Old Virginians and longtime followers of the mid-majors know it as the Black & Blue Classic, but it’s an underrated rivalry by any name and we’ve got a free NCAA basketball pick for Friday’s collision between the Richmond Spiders and VCU Rams.
Richmond Spiders vs. VCU Rams
Friday, February 18, 2022 – 07:00 PM EST at Stuart C. Siegel Center
Richmond and VCU hit the floor Friday night sitting two games apart in the upper half of the Atlantic-10 standings. That’s just what the preseason NCAA basketball futures suggested when the Spiders and Rams were picked to finish 2-3 in the race. Only those predictions said Richmond and VCU would both be chasing St. Bonaventure.
Instead of the Bonnies, who started the season in the top 25 rankings, the Spiders and Rams are trailing Davidson. Virginia Commonwealth enters Friday’s contest a game behind the Wildcats, who will take the court on Saturday, while Richmond is 3-games back in sixth. Just to complicate matters, it’s Dayton and Saint Louis ahead of all three in BPI and KenPom rankings.
Last 3 Meetings Stay ‘Under’
One of just 16 games on the Friday fixture, ESPN2 has the broadcast rights for the 88th meeting between the Spiders and Rams. A quick check of the BMR live betting odds finds VCU carrying 2½-point chalk for the matchup with the total running 132-132½ points. That number is worth noting with the two sides currently running opposite directions in the totals column.
All it took for this to become a rivalry was for VCU to finally start playing basketball in the early-1970s. The Rams and Spiders have been going at it for 48 consecutive seasons starting in 1976, and are now competing in their second conference after both spent time in the Colonial Athletic Association.
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Richmond hosted VCU 20 days ago at Robins Center where the Spiders closed as 2-point favorites at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review). The Rams, however, turned that spread around and beat the Spiders 64-62. Vince Williams Jr. paced VCU with a double-double, scoring a career-best 22 and pulling down 12 boards, plus hit the decisive 3-pointer with about half a minute remaining in the game.
That mild upset marked the second win in a row for VCU in the rivalry, and fifth in the last six meetings to give the Rams a solid 56-31 advantage in the series. The final stopped 8 points short of the total for the third-straight ‘under,’ and the totals have split in the last four clashes waged at Stuart C. Siegel Center.
Spiders Turn Around Slow A-10 Start
Things were not looking good for Chris Mooney and the Spiders just a month ago. Four games into the A-10 schedule, Richmond was one-up and three-down in the standings, with the team looking out of synch following the postponement of games against Fordham and George Mason due to virus issues with the Rams’ and Patriots’ programs.
The Spiders have gone 7-2 since then, with one of the losses the aforementioned contest with VCU, and they’ve managed to cover the college basketball odds in six of those nine games while the ‘under’ has been a money-maker for bettors going 2-7 O/U in that span. Richmond did both last weekend, cover and keep it ‘under,’ in a win over La Salle.
Rams’ Last 5 Cash ‘Over’ Tickets
Mike Rhoades and the Rams have also gone 7-2 over their last nine games, covering spreads at top sportsbooks while making ‘over’ bettors happy with totals going 6-3 O/U. Virginia Commonwealth was in the Bronx earlier this week for a double-Rams matchup against Fordham, and came home with a 66-61 decision that didn’t have enough for the cover but still went ‘over.’
Hason Ward injured his left ankle in the first half of Tuesday’s triumph at Fordham, had to be helped off the court, and did not return to action. The 6-9 junior is fifth on the VCU charts in minutes (21.1) and scoring (6.9 ppg), and is questionable to play Friday night against Richmond.
These neighbors do not get along, which has led some matchups in the past to go beyond just being physical. And that’s just in the stands where the rivalry takes on a bit of a Delta vs. Omega war from Animal House between the two student bodies. Something has to give as far as the conflicting totals trends for the two sides, and I’ll play this one to come up short.
NCAAB Pick: Under 132½ (-105) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
