Count on regular season champion VCU to cut the nets down at this week’s Atlantic 10 tournament

College basketball fans who love parity certainly have enjoyed the Atlantic 10 Tournament in recent years, because the last seven tournaments have produced seven different champions.

It’s not yet known if that trend will continue, but last year’s champion, Richmond, is not expected to be the last team standing. This much we already know: Only one of the league’s 15 teams will leave Brooklyn with a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Here’s an Atlantic 10 Tournament betting preview, including our pick to snag the conference’s lone golden ticket.

Odds updated as of 2:30 p.m. ET on March 6.

VCU was the class of the Atlantic 10 this season, winning the regular season crown by three games over a trio of second-place teams (Fordham, Dayton and Saint Louis).

However, at Caesars Sportsbook, the Rams are barely favored to add a conference tournament title to their regular season hardware, and they’re not favored at all at FanDuel.

VCU last won the A-10 tournament in 2015. Since then, the tournament championship — and automatic NCAA Tournament berth that comes with it — has been passed to Saint Joseph’s (2016), Rhode Island (2017), Davidson (2018), Saint Louis (2019), St. Bonaventure (2021) and Richmond (2022). (The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Obviously, there’s ample reason to believe the Rams (24-7, 15-15-1 ATS) can back up their 2022-23 regular season title with a conference tournament trophy. They arrive in Brooklyn on a six-game winning streak (tied with George Mason for longest active positive run). Also, 10 of their 15 league wins were double-digit blowouts.

However, VCU’s most recent loss came at home against Dayton (62-58 as a 3.5-point favorite on Feb. 7). The Rams did take the first meeting, 63-62, at Dayton, but again, it was a down-to-the-wire nail-biter.

Then again, dating to that one-point home loss to VCU, Dayton is just 8-6 SU and a 6-8 ATS. The latter record indicates the Flyers (20-11, 15-16 ATS) have failed to meet market expectations more often than not for six weeks.

Also, a quick check of the history books shows that Dayton is on a two-decade A-10 tourney dry spell, having last cut down the nets in 2003.

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Saint Louis (20-11, 12-17-1 ATS) and Fordham (24-7, 19-12 ATS) shared second place with Dayton. However, at FanDuel, Saint Louis’ odds to win the A-10 Tournament are half those of Fordham.

That’s a bit of a head-scratcher, given that the Billkens are just 5-5 in their last 10 games (3-6-1 ATS). That includes a trio of lopsided losses to Fordham (road), VCU (home) and Dayton (road) in 11 days. They also got drubbed 79-67 at VCU a week ago.

Saint Louis did cap the regular season with Friday’s 65-61 home win over Dayton as a one-point favorite. Also, the Billikens join VCU, Dayton and Fordham as receiving double-byes to the A-10 tournament quarterfinals.

Still, going back to its 75-65 loss at Fordham as a 4-point road favorite on Jan. 31 — a defeat that ended a six-game winning streak — Saint Louis has won consecutive games just once.

Those wins were against Davidson and Duquesne, whose A-10 tournament odds of +1500 and +3000, respectively, are worse than Fordham’s.

As for Fordham, it had a rough 1-3 start to the league season, including an ugly 82-58 home loss to Dayton. The Rams did go 12-3 from there, but one of the blemishes was a 19-point defeat at VCU.

What about the A-10′s two representatives from Philly — La Salle and St. Joseph’s? Both are below .500 overall and went a combined 15-20 in conference record. As such, they’re long-shot bombs in the Atlantic 10 Tournament futures market — bombs we don’t recommend messing with.

» READ MORE: Big East Tournament prediction: Bet on UConn to cut down the nets in New York

We’d love to make a case for a dice roll with George Mason, whose 35-to-1 odds at FanDuel belie the team’s six-game hot streak. However, only one of those was a quality win (74-68 at Dayton).

So our money is on VCU in what likely will be a showdown with Dayton in the final. Not only are the Rams in much better form than the Rams right now, but they’ve won eight consecutive road games.

Obviously, this tournament is on a neutral court, but the ability to win away from home is a huge intangible in March. And while Dayton did win at VCU, it’s one of just three wins in the team’s last seven outside of Ohio.

» READ MORE: Full sports betting coverage from The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.