Photo: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
The Hawk hasn’t died yet!
St. Joe’s needs to win three more games over the next three days to capture the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid.
The Hawks only have to look to last year to know what a long run in the conference tournament is like. They won two games to get to the semifinals, including an upset of top seed Richmond in the quarters.
So not all hope is lost yet, and according to the odds, the Hawks are on a near-level playing field with Dayton. The Flyers are only a 1.5-point favorite. The over/under sits at 141.5.
Both the Hawks and Flyers have played their best basketball down the stretch. St. Joe’s and Dayton are both 8-2 in their last 10 games.
Dayton won the lone regular-season meeting by five points, a game in which both teams got into the 70s.
The one certainty with this matchup is that points will get on the board early and often.
Dayton is one of nine teams in Division I with 20+ wins to the over at 21-9.
The Flyers are 7-1 to the over in their last eight games and they are 12-4 to the over when the total closed above 142 points.
St. Joe’s is on a seven-game overs streak, and let me tell how miraculous it was to get the over across the line last night against La Salle. It was looking VERY bleak for the first 25-30 minutes.
Anyway, the Hawks are 11-11 to the over when the total closed at 142 or higher. For what it’s worth, four of the over hits in the seven-game over streak came with totals of 141.5 or above.
That’s the real trend involved in this matchup. Dayton hasn’t been a favorite smaller than two points and St. Joe’s is 0-1 ATS as an underdog of two points or less.
The best way to approach this game with Pennsylvania sports betting apps and NJ betting apps is to bet the over. BetMGM has a daily odds boost token you can use for the over.
You can include that in all sorts of parlay promotions across sportsbooks. FanDuel has a 30 percent boost and DraftKings has an all-parlay boost on parlays of 4 or more legs.
And if you believe in the Hawks, FanDuel is offering a 30 percent profit boost on any outright underdog bets.