Only four of the Philadelphia area’s six men’s college basketball teams can still get into the NCAA tournament.

Penn did not qualify for the four-team Ivy League tournament and Drexel shit the bed as a No. 2 seed in the CAA quarterfinals on Sunday.

None of the remaining teams, Villanova, St. Joe’s, La Salle and Temple, are a top-four seed in their respective conference tournaments. They’ll have to win at least four games to earn an automatic bid.

If you’re scanning the odds and looking for value on your Pennsylvania sports betting apps and NJ sports betting apps, that means each member of the quartet is a long shot to win their respective conference tournaments.

 

Atlantic 10 

  • St. Joe’s: +1800 (FanDuel) +2500 (DraftKings)
  • La Salle: +25000 (FD), +35000 (DK)

La Salle needs to win five games in five days to earn the Atlantic 10’s automatic berth. The Explorers haven’t won more than two games at the A-10 tournament in more than a decade. The good news? La Salle went 4-2 in its last six games and beat No. 7 seed St. Bonaventure during that stretch. The Bonnies await the Explorers if they beat George Washington on Tuesday. The bad news? La Salle is 1-4 with four double-digit losses to the top four teams in the A-10

St. Joe’s has not won multiple games in a row since January 31 and February 3. The Hawks’ longest winning streak in conference play was three games. The Hawks could beat George Mason in the 8-9 game, but they’ll probably be close to a double-digit underdog against top seed Richmond.

American

  • Temple (+50000, DK)

Temple hasn’t won more than three games in a row this season. The Owls need to win five in a row in Fort Worth to win the American tournament.

By the way: what an awful conference tournament site. I get it, the AAC has four Texas-based teams, but find a more central location.

Anyway, Temple could beat UTSA in the first round, but it won’t have an extended stay in Fort Worth.

Big East

  • Villanova: +1600 (DK) +2000 (FD)

Villanova is realistically the only Philly area team that can make the NCAA tournament.

The ‘Cats will beat DePaul, and probably by double digits, but more on that Wednesday when the spread comes out.

Villanova must beat Marquette on Thursday to feel okay about itself, but it probably needs to defeat Marquette and then Creighton on Friday to feel 100 percent safe about its chances. Kyle Neptune’s team can advance far because Marquette is dealing with some injury issues and they beat Creighton earlier in the season. And don’t forget the experience Eric Dixon and Justin Moore have. Both of those players need to have massive tournaments for Nova to go far at MSG.

That was a long-winded way to say it’s Villanova or bust for the area, and if not, hope you like the NIT!