Flyers on higher plane than Hawks?
Dayton didn’t get the chance to host Saint Joseph’s this season, so Brooklyn must suffice as the site for the second battle of the year between two Atlantic-10 heavyweights.
The Hawks barely reached today’s 1:30 p.m. ET affair, requiring an absurd second-half comeback to dispatch George Washington in the quarterfinals. As a result, online sports book Bovada.lv tabs them as 1.5-point underdogs vs. the Flyers.
Archie Miller’s group essentially demolished Richmond on Friday. The league’s top-seeded team jumped out to a 20-4 edge and blanketed the Spiders from deep, with leading scorer Charles Cooke (15.8 points per game) spearheading the charge on both ends of the floor.
Recent history, though, makes one think twice about siding with Dayton to do the same this afternoon. The Flyers own a horrendous 1-7-1 ATS mark in their last nine tussles vs. conference foes. Want an even more irreverent statistic? Consider the pride of Ohio’s 1-5 ATS record over the last six Saturdays.
Who does the public pick to prevail?
Ah, but then there’s the fatigue factor. Did Saint Joe’s expend every ounce of energy in outscoring the Colonials by 20 in yesterday’s second half? Can standout junior forward DeAndre Bembry get ample support?
Doubts are warranted. This won’t mirror the first meeting on Feb. 17, when the Hawks cruised by nine points. Dayton flies on.
SATURDAY NCAA FREE PICK: DAYTON -1.5
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