LSU vs St. Bonaventure Preview, Prediction, Prop Bets (2021 March Madness)
Source: Pixabay
One of the most interesting duels of the First Round of 2021 March Madness is the clash between #8 LSU and #9 St. Bonaventure. Taking into account their rankings, it’s obvious that this is going to be a close game, but who’s going to win? Let’s find out!
- Date: Saturday, March 20, 2021
- Time: 6:45 pm EDT
- Place: Bloomington Assembly Hall
LSU vs. St. Bonaventure Preview
The LSU Tigers might feel disappointed after losing the SEC Championship game in the most recent game they’ve played. They fell 80-79 to Alabama, a team that was a huge pre-game favorite. In fact, the Tigers were expected to lose with a much more drastic margin – the points spread was set to 6.5 at most online sportsbooks before the start of that game.
Their opponent, St. Bonaventure is coming into the 2021 March Madness after winning the Atlantic 10 title. The Bonnies beat VCU 74-65, which automatically got booked them a place in the First Round of the tournament. They got the #9 seed, which is their highest seed in the university’s history (since the start of the full tournament seeding in 1979).
LSU vs St. Bonaventure Prediction
Although the two are seeded just one next to the other, there is a much greater difference in quality between these two. Sure, winning a conference title is a major success, but the fact is that Atlantic 10 is not an elite conference. So, the fact that St. Bonaventure won doesn’t mean this team should do much in 2021 March Madness.
LSU, on the other hand, played in a much tougher conference in regular season. If they’d managed to win the SEC, they’d probably be ranked even higher. Actually, the conference winner, Alabama, got the #2 seed from NCAA after the win over LSU.
Knowing all this, we need to think of LSU as the favorite to beat St. Bonaventure. And they should do it comfortably, possibly even with a double-figure point difference.
Prop Bet Suggestions
Guard Cameron Thomas was the points leader for the LSU Tigers in the regular season. All eyes will be on this rising start. However, we think that another guard might shine in the LSU vs St. Bonaventure game.
We’re talking about Ja’Vonte Smart, a true expert for 3-pointers. This season, his average is 15.9 points per game, which makes him LSU’s third-best scorer. Most of his points came from a long distance – Smart’s 3-point percentage in 2020-21 is 42.1.
If sportsbooks give an option to bet on Ja’Vonte Smart total points over/under, we think the margin will probably be around 15.5 points. If so, he’ll probably have no problems scoring much more than that.