{"id":28193,"date":"2013-03-17T10:16:24","date_gmt":"2013-03-17T15:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=28193"},"modified":"2013-03-17T10:16:24","modified_gmt":"2013-03-17T15:16:24","slug":"college-basketball-picks-vcu-rams-vs-saint-louis-billikens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/college-basketball-picks-vcu-rams-vs-saint-louis-billikens-28193\/","title":{"rendered":"College Basketball Picks: VCU Rams vs. Saint Louis Billikens"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 25 VCU Rams vs. No. 16 Saint Louis Billikens
\nSunday, 3\/17\/13, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 CBS
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Saint Louis -1.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Saint Louis -2
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 135
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 135.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The VCU Rams are 6-12 ATS versus conference opponents this season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VCU has won eight of its last 10 games, including a 71-62 victory over Massachusetts as 8.5-point favorites Saturday, while going UNDER the total of 151.5.\u00a0 The Rams will now try to exact revenge against the Billikens, as they suffered a 76-62 setback as two-point road underdogs on Feb. 19, which has motivated the coaching staff.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to play better,\u201d commented head coach Shaka Smart.\u00a0 Offensively, the team has hit 10 3-pointers in its first two Atlantic 10 Tournament games, which can\u2019t be ignored when looking over the college basketball odds page.\u00a0 VCU is 6-12 ATS versus conference opponents this season.<\/p>\n

The Rams\u2019 HAVOC style of defense has helped them claim the top spot in the country with 382 steals, while they\u2019ve forced a turnover on 28.5 percent of their defensive possessions.\u00a0 Sixteen times this year, VCU has had four or more players in double-figures in the scoring column, which has led to a 15-1 record in those contests.\u00a0 Over the last four seasons, the program has compiled a 50-3 record when holding opponents to 60 points or less.<\/p>\n

Saint Louis has won three games in a row, including a 67-56 victory over the Butler Bulldogs as 4.5-point neutral-site favorites in the semifinals, while going UNDER the total in all three of those contests.\u00a0 The Billikens forced 20 turnovers for a second straight game, while holding the Bulldogs without a field goal for almost seven minutes midway through the second half.\u00a0 The program celebrated its first outright regular season conference title since the 1956-57 season.\u00a0 Saint Louis is 14-4 ATS versus Atlantic 10 foes, which is important to consider when making your college basketball picks against the spread.<\/p>\n

The Billikens finished the regular season as the top defensive team in the conference, as they limited foes to 58.4 points per game.\u00a0 Last season, Saint Louis allowed just 57.6 points per game to rank eighth nationally.\u00a0 Sunday\u2019s game is the first time the program has advanced to the A-10 final.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Billikens due to their 8-0 ATS mark on Sundays, while the Rams are 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the college basketball handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No. 25 VCU Rams vs. No. 16 Saint Louis Billikens Sunday, 3\/17\/13, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 CBS Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Saint Louis -1.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Saint Louis -2 Opening Total:\u00a0 135 Current Total:\u00a0 135.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker VCU has won eight of its last 10 games, including a 71-62 victory over Massachusetts as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":25941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1444],"tags":[7406,4250,7183,4503],"class_list":["post-28193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-headlines","tag-atlantic-10-tournament","tag-saint-louis-billikens","tag-shaka-smart","tag-vcu-rams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28194,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193\/revisions\/28194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}