The top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers aim to continue their march towards their first-ever national championship when they hit the floor against the Auburn Tigers on Saturday as 5.5-point favourites on the Final Four odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Virginia has been a dominant force on the hardwood this season, posting a Division I-best 33 straight-up wins, but was pushed to the brink in each of its past two tournament outings going into Saturday’s matchup at US Bank Stadium.
The Cavaliers were forced to make a late push to get past No. 12 Oregon 53-49 as 8.5-point chalk in Sweet Sixteen action, and needed a last-second bucket to force overtime before escaping with an 80-75 win over No. 3 Purdue as 4.5-point favourites in the Elite Eight. Virginia has also covered in just three of its past seven games, but that has not dampened the Cavaliers position on the national championship odds, where they remain +150 favourites.
The Tigers have emerged as the Cinderella story of this year’s tournament after posting a trio of stunning victories over Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky. No. 5 Auburn now rides an impressive 12-game SU win streak into its first Final Four appearance, but the team enters the weekend pegged as a +600 longshot to win the national title.
In Saturday’s other Final Four matchup, the Michigan State Spartans will be looking for another big performance out of Cassius Winston in their clash with No. 3 Texas Tech as a narrow 2.5-point chalk.
Winston has been a driving force behind No. 2 Michigan State’s push towards its first Final Four appearance since 2015. The 21-year-old point guard has averaged 19 points per game at this year’s NCAA Tournament, capped by a 20-point, 10-assist performance in the Spartans’ stunning 68-67 upset of top-seeded Duke in the Elite Eight as 2.5-point underdogs.
That’s been good enough to lift Winston to the top of the odds as a strong +250 favourite at online betting sites to garner Most Outstanding Player honours at this year’s tournament.
But while the Spartans closely trail Virginia as a +185 wager to claim their first national championship since 2000, they cannot afford to look past the Red Raiders, who earned their first Final Four berth with a surprising 75-69 upset of top-seeded Gonzaga as 5-point underdogs in last weekend’s Elite Eight action.
Texas Tech has emerged as a reliable wager at the sportsbooks during a 13-1 SU run, covering on 12 occasions, and finished the regular season with a team defence that ranked third in the nation while surrendering just 59.0 points per game.
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