Atlantic 10 Tournament Champion Richmond will square off against the SEC's Vanderbilt Commodores in the second round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The two Southwest Region squads are scheduled to tip off at 4:10pm ET on Thursday, March 17th at the Pepsi Center in Denver; coverage of the game will be provided by TBS. The latest College Basketball Lines have the Commodores listed as a -2 against the spread NCAA basketball predictions favorite and the Over/Under set at 135.
Richmond placed third in the Atlantic 10 regular season standings with a 13-3 league record. The Spiders were topped by 
Xavier and Temple in the race for the conference title, but they were bested by no one in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Richmond, which owns a 27-7 record, beat Rhode Island and Temple to earn a meeting with Dayton in the championship game. Chris Mooney's troops topped the Flyers 67-54 in garnering their second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
The Spiders' Kevin Anderson scored 23 points against Dayton after connecting on four of his nine three point attempts. Anderson scored 16 points in Richmond's 71-80 opening round loss to St. Mary's in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Richmond's two most notable wins this season came against Purdue (65-54 Nov. 27th) and Temple (58-54 Mar. 12th).
Vanderbilt closed out the regular season with back to back losses against Kentucky and Florida, but it did recover in the SEC Tournament with wins over LSU and Mississippi State before bowing out against the Gators.
The 23-10 Commodores lost their semifinals meeting with Florida 66-77 after shooting a miserable 36.5 percent from the field and 18.2 percent from beyond the arc. Their perimeter defense also played a major role in the setback as the Gators nailed 11-of-21 from three point range. Vandy's leading scorer, sophomore guard John Jenkins (19.5 ppg), posted 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting in the loss.
The winner of Thursday's game will move on to play either Morehead State or Louisville on Saturday.
Richmond vs Vanderbilt 2011 NCAA Bracket Predictions:
Richmond Spiders +2 (-110), Over 135 (-110)
Vanderbilt Commodores -2 (-110), Under 135 (-110)
