For those of you who enjoy putting down a bet every now and then -- where better than Atlantic City, N.J. -- the odds are against top-seed and nationally ranked Xavier winning the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament this week at Boardwalk Hall.

Only one team has won the title as the No. 1 seed in the past five years -- George Washington in 2005.

Xavier (26-5) has a bye in the first round today and will meet the winner of the game between Dayton and Saint Louis in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

Although Xavier is a heavy favorite to win it all, Massachusetts and a revived Dayton are the two top contenders to knock off the Musketeers. Massachusetts (21-9) features A-10 Player of the Year 6-foot-7 Gary Forbes, and Dayton (20-9) has shown signs of coming out of its midseason funk with three consecutive wins and is looking forward to the return of 6-8 Chris Wright, who has missed 15 games with a fractured ankle.

Dayton was 14-1 and ranked in the Top 20 a couple months ago.

The long shots in the field of 14 to go all the way are Temple (18-12), which boasts the most prolific duo in the league in 6-5 Dionte Christmas and 6-5 Mark Tyndale, and Saint Joseph's (18-11), which always is dangerous as long as Phil Martelli is directing things from the bench.

Charlotte and Duquesne are sleepers but don't appear to have what it takes to win four games in four days.

Richmond, whose style is to lull opponents to sleep, La Salle, Fordham and Rhode Island probably shouldn't unpack their bags and should plan for a quick exit.

The most versatile player in the A-10 has to be Temple's Mark Tyndale, a senior who is the only player in league history to rank in the Top 10 in scoring (10th, 16.1 ppg) and rebounding (8th, 6.8 rpg) and Top 5 in assists (5th, 4.13 per game) in a season.

Ten players in the league have scored 30 or more points in a game this season, led by Charlotte's Leemire Goldwire with 39 in an 87-83 victory against St. Bonaventure. He has surpassed the 30-point plateau five times, tops in the league.

For the 13th consecutive season, the league has multiple teams winning 20 or more games: Xavier (26-5), Massachusetts (21-9), Dayton (20-9) and Rhode Island (21-10). Ten of the 14 teams have at least 15 wins in a season for the first time in league history.

Duquesne 6-10 junior Shawn James has blocked a school-record 107 shots this season, more than seven teams in the A-10. He is the ninth all-time shot-blocker in Division I with 439 in 82 games, the first 55 games at Northeastern. James is tied for fourth nationally this season with 3.96 blocks per game.

The list of injured players who could play major roles in the tournament includes Xavier's 5-7 Drew Lavender (ankle), Dayton's 6-8 Chris Wright (ankle) and Duquesne's 6-10 Shawn James (shoulder). Lavender has been playing on a gimpy ankle that has reduced his quickness and limited his minutes. Wright, who has missed 15 games with a fractured ankle, has been practicing with the team and could see some action. The Flyers were 14-1 with the freshman in the lineup. James, who missed the Temple game and played just six minutes against Saint Louis, is expected to be available but certainly won't be at full strength.

Only Xavier is assured of getting an NCAA at-large bid even if it doesn't get the automatic bid as tournament champion. Dayton, Massachusetts, Temple and Saint Joseph's likely must win at least two tournament games to be considered a bubble candidate for an at-large bid. The only way anyone else will get to the NCAA tournament is by winning the A-10 tournament. ... The A-10 could get a number of teams into the NIT, but Duquesne most likely would have to win three games to receive a bid.