. How does a team that ranks 12th at KenPom get relegated to a #5 seed? Saint Mary’s comes into the NCAA Tournament as the #19 ranked team in the AP poll, so the perception in the market is that the Gaels are properly seeded, but that is just not the case.

Not only did Saint Mary’s go 26-7 over the regular season, but they built that résumé on a tough-as-nails non-conference schedule that graded out at 56th among the 363 Division I schools ranked. The Gaels played NCAA Tournament participants, including Oral Roberts, Houston, and San Diego State, as well as Power Six sides such as Vanderbilt and Washington. Of course, Saint Mary’s also played powerhouse conference foes Gonzaga twice as well. The Gaels are battle-tested and grossly understated. Saint Mary's is where the true value lies here.

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