With the top seed in the MAAC Tournament already out, the field has opened up quite a bit for the Loyola Maryland Greyhounds and the Fairfield Stags, one of which is going to be on its way to the NCAA Tournament if they can beat the college basketball betting odds on Monday night.

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Fairfield is the team that robbed us of seeing the Iona Gaels in the NCAA Tournament in all likelihood, but the Stags clearly aren’t a team to rest on either. They were consistently one of the better teams in this league all season long, and though they don’t have many great wins to show for their work, they have beaten these Greyhounds on the road and took care of the Old Dominion Monarchs earlier in the campaign. Rakim Sanders is averaging 17.0 points and 8.2 boards per game, and he is the man that really ripped this Iona squad apart on Sunday. He put up 26 points and 12 boards, and he only was out of the lineup for a single minute. What is truly amazing is that all of this work in the MAAC Tournament has come without Derek Needham in the lineup. He has a foot injury that has caused him to miss four games, and without him out there, Sanders is the only man on the floor for Fairfield that is averaging double digits in scoring per game. Needham is listed as day-to-day, and he might give it a go in the Stags’ biggest game of the year.

The door has officially swung open for the Greyhounds, who have only been to the NCAA Tournament once in team history, back in 1994. This team not only has the potential to be a tourney team, but it might be capable of pulling off an upset, and there are many that think that this is the best version of this Loyola Maryland team in school history. Iona’s departure from this tournament makes the Greyhounds the decided favorites, though there are definitely some games that they have played that make us scratch their heads. They were crushed by these Stags at home back in the middle of February, and they also have been beaten of late on the road by the Rider Broncs and the Marist Red Foxes. Still, the potential is there for greatness, and if you don’t believe us, just as the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles and the Bucknell Bison, both of which were tamed by the Greyhounds earlier this year. Loyola also has a win at home against the Gaels and a road win against Fairfield, and there is no doubt that it can play with the big boys.

The Final Word: Normally speaking, in order to beat the best, you have to have given it your all. Fairfield certainly played its best game of the season in order to take down Iona, and we just don’t know if it can turn around just over 24 hours later and beat another great side. This has been a tournament that has been full of upsets, but in the end, the Greyhounds are going to bark the loudest and be on their way to the NCAA Tournament.

Fairfield Stags @ Loyola Maryland Greyhounds Pick: Loyola Maryland Greyhounds

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Andrew Ryan

Andrew Ryan has been in the sportswriting biz since the late-90s, and he has worked side by side with some of the best and brightest in sports gambling. Always searching for the best trends in sports, Andrew uses his brilliant math mind to his advantage to beat the books.

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