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Alabama vs. Saint Mary’s: Crimson Tide open as slim favorite for Round of 32
By Mark Kern
Published:
Alabama picked up a 90-81 win against Robert Morris to advance to the Round of 32 on Friday. It wasn’t always pretty for the Crimson Tide, as they allowed the Colonials to get 16 offensive rebounds and allowed them to stay in the game for the full 40 minutes.
The motto in the NCAA Tournament is to survive and advance, and that is what Alabama did. With the win, they will now take on Saint Mary’s on Sunday after the Gaels won a 59-56 hard fought battle against another SEC basketball team, Vanderbilt.
With the matchup already out, that means Vegas already has the spread out in the game, and the Crimson Tide are a 5.5-point favorite over the Gaels per ESPN Bet. They were a 21.5-point favorite against Robert Morris on Friday but didn’t come close to covering. Be sure to track the Final Four odds throughout the tournament, and check back to see where the Tide sit ahead of Sunday’s tip-off.
The Crimson Tide did have star forward Grant Nelson available against Robert Morris, but he was able to play only 7 minutes coming back from the knee injury he suffered in the SEC Tournament. It remains to be seen if he can provide more minutes on Sunday.
This is a contrast of styles as Alabama wants to play a high possession, high-scoring type of game. Saint Mary’s on the other hand wants the game to be played at a slow pace. Gonzaga is a team similar to Alabama in terms of wanting to play at a fast pace, but the Gaels won 2 of 3 games vs. the Bulldogs and controlled the pace in all 3 matchups.
The over/under is 148.5 points, and which side of that number the game finishes at could be a huge indicator in who is winning that game.
