March 6th 2024

The line for this game being essentially a  pick 'em makes absolutely no sense to me, sure the Hawks have the win in the game that these two played earlier in the season but other than that I don't see a reason why this line is the way it is.

Firstly, Saint Joseph's is 2-8 as an underdog this season, with George Mason being 15-6 as a favorite, what I am trying to get at is Vegas is usually right about these teams.

The George Mason Patriots are red hot coming off a win to the 2nd team In there conference, the Richmond Spiders, they also have a win over the 3rd ranked team  in the A10, 24th ranked team in the nation Dayton Flyers. Let's take a look at the Richmond game

First off George Mason played incredible defense with the Spiders struggling to score all game. Offensively this team runs like perfection, everyone on the floor gets in on the action, with no selfish ball hogging. Senior Darrius Maddox led the Patriots with an 18 point performance, going 7-9 from the field and 3-4 from beyond the arch. Woody Newton Is another name that will make a difference. He just put up a double double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, you can't argue with that production.

Lastly the George Mason defense ranks 28th In blocks, 32nd In steals, and 37th In rebounds, with there offense ranking 61st In points, 45th In FG%,  46th In FT%, 66th In 3PT%, and finally 75th in rebounds. The Hawks don't rank within 100 of the Patriots in any of these metrics.

The Play: George Mason ML (-110)

All lines, statistics, and data come from the sites listed below

Team Rankings

Action Network

FOX10 A10 Standings