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It's time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Saint Mary's-San Francisco prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Saint Mary's-San Francisco.
The Saint Mary's Gaels are in a great place right now. They are unbeaten in the West Coast Conference. They lead archrival Gonzaga, annually their foremost competitor and obstacle in the WCC, by three full games. Saint Mary's just defeated Gonzaga head to head this past weekend. This prevented GU from being able to sweep the season series and gain a head-to-head tiebreaker in the chase for first place. As long as Saint Mary's does not lose more than two games over the next month, it will win the regular-season WCC championship. Saint Mary's won the league last year and has been hugely successful in WCC play the past few seasons. Coach Randy Bennett regularly gets his team to play elite defense and display connectedness on the court. SMC is so cohesive and locked in that opponents find it hard to pierce the Gaels' discipline and structure. They run solid offensive sets. They communicate on defense. They are hard to solve, so hard — in fact — that not a single WCC team has defeated them yet this season.
Let's see if San Francisco can become that first team in this Thursday night clash.
Here are the Saint Mary's-San Francisco College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Saint Mary's-San Francisco Odds
Saint Mary's: -6.5 (-102)
Moneyline: -255
San Francisco: +6.5 (-120)
Moneyline: +205
Over: 131.5 (-110)
Under: 131.5 (-110)
How to Watch Saint Mary's vs San Francisco
Time: 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT
Article Continues Below
TV: ESPN2, ESPN Plus
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)*
Why Saint Mary's Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Gaels' unbeaten record in WCC competition speaks for itself. Every WCC team has made a run at Saint Mary's, including Gonzaga, and they all fell short. Saint Mary's had the defensive solutions for Gonzaga this past weekend. In other games SMC has played, the Gaels were able to get into an offensive rhythm. This is a disciplined, well-drilled team which puts in the effort and does not coast through sequences of games. This team stays on task. It's why SMC crushed San Francisco by 20 points at home in the first of the two meetings between the schools this season. If SMC could beat USF by 20 in the first go-round between these teams, it can win the second one by at least seven points, which would be enough to cover the spread.
Why San Francisco Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Dons have been gearing up for this game all week. They know SMC was a lot better the first time these teams played. Expect USF to offer a much better accounting of itself in this rematch. It's a home game for the Dons, who need to acquire a “rally 'round the flag” posture and attitude. We are reminded in college basketball that one team doesn't have to be better than the other in a seven-game series; this is single-game competition, in which an inferior team just has to be better than the generally superior team for one night. People will say that SMC probably wins 9 of 10 games versus San Francisco, but USF just has to be better this one time. That's all that matters: actual performance, not win probabilities or likelihoods.
Final Saint Mary's-San Francisco Prediction & Pick
Our lean is to San Francisco, but we are not going to trust the inferior team in this matchup, either. Maybe sit back and wait for a live betting play here.
Final Saint Mary's-San Francisco Prediction & Pick: San Francisco +6.5
