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George Mason vs. Saint Louis prediction and odds for Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals

By Josh Yourish

Tulane Green Wave guard R.J. McGee (23) defends George Mason Patriots guard DeVon Cooper. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Tulane Green Wave guard R.J. McGee (23) defends George Mason Patriots guard DeVon Cooper. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports /
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We nearly found out why it was so important for George Mason to fight for a top four seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament yesterday.

The Patriots ended up as the No. 5 seed and had to face last year’s champion, Richmond, and the Spiders gave them all they could handle before Kim English’s team closed it out, 62-57.

This will be the Saint Louis Billikens first action of the tournament as the No. 4 seed, they’ve had a bye to this point, but now that George Mason got through to the quarterfinals, it could have an advantage against a team that hasn’t played in six days.

Despite a one-point home win for Saint Louis in their only matchup with George Mason, it is a comfortable favorite in this one. Let’s look at the odds.

George Mason vs. Saint Louis odds, spread and total

George Mason vs. Saint Louis prediction and pick

When talking about March, it’s about guards first and foremost, but it’s also about seniors. That’s when experience comes up the biggest and both teams have quite a lot of it, but Saint Louis has the guards.

Yuri Collins, the Billikens’ senior guard, finished the year averaging a double-double, 11.3 points and 10.1 assists, which is pretty absurd. However, the advantage of having experienced guards is that those teams typically win in the turnover margin and get extra possessions.

That’s not the case for Saint Louis. It is 290th in turnover margin at -1.6. George Mason is at 316th (-2.1).

Because Saint Louis doesn’t have a great turnover margin, its advantage with Collins is mitigated, that means a team centered around its center, George Mason and Josh Oduro could certainly advance.

Oduro was just named first-team A10 for the second straight year and is a shot creator from the post with perimeter ability. He gets shots for Devon Cooper who is an experienced scoring guard and Justyn Fernandez, their freshman wild card.

Ronald Polite will control things enough as the Patriots’ point guard, and I think Mason should score enough to hang around with Saint Louis.

The Patriots are also 19th in defensive rebounding percentage, so Saint Louis won’t be getting extra possessions which is often the difference in win-or-go-home games.

Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change