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College Basketball

NCAA Basketball Betting Odds, Preview and Trends for Monday March 9, 2020

VegasInsider Staff
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
4 minute read

West Coast Conference - Betting Tips

This season’s West Coast Conference Tournament moves to the semifinal round this Monday night in Las Vegas.

The opening game pits the San Francisco Dons against the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs. Later that night, the Saint Mary Gaels will square off against the No. 2 seed BYU Cougars.

Gonzaga listed at 8/1 for March Madness title

WCC Semifinal Matchup
No. 5 San Francisco Dons vs. No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs

Date: Monday, March 9, 2020
TV-Time: ESPN, 9 p.m. ET
Venue: Orleans Arena
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Opening Odds: Gonzaga -12.5, Total 151.5

Betting Matchup

After going 9-7 straight-up in conference play to earn the No. 5 seed for the WCC Tournament, the Dons have made the most of the opportunity. After beating Loyola Marymount 82-53 as 7 ½-point favorites in their opener, they advanced to Monday’s semifinals with a convincing 72-54 victory over Pacific as three-point favorites.

San Francisco (21-11 SU) has won its last five games SU but it is still just 3-6 against the spread in its last nine contests and 13-17-1 ATS overall. The total has gone OVER in three of its last four games. Charles Minlend scored 16 points in Friday’s win before adding 21 points against Pacific.

With just one SU loss in 16 conference games, the Bulldogs cruised to another WCC regular season title. They got tripped up against BYU 91-78 on Feb. 22 as one of just two SU losses this season. Betting on Gonzaga (29-2 SU, 16-14-1 ATS) in conference play has been a whole other story. It went 3-6 ATS over its last nine regular season games.

The profitable play has been the total line with it going OVER in 11 of the last 12 games. The Bulldogs are second in the nation in scoring with an average of 87.7 points. They have seven players scoring at least nine points a game.

Betting Trends

-- The Dons are 3-7 SU in their last 10 games as underdogs while going and even 3-3 ATS in the last six. The total has gone OVER in four of the six games getting points.

-- The Bulldogs have gone 0-2-1 ATS in three previous neutral-site games. The total has gone OVER in 25 of their first 31 games played this season.

-- With the SU two-game season sweep, Gonzaga has extended its winning streak to 18 games over San Francisco. The Bulldogs are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings with the total going OVER in five of the last six games between the two.

WCC Semifinal Matchup
No. 3 Saint Mary’s Gaels vs. No. 2 BYU Cougars

Date: Monday, March 9, 2020
TV-Time: ESPN2, 11:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Orleans Arena
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Opening Odds: BYU -3.5, Total 145.5

Betting Matchup

The Gaels’ first tournament game was on Saturday and it took double overtime to get past Pepperdine 89-82. They failed to cover as eight-point favorites to slip to 2-6 ATS in their last eight games while going 6-2 SU. The total has gone OVER in six of Saint Mary’s (23-7 SU, 14-16 ATS) last seven outings.

BYU squares off with St. Mary's for a spot in the WCC title game.
BYU squares off with St. Mary's for a spot in the WCC title game. (AP)
The season series against BYU was split 1-1 with the home winning SU while the road team covered. Both games went OVER the closing total line.

Jordan Ford played every minute of Saturday’s game and scored a career-high 42 points. This includes the last seven points of the game to help pull out the win.

BYU (24-7 SU, 19-11 ATS) brings a SU nine-game winning streak into its first postseason contest while going 6-3 ATS. The total stayed UNDER 155 ½ points in a season-ending 81-64 romp over Pepperdine as a 6 ½-point road favorite. It has stayed UNDER in four of the Cougars’ last seven games. They earned the No. 2 seed for this tournament with a SU 13-3 record in conference play.

BYU has four players averaging at least 10 PPG led by senior forward Yoeli Childs (22.2 points). He went off for 38 points with 14 rebounds in his season finale.

Betting Trends

-- The Gaels have dropped nine of their last 10 games SU as underdogs with a 3-7 record ATS. The total went OVER in their last four games getting points.

-- The Cougars are 14-9 ATS this season when closing as favorites and they have a 4-1 record ATS in five previous neutral-site games. The total has gone OVER in 10 of 16 conference games.

-- Saint Mary’s has the 7-3 edge over BYU both SU and ATS in the last 10 meetings. The total has gone OVER in three of the last five matchups.

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