The March Madness tournament has been full of upsets the last two weeks. But one thing has remained constant. The Villanova Wildcats entered the tournament as the favorite and they remain that in their quest to win the national title. Villanova has advanced to the Elite Eight, where it will face off against the No. 3 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders with a Final Four appearance on the line.
Villanova has a good draw as it will face off against a Texas Tech team that is inferior. The Wildcats will be expected to make it to the national semifinals but need to avoid the upset bug that has afflicted so many other expected contenders.
The Red Raiders have looked good in the NCAA men’s tournament but they are going up against the team that is widely seen as the best in the country in NCAA basketball betting.
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Odds Analysis
Vilanova is a 6.5-point favorite against Texas Tech in this Elite Eight matchup. The money has come in pretty evenly on both teams early on. The scoring total is set at 144.5 points, and the “under’ has been the more common choice thus far.
Texas Tech is 26-9 straight up and 15-17-1 against the spread. The Red Raiders are 3-4 against the spread on a neutral court this season. Texas Tech has been the underdog six times this season and has covered in two of them.
Villanova is 33-4 straight up and 24-12-1 against the spread. The Wildcats have gone 9-2-1 against the spread on neutral courts this season. They have not been the underdog this season and likely won’t be the rest of the way, either. Villanova is certainly the favorite in this one.
Last Time Out
Texas Tech got here by knocking off Purdue by a score of 78-65 in the Sweet Sixteen. The Red Raiders were slight underdogs but took a five-point lead into halftime and then weathered a Purdue rally to claim the victory. Texas Tech shot 47.5 percent from the field and forced 17 turnovers to net the win. The Boilermakers are a solid team so it was an impressive job by the Red Raiders to earn the victory.
Villanova beat a tough West Virginia squad by a score of 90-78. The Wildcats were led by Jalen Brunson, who scored 27 points. Texas Tech needs to find a way to slow him down as Brunson is one of the best players in the country. Villanova shot 50 percent from the field and 54 percent from downtown, which made it impossible for West Virginia to have a shot at the upset.
Key Stat
12. That’s the smallest margin of victory for Villanova in its three tournament games. A lot of brackets are busted because so many top teams have been eliminated. Virginia got the chaos started by becoming the first No. 1 seed to fall in the first round and many other elite teams have been upset in the ensuing rounds.
However, the Wildcats have been cruising. They beat Radford by 26 points in the opening round and followed that with a 23 points win over Alabama in the Round of 32. West Virginia is a good team and hung around but Villanova still won by a dozen points.
While the spread against Texas Tech is in the single digits it wouldn’t be a shock if VIllanova won another one by ten or more.
Free NCAA ATS Picks
If the Wildcats continue playing this crisp, there is no one in the country that can knock them off. Texas Tech is a good defensive team and must play solid on that end of the court in order to keep it close.
Villanova is the choice to win as well as on the NCAA basketball spread to cover.
NCAA Odds: Villanova 74, Texas Tech 66
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