The Richmond Spiders were one of four double-digit seeds to punch a ticket into the second round of NCAA tournament betting at FanDuel Sportsbook. Condolences to any of you that had the Iowa Hawkeyes making a deep run in the Midwest Region. And to think the Atlantic 10 rep is a head scratching late game choke from Davidson away from not even participating in this dance! After taking down a No. 5 seed on Thursday, the Spiders will be hunting for even bigger game on Saturday when they lock horns with Ed Cooley’s No. 4 seed Providence Friars with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. For the second game in a row, linemakers aren’t giving the Big East champs their just due. More importantly, March Madness bettors are fading Aljami Durham and his mates once again. But not me! I laid the points with the Friars against South Dakota State and will be eager to do so once again in a similar matchup with Richmond. Cooley is yet to coach a game at Providence in the Sweet 16; that all ends Saturday night!

FanDuel Sportsbook Betting Odds

Richmond +2.5

Providence -2.5

O/U 133

Betting Odds Analysis

The betting line for this NCAA tournament second round matchup opened with Providence laying 3.5-points and the total set at 133.5. While it’s widely known and understood that the Friars are one of the luckier teams in the country – one only has to look at their top-ranked luck rating at KenPom.com – they still won those games and that’s all that matters; especially this time of the year! That still hasn’t stopped the betting public from going the way of the Spiders in early betting with the points spread down a full point from the opener. Both squads partook in unexpected low scorers in the first round with the Spiders/Hawkeyes tilt falling 20.5 points short of the closing total, and the Jackrabbits/Friars game combining to come 25 points of the number. With college basketball bettors likely to jump on what they’ve just seen, the O/U for this unforeseen matchup has been bet down a half-point to 133.

Richmond Spiders

The Spiders offense has been carried in the postseason by Jacob Gilyard who seems to have a knack for showing out on the grandest of stages. He was more a ball distributor in the regular season in averaging 12.4 points and 5.6 assists per game, but he’s gone HAM since the start of the A10 tourney in averaging over 20 points per contest. Richmond possesses three other viable scorers in Tyler Burton, Grant Golden, and Nathan Cayo who went off against the Hawkeyes for 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. The experience this team brings to the hardwood is quite unlike what many other teams in this tournament have at their disposal. It got them into the second round and was helped by a horrid shooting performance by Iowa. Can it bring its “A” game a sixth straight time?

Providence Friars

The Friars bounced back nicely from its wretched showing in the Big East tournament by defeating South Dakota State to reach the second round for the first time since 2016. Though it got hairy in spots, Providence did what was needed to score the 66-57 win and cover as short 3-point favorites per the closing March Madness betting odds. The defense was tremendous in holding a Jackrabbits attack ranked No. 14 in adjusted offensive efficiency to a poor 39 percent showing from the field. It also held the best 3-point shooting team in the land to just seven conversions on 23 attempts. Though the scoring offense isn’t a world beater (No. 140), it’s that much better when the defense clamps down like it did Thursday afternoon.

The Wager

There’s more to this Providence team than just X’s and O’s. It’s a close knit group that absolutely loves its coach. While the same can be said of Richmond, the Friars are a couple spots higher on the totem pole in my estimation. The Spiders are running on pure adrenaline right now. It took a huge second half comeback to defeat Dayton in the A10 tournament, as well as a crazy final minute meltdown by Davidson to win it. So be it if Gilyard has another video game-esque performance in him to help punch the squad’s ticket to the Sweet 16; I’m paying up to see him do it! All season long, Providence has been told that it’s not good enough. It’s not fast enough. It’s not big enough. It’s lucky! That sounds like bulletin board material to me, and it routinely being forced to play with a chip on the shoulder has brought the best out the team. The time will come when the NCAA tournament journey comes to an end, but won’t be on Saturday night.