{"id":211870,"date":"2026-03-19T20:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/211870\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:08:08","slug":"round-of-64-pick-odds-best-bet-for-march-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/211870\/","title":{"rendered":"Round of 64 pick, odds, best bet for March Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

Saint Mary\u2019s will make its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance<\/a> in its first-round matchup against Texas A&M on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The South region\u2019s seventh-seeded Gaels are 3-1 in those first-round appearances, and enter the tournament with a 27-5 record after tying Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference regular season title.<\/p>\n

The 10th-seeded Aggies, who opened as 2.5-point underdogs, will make their fourth straight trip to the dance with a 2-1 record in their opening games in that span.<\/p>\n

They finished their regular season tied for fourth in the SEC standings at a 21-11 mark under first-year head coach Bucky McMillan.<\/p>\n

McMillan deserves some credit for a winning season after former head coach Buzz Williams took pretty much everyone on the roster with him to Maryland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas A&M vs. Saint Mary\u2019s prediction, odds<\/p>\n

This is a tough draw for the Aggies.<\/p>\n

For starters, Saint Mary\u2019s outsizes them all over the place.<\/p>\n

Size was a recurring issue for Texas A&M throughout the season, as McMillan had to persevere by playing small ball with 6-foot-7 center Rashaun Agee.<\/p>\n

Here, they\u2019ll have to contend with the 13th-biggest team in the nation; Saint Mary\u2019s is anchored by 7-foot-3 Andrew McKeever and deploys multiple guys standing at 6-foot-7.<\/p>\n

\"MarchSaint Mary\u2019s Gaels forward Paulius Murauskas (23) dribbles the basketball against Santa Clara Broncos guard Christian Hammond (1) during the first half at Orleans Arena. Kyle Terada-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Interior scoring becomes harder for A&M, and defensive rebounding will be a very steep uphill battle. <\/p>\n

Saint Mary\u2019s is ranked in the top 15 in both rebounds and rebounding percentage with an astounding plus-11 rebound margin.<\/p>\n

Texas A&M allows 32.5 percent of its own missed shots to be grabbed by the opposition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if shooting is equal here, Saint Mary\u2019s is likely to get more opportunities, and in a tournament setting, possessions matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An upset for the Aggies would depend on how well they can force turnovers and create chaos with pace and pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Saint May\u2019s is uniquely built to neutralize that game plan. The Gaels are the nation\u2019s No. 1 team in free-throw percentage and win with strong half-court execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas A&M is wildly inconsistent with streaky shooters in Pop Isaacs, Rylan Griffen and Rub\u00e9n Dom\u00ednguez.<\/p>\n

Betting on College Basketball? <\/p>\n

The Aggies went 4-7 in their last 11 games, followed by an 83-63 blowout to Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament on March 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Aggies push a fast-tempo game while Saint Mary\u2019s plays at a more controlled pace.<\/p>\n

When those two speeds collide, the slower, more disciplined team usually dictates the terms. This line is as thin as it is because of Texas A&M\u2019s big point output and the SEC vs. WCC perception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Size and rebounding will outmatch shooting variance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

THE PLAY: St. Mary\u2019s -3.5 (-110, BetMGM<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5075,2692,22066,80673,154,5390,5958,27,260,29,28],"class_list":["post-211870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-betting","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-basketball-betting","tag-march-madness-2026","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-picks","tag-texas","tag-texas-am-aggies","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}