2011 NCAA Tournament Final Four
#8 Butler Bulldogs vs. #11 VCU Rams, Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX
Saturday, April 2, 2011, 6:09 pm Eastern, TV: CBS
Opening Line: Butler -2.5
Current Line: Butler -2.5
Opening Total: 131
Current Total: 134
Money Line: Butler -145 / VCU +125
The Southwest Region champion VCU Rams (28-11) and Southeast Region champion Butler Bulldogs (27-9) have taken much different roads to their Final Four matchup on Saturday at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, but both teams have certainly earned the right to play for a shot at the national championship on Monday night. The eighth-seeded Bulldogs (-2.5) are back in the national semifinals for the second straight year while the 11th-seeded Rams became the first team ever to win five consecutive games in the NCAA tournament on their way to the Final Four.
Virginia Commonwealth benefited greatly from the addition of the inaugural First Four in Dayton this year and would have been sitting home had the tournament field not been expanded to 68 teams. Yet the Rams have been the second-most dominant of the four teams left standing, beating their opponents by an average margin of 12 points per game. Only one of VCU’s four games was decided by less than 10 points, a 72-71 overtime victory against #10 Florida State.
Like the Rams, Butler has been an underdog in every NCAA tournament game this year, which is not that much different from last year’s run to the national title game. The Bulldogs lost the championship to Duke 61-59 after upsetting Syracuse and Kansas State as underdogs, and they are a remarkable 9-1 straight-up and against the spread in the Big Dance the past two years.
After falling to the Blue Devils, the team also lost star Gordon Hayward to the NBA following his sophomore year and has relied on senior Matt Howard to be the hero this time around. Howard hit the game-winning shot in a 60-58 win over #8 Old Dominion in the second round and then made the game-winning free throws in a 71-70 upset of #1 Pittsburgh two days later.
While VCU and Butler have both thrived as dogs throughout the NCAA tournament, the major difference between them so far has been how each team has won games. The Bulldogs have seen three of their four games decided by three points or less, and seven of their past nine tourney games dating back to last year have been decided by four or less. The UNDER is 7-2 in those games and 7-3 in their past 10 overall.
The Rams turned in the biggest upset of the Big Dance last Sunday when they shocked #1 Kansas 71-61 as 11-point underdogs. That continued domination of opponents has made VCU head coach Shaka Smart one of the most sought-after young minds in college basketball. The 33-year-old Smart is six months younger than Butler’s Brad Stevens, who last year became the second-youngest coach ever to make it to the NCAA championship game.
Now that you have read this Final Four college basketball betting preview featuring Butler & VCU, check out the NCAA basketball odds on this and all the games to compare the best lines at multiple sportsbooks.
