Monday's Conference Tournament Game Previews
The staff of OffshoreInsiders.com takes a look at the Monday night conference championships.
Elon-Davidson
It’s the Southern Conference title on the line. The Wildcats have won the last two championship games and have the longest winning streak in the nation at 21 games. Furthermore, they have won 35 straight conference games by a combined 17.8 points per game.
Elon is playing their best basketball of the year at the right time. In addition to already upsetting the No. 2 seed Chattanooga, they crushed Charleston by 14 and Furman by 15. It’s their longest winning streak of the year.
Elon is the lowest seed to make it to the conference finals since 1988. As a result, they are playing their fourth game in four days of the tournament. Davidson because of a bye is playing just their third game.
William & Mary-George Mason
Bill and Mary knocked off the top seed VCU on a last-second basket last night. They met just once this season with the Patriots winning by six. Pressure or motivation, you handicap it? William & Mary must win to make the Big Dance for the first time in their history.
Rider-Siena
It’s tough to be more evenly matched than these two teams. The teams split the regular season conference title and split two meetings with each winning on the road. The Broncos played without their starting back court yesterday and Ryan Thompson and Justin Robinson were both out. Thompson is second team all-conference. Because he has a concussion suffered two days ago, it is unlikely he will play tonight.
Will Siena have anything left in the tank after erasing a 17-point second half deficit yesterday?
Middle Tennessee State-South Alabama
According to Cy McCormick head of the on-line betting syndicate MasterLockLine.com, “While USA is known for having the best back court in the Sun Belt, MTSU cannot match up against South Alabama’s frontcourt,” Cy said, referring to 6-8 Ronald Douglas and 6-7 DeAndre Coleman.
South Alabama is the tournament host.
Gonzaga-San Diego
Remember that this game is on San Diego’s home court. The Zags are a stunning 32-12, all-time straight up in the conference tournament. Gonzaga has won eight of the last nine conference titles, but their only loss was to San Diego. As far as motivation, there is no doubt that the Zags are in the NCAA Tournament win or lose.
Get the spread winners in these games at OffshoreInsiders.com