2008 Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament Predictions

March 10, 2008

The Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament is fast approaching and will get under way on March 12th and finish up on March 15th. The tournament is set to do battle in Atlantic City at the Boardwalk Hall arena. The conference is made up of 12 teams and just like other 12 team conferences they award the top 4 teams a bye and the bottom 8 are stuck trying to do the difficult task of winning 4 games in 4 days. Xavier will come in as the top seed with an impressive 14-2 conference record. Temple will take the two seed while UMASS is set to be the 3 seed. There is a 3 way tie for the 4th seed as of now and will likely come down to a tiebreaker between St. Josephs, Charlotte, and Richmond.The Atlantic 10 is more impressive than normal and could possibly send up to 5 teams to the big dance. Xavier is a lock to get an invitation, as they are ranked in the top 10. Both Dayton and UMASS should also be headed to the big dance and St Joseph isn’t very far behind and will likely need a win in the conference tournament to get an at-large bid. Temple finished second in the conference and if it is able to win a couple games in the tournament they could be headed along with the others. The only reason that the conference won’t get all 5 teams is because it is considered a smaller conference based on the teams they have in it. While we think all 5 are legit teams, lets take a look at who we think will come away with the Atlantic 10 Tournament trophy and who will help themselves the most heading into selection Sunday.

Winner: Xavier Musketeers

We aren’t picking an upset here as we really like the Musketeers and think they are one of the best kept secrets that not to many fans no about. They have beaten quality tournament bound teams such as Indiana, Kent St, and Kansas St. along with their tear through conference play. Before there most recent loss at a good St Josephs team they had won 12 straight and were able to finish up their final regular season game with a win to finish up winning 13 of 14 games. The Musketeers will rely on their balanced offensive attack where nearly 6 guys average in double digits. They should be able to win all three of their tournament games and possibly be on their way to a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Big Mover: Temple Owls

While there are many teams that can really help themselves in this tournament because of how the committee looks down on the smaller conferences, we are going to give the edge to the Owls. Coming in as the #2 seed they will have the advantage of avoiding Xavier till the finals. They have shown that they can play with the Musketeers as they beat them in their only meeting this year. The Owls are coming in pretty hot, as they have won 9 of their last 12 games. At one point they were 9-9 and didn’t look like they had much of a chance, but have managed to get their record to 18-12 coming into the tournament. The Owls have relied heavily on the scoring duo of Dionte Christmas and Mark Tyndale. Christmas leads the team with a 20.4 scoring average and is followed closely by Tyndale’s 16.1 PPG. Not only are they the two leading scorers they are also lead the team in rebounding and assist.

For all your conference tournament and NCAA Tournament betting needs go to Sportsbook.com. It’s fast and easy to get going and will have you ready to get going on this year’s action. Be sure to check out some of our featured articles on the top teams in the NCAA and their odds to win it all found at Sportsbook.com. Also, continue to check back for more NCAA Tournament help.

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2008 Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament Predictions

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