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The 1st match in the Final 4 on Saturday in March Madness odds has Virginia Commonwealth facing Butler. It's a match of 2 mid-majors that weren't expected to get this far.  Butler does have experience though as they made the title game a year ago and they're preferred in NCAA March Madness betting at the sports book vs the Rams.

Butler -2.5, total 133.5

The Bulldogs are favored on Saturday and that is a purpose they are not accustomed to in the NCAA Competition. Usually the Bulldogs are the longshots but that is not the situation in this game. Butler is the higher seed at #8 and they have more knowledge having performed in the title match a year ago. 

Ram Difficult

The Rams were not even supposed to be in the championship but they sure have seemed good since getting in. They have won four of their five competitions by double-digits plus they are shooting fantastic from 3-point range. VCU has started formidable in each competition and put the strain on opposing teams.  They may have a harder time doing that vs a veteran Butler squad.  VCU played the longshot card very well in upsets versus Georgetown, Purdue and Kansas but they will not be able to catch Butler looking ahead due to the fact the Bulldogs are typically the underdogs.  Butler guard Ronald Nored stated that other teams actually haven’t been ready to play VCU.  Butler has skilled participants like Matt Howard, Shelvin Mack and Nored who have been there before so they are unlikely to get rattled.

Butler Wins Near Competitions

If this match goes to the wire you must like the probabilities of Butler coming out at the top.  Butler’s last 9 tourney contests have been decided by a total of 30 points which is fewer than four points per competition.  In this year’s tourney, Butler has won their tourney competitions by a total of only 13 points.

3-Pointers

If VCU is to win on Saturday versus the NCAA March Madness betting odds then they will have to continue their hot 3-point shooting. The Rams have just lived from outside the arc in the NCAA Tournament.  If they're to defeat Butler they will have to hit from the outside again.  It may not be effortless though as the Bulldogs are among the superior squads in the country in defending the 3-pointer.

Wichita State is a minor fave in March Madness probabilities against Alabama in Thursday night’s NIT Championship match at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Shockers are coming off a big win on Tuesday as they defeated Washington State in NCAA March Madness betting while Alabama just got past Colorado.

Alabama (25-11)

The Crimson Tide most likely ought to have been in the NCAA Championship yet they are sure making the almost all of the NIT. They took advantage of the NIT wanting them in the title game as they won three competitions at home and then the Crimson Tide made it to beat Colorado 62-61.  It's worth noting that Alabama didn't cover the spread in that game as they were 2.5 point favorites.  The Crimson Tide is headed by JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell and they're additionally gaining powerful play lately from Trevor Releford.

Wichita State (28-8)

The Shockers were highly impressive on Tuesday as they completely dismantled Washington State, winning 75-44. That win undoubtedly pleased the sportsbooks as Wichita State is liked versus Alabama in the NIT Championship. The Shockers are especially deep as they have 10 players who can score.  Wichita State is competing suffocating defense in the tournament and that's usually Alabama’s calling card. The Shockers aren't a fluke squad as they lost to Connecticut and Virginia Commonwealth this year by a combined 5 points.  They are not going to be in awe of playing Alabama in the championship game.  Wichita State seems to be a squad on a roll and they are going to be tough to defeat on Thursday evening.

Game Total

The total on this game in NCAA March Madness betting lines is posted at 129.5 at the sports book and it's genuinely difficult to see how the odds makers came up with this number.  Alabama and Wichita State are great defensive teams so unless this match goes into overtime you must think it will be won by a squad that finishes in the minimal 60’s.  It would take each squad getting into the mid 60’s for this game to go over and based on the numbers that doesn’t seem very likely. Alabama was seventh in the nation on defense this year allowing less than 60 points per competition and Wichita State wasn't far behind as they permitted just under 62 points per game.

At the start of this year's NCAA competition, may anyone have predicted this would be the Final Four that we were to get? None of the leading seed made it to Houston, while one of the 1st 4 - actually meaning one of the last four picked for the tournament whatsoever - has made it. It will be a shocking if only one bracket all through the country was still intact in NCAA gambling after this past weekend.

Who might have predicted that among the national semifinals games would be competed between the Butler Bulldogs and the VCU Rams? Couple of enough individuals expected Butler to make it back into the Sweet 16, not to mention the Final Four. And nobody really supposed VCU to make their incredible run in the championship, defeating out No. 1 seed Kansas on the way.

So is this year just a fluke, or is the era of being able to predict comparatively correct national championships arriving to an end? In essence, the smaller schools are getting quality participants, and those participants stick around for longer than the minimum amount of time needed to make a name for themselves before declaring for the nba Draft.

Programs like Butler and VCU can attract quality players, even if they do not get the quite best high school players in the nation. The major names like Kansas and Ohio State can acquire the top of the top, but then those competitors just stay in ncaa for a year or 2 at the most. In the meantime, the smaller schools take advantage and create their players for 3-4 years.

So the upsets we are seeing this year aren't flukes. They reflect the changing perception of the importance of playing ncaa ball. None of the top seeds lasted long enough to make it to Houston's semifinal round. Duke is gone, Kansas is gone, the broadly preferred Ohio State is gone. Butler, VUC, Kentucky, and Uconn make up only the third Final Four devoid of a No. 1 seed since 1979.

The huge conferences were humiliated from the championship this year. The Big East and Big Ten got a combined 18 bids this year, and just one squad made it even as far as the Elite Eight - Connecticut. Look for the more compact conferences and lesser programs to start gaining more competition bids in the longer term. And watch for them to keep winning as long as the “elite” schools recruit talent at the expense of reliability in basketball gambling.

In 2 years, the Bulldogs have had 2 awesome runs in the NCAA tournament, and they look to continue this year's run tonight against the Badgers. The game tips off at 9:57 PM ET in New Orleans and will be televised on TBS. Can Butler keep winning matches on the final position, or will the Badgers come from this one on top in college basketball wagering?

NCAA probabilities like Wisconsin in this game by 4.5 points. The total is scheduled at 124. The Bulldogs are coming into this game with two dramatic wins in the championship, keeping matches near until the final control. With two last odds to win, they won both matches to date against Old Dominion and Pitt to move forward to the Sweet Sixteen.

The most tricky competition for Wisconsin will be Matt Howard, Butler's talented big man on the floor. He can shoot the ball from outside the paint, but is also effective at the post. On the other hand, Butler will need to find some way to shut down Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor. Point guard Taylor is furthermore useful on the court, regularly draws double teams, and is great at racking up assists. He can also shoot the 3.

Although the Badgers are probably the superior team total, with a more regular record and better defense, they're prone to droughts in NCAA gambling. The Bulldogs have been clinging on to their tournament run by the skin of their teeth with two very close games. But to date, they've got usually found a method to win if the match is tight in the last minutes of the second half.

If either Howard or guard Shelvin Mack have difficulty tonight, history indicates us that Butler will likely lose. Despite the fact that they've won 11 back to back with their last loss arriving on Feb 3, they can be vulnerable if Howard or Mack have an off evening. Losses to Youngstown State, Valparaiso, and UW-Milwaukee all show that. Butler is furthermore prone to racking up fouls, with an average of 19 per game.

At the start of this year's NCAA competition, may anyone have predicted this would be the Final Four that we were to get? None of the leading seed made it to Houston, while one of the 1st 4 - actually meaning one of the last four picked for the tournament whatsoever - has made it. It will be a shocking if only one bracket all through the country was still intact in NCAA gambling after this past weekend.

Who might have predicted that among the national semifinals games would be competed between the Butler Bulldogs and the VCU Rams? Couple of enough individuals expected Butler to make it back into the Sweet 16, not to mention the Final Four. And nobody really supposed VCU to make their incredible run in the championship, defeating out No. 1 seed Kansas on the way.

So is this year just a fluke, or is the era of being able to predict comparatively correct national championships arriving to an end? In essence, the smaller schools are getting quality participants, and those participants stick around for longer than the minimum amount of time needed to make a name for themselves before declaring for the nba Draft.

Programs like Butler and VCU can attract quality players, even if they do not get the quite best high school players in the nation. The major names like Kansas and Ohio State can acquire the top of the top, but then those competitors just stay in ncaa for a year or 2 at the most. In the meantime, the smaller schools take advantage and create their players for 3-4 years.

So the upsets we are seeing this year aren't flukes. They reflect the changing perception of the importance of playing ncaa ball. None of the top seeds lasted long enough to make it to Houston's semifinal round. Duke is gone, Kansas is gone, the broadly preferred Ohio State is gone. Butler, VUC, Kentucky, and Uconn make up only the third Final Four devoid of a No. 1 seed since 1979.

The huge conferences were humiliated from the championship this year. The Big East and Big Ten got a combined 18 bids this year, and just one squad made it even as far as the Elite Eight - Connecticut. Look for the more compact conferences and lesser programs to start gaining more competition bids in the longer term. And watch for them to keep winning as long as the “elite” schools recruit talent at the expense of reliability in basketball gambling.

In 2 years, the Bulldogs have had 2 awesome runs in the NCAA tournament, and they look to continue this year's run tonight against the Badgers. The game tips off at 9:57 PM ET in New Orleans and will be televised on TBS. Can Butler keep winning matches on the final position, or will the Badgers come from this one on top in college basketball wagering?

NCAA probabilities like Wisconsin in this game by 4.5 points. The total is scheduled at 124. The Bulldogs are coming into this game with two dramatic wins in the championship, keeping matches near until the final control. With two last odds to win, they won both matches to date against Old Dominion and Pitt to move forward to the Sweet Sixteen.

The most tricky competition for Wisconsin will be Matt Howard, Butler's talented big man on the floor. He can shoot the ball from outside the paint, but is also effective at the post. On the other hand, Butler will need to find some way to shut down Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor. Point guard Taylor is furthermore useful on the court, regularly draws double teams, and is great at racking up assists. He can also shoot the 3.

Although the Badgers are probably the superior team total, with a more regular record and better defense, they're prone to droughts in NCAA gambling. The Bulldogs have been clinging on to their tournament run by the skin of their teeth with two very close games. But to date, they've got usually found a method to win if the match is tight in the last minutes of the second half.

If either Howard or guard Shelvin Mack have difficulty tonight, history indicates us that Butler will likely lose. Despite the fact that they've won 11 back to back with their last loss arriving on Feb 3, they can be vulnerable if Howard or Mack have an off evening. Losses to Youngstown State, Valparaiso, and UW-Milwaukee all show that. Butler is furthermore prone to racking up fouls, with an average of 19 per game.

Even though the Blue Devils and the Wildcats have not played each other in the NCAA competition in a decade, Duke owns the series and is likely to effortlessly handle Arizona. When the two teams meet on Thursday night for a 9:50 PM ET tip-off, people will be looking towards the Blue Devils' 2 historical victories over the squad in NCAA gambling.

The two teams last met in the tournament in 2001, where Duke came away with an 11-point victory, overcoming the Wildcats 82-71. The team went on to win the NCAA championship that year, as well as in 2010. Actually, Duke has continued to be among the top teams in the nation since that 2001 game.

Regrettably, the same cannot be stated for Arizona. The 2010 NCAA tournament was the 1st time the school did not make it to the Big Dance in over 25 years. The squad went through a period of stagnation in the 2000s, resulting in the retirement of legendary coach Lute Olson and the hiring of Sean Miller.

This year, the Wildcats had a good season, going 29-7 overall and 14-4 in the Pac-10. The won the Pac-10 normal season championship, and won two games in the Pac-10 tournament. They've got won their place in the Sweet 16, but are they excellent enough to beat Duke?

The sportsbooks question it. The sportsbook considers the Blue Devils the 8.5 point favorites to move forward Thursday night. The total is set at 144.5 Even though Arizona shoved off Texas to advance past the tournament's first weekend, it is difficult to imagine the team progressing to the second weekend

In the long run, Duke should come out of this match with one more easy win and move forward to the Elite 8. The big shock will be if the Wildcats make this one a close match. The last time Arizona won the competition was in 1997, however they still have a lot of rebuilding to do to get back to that greatest level of college basketball betting.

Virginia Commonwealth was a big long shot to win in NCAA March Madness betting before the NCAA Tournament commenced and they are still a underdog in the Final 4. The Rams were aspect of the field in most March Madness lines before the tourney started despite the fact that some odds makers did have them listed at substantial odds.  Almost nobody expected VCU to make the Final 4.

Long shot Rams

VCU was anywhere from a 200-1 underdog as element of the field at several odds makers to a 10,000-1 longshot at one Las Vegas sports book.  The Rams are still underdogs in the Final 4 in March Madness lines even though not by much.  Kentucky is the favorite to win the national championship with Connecticut the second pick came after by Butler and VCU.  The Rams are not a big longshot now though with odds of 4-1.  The Rams are in fact the greatest long shot to ever make the Final Four since the championship expanded in 1986.  The Rams are the 3rd #11 seed to make the Final Four yet they are by far the biggest longshot.  The other two #11 seeds to make the Final 4 were LSU in 1986 and George Mason in 2006 but both of those teams got more respect than VCU has gotten.  Actually, LSU was competing at home and liked in their 1st game back in 1986. George Mason was an long shot in 2006 but never a double-digit longshot.

How They Got Here

Virginia Commonwealth was a quality, but not great squad during the regular year. They actually finished 4th in the Colonial Athletic Association.  The CAA was a great conference with George Mason and Old Dominion leading the way. The Rams got an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament because they did not win the conference tournament. Quite couple of folks thought they were going to get a tournament bid including their head coach and competitors who were not even viewing the NCAA Championship selection show.  The Rams had to play in the “First Four” competition and they defeated USC.  VCU then beat Georgetown easily, beaten Purdue, got past Florida State in overtime and then dominated Kansas.

VCU is a 2.5 point underdog in March Madness betting at the sports book as they face Butler in the first Final Four game on Saturday.

So, rather than a No. 3 Purdue against No. 2 Notre Dame game to look ahead to, last night introduced two shocking results from the United Center in Chicago. And now we will all get to look forward to a VCU vs Florida State game. VCU removed the Boilermakers from the championship yesterday afternoon, whereas the Irish tumbled to the Florida State Seminoles in basketball gambling

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These games weren't even tight, too. VCU destroyed Purdue in a 94-76 rout, whereas Florida State handily took care of Notre Dame, 71-57. Even though the Florida State upset wasn't that shocking, it should be recalled that VCU had to win a match vs USC - which they won - in the 1st Four round even to get a possibility at competing some of these elite teams deeper in the championship.

And then the Rams went on to knock out Georgetown and Purdue. This will be VCU's first trip ever to the Sweet 16, plus they are doing it in style, miserable one fave after yet another. Can they keep up their run when they go to San Antonio? It will likely be the first NCAA championship game in history matching a No. 10 seed against a No. 11 seed.

VCU had a lot of, many doubters arriving into the tournament, and there will be a lot of who will like Florida State for the win over the Rams. This will be the Seminoles' 1st trip to the Sweet 16 since 1993, and simply their fourth time in the history of the school. Even with being given their highest seed since 1981, the Fighting Irish left the competition on the first weekend, as they usually do.

On a side note, with Notre Dame leaving the tournament, the Big East conference as a whole has been unsatisfactory this year. Said to be the best conference in the nation, eleven Big East squads made it into the NCAA competition, but just 2 are left following the 1st weekend: UConn and Marquette. The ACC is performing better, sending 3 squads including Florida State to the round of 16 in college basketball betting.

Even though the Blue Devils and the Wildcats have not played each other in the NCAA competition in a decade, Duke owns the series and is likely to effortlessly handle Arizona. When the two teams meet on Thursday night for a 9:50 PM ET tip-off, people will be looking towards the Blue Devils' 2 historical victories over the squad in NCAA gambling.

The two teams last met in the tournament in 2001, where Duke came away with an 11-point victory, overcoming the Wildcats 82-71. The team went on to win the NCAA championship that year, as well as in 2010. Actually, Duke has continued to be among the top teams in the nation since that 2001 game.

Regrettably, the same cannot be stated for Arizona. The 2010 NCAA tournament was the 1st time the school did not make it to the Big Dance in over 25 years. The squad went through a period of stagnation in the 2000s, resulting in the retirement of legendary coach Lute Olson and the hiring of Sean Miller.

This year, the Wildcats had a good season, going 29-7 overall and 14-4 in the Pac-10. The won the Pac-10 normal season championship, and won two games in the Pac-10 tournament. They've got won their place in the Sweet 16, but are they excellent enough to beat Duke?

The sportsbooks question it. The sportsbook considers the Blue Devils the 8.5 point favorites to move forward Thursday night. The total is set at 144.5 Even though Arizona shoved off Texas to advance past the tournament's first weekend, it is difficult to imagine the team progressing to the second weekend

In the long run, Duke should come out of this match with one more easy win and move forward to the Elite 8. The big shock will be if the Wildcats make this one a close match. The last time Arizona won the competition was in 1997, however they still have a lot of rebuilding to do to get back to that greatest level of college basketball betting.