College Basketball Betting Parlay – First Round Action from Atlantic 10 and Big East

Its tournament time in College Basketball Betting as the regular season is in the books and teams kick off the first round of their tournament play. First up is an Atlantic 10 showdown between the Colonials of George Washington and the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. St. Joe’s just squeaked into the tournament as the 12th seed after going just 4-12 in conference play while GW comes in as the 5th seed after a 10-6 Atlantic 10 record. Game two is another first round showdown, this time in the Big East, as the 11th ranked Marquette Golden Eagles take on the 14th seeded Providence Friars from Madison Square Garden.

Saint Joseph’s Hawks (9-21) vs. George Washington Colonials (17-13)
Tuesday, March 8 – 7 PM ET (Charles E. Smith Center – Washington, D.C.)
TV: CBSCSN

The Colonials come in playing some solid basketball at the right time of the year, coming into tournament play having won five of their past six games. What they’ve lacked this year has been consistency as they’ve endured some bad stretches as well, but as long as they’re playing well right now, that’s all that really matters.

College Basketball Betting Spread:
St. Joseph’s Hawks +280
George Washington Colonials -7 ½, -340   
Total: 126

The Hawks have put together some lengthy losing streaks as well this season, and that is thanks to some terrible shooting all season. They put up just 63.5 points per game and were dead last in three point shooting at 32.3 percent. Add that all up and it doesn’t bode well for them continuing on in this tournament.

Providence Friars (15-16) vs. Marquette Golden Eagles (18-13)
Tuesday, March 8- 9 PM ET (Madison Square Garden – New York, NY)
TV: ESPNU

The betting odds suggest a similar outcome as the first game of our College Basketball Betting parlay, as Marquette is going off as a 6 ½ point favourite over Providence. Still, I’m not sold on that solely based on the fact that the Friars have Marshon Brooks, the Big East’s leading scorer this year. On the year he’s averaging nearly 25 points per game to go along with over seven rebounds per game, which is big time considering this team lacks much secondary scoring.

College Hoops Betting Spread:
Providence Friars +250
Indiana Hoosiers -6 ½, -300
Total: 154

The fact that this game is being played at MSG gives neither team the advantage, which really means an advantage for Providence as they come in as the lower seed. They’re the team with nothing to lose and really just need to compete on defence and let Brooks do his thing for them to stay close. And although close is not what they’re hoping for, that’s all we need for them to cover the College Basketball Betting Spread.

College Basketball Betting Parlay: George Washington (-7 ½), Providence (+6 ½)