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Jeremy Perry
Vermont vs. Marquette Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
The Vermont Catamounts, the dominant program in the America East Conference, won yet another league championship to return to the NCAA Tournament. Vermont has won its conference tournament five times in the last seven years. Marquette just won both the Big East regular-season championship and the Big East Tournament championship for the first time in school history. The Golden Eagles are a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest seed in school history.
Vermont Catamounts vs. Marquette Golden Eagles NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
Vermont has had good success against high-scoring teams, going 7-3 straight up and 6-4 ATS against squads who score 77 or more. However, they are just 1-5 this season when posted as a dog and 1-3 in neutral site affairs.
As for Marquette, they are an incredible 23-1 this season as a favorite, going 15-9 ATS in those games. They are also 13-3 straight up when the total is between 140 and 149.5. In games against teams above .500 this season, Marquette is 16-6 straight up and 14-7-1 ATS.
Vermont Catamounts (15)
The Catamounts keep rolling along under head coach John Becker. They are one of the most reliable mid-major programs in terms of consistently getting to the NCAA Tournament. Their chief rival and competitor in the America East Conference changes, but Vermont remains the constant. Vermont sometimes has had to face Albany for the conference title, other times UMBC, other times UMass-Lowell, but the Catamounts have usually had the answer for those challengers, and they pulled away late to beat UMass-Lowell in this year’s America East Tournament championship game. Vermont is a balanced team which runs good half court offense. The Catamounts exhibit the discipline of a team which can hang in the fight in an NCAA Tournament first-round game. With a 10-game winning streak, this team will certainly not lack confidence heading into this game in Columbus.
Marquette Golden Eagles (2)
Marquette hammered Xavier in the Big East Tournament championship game, one day after beating a very tough Connecticut team in the Big East semifinals and two days after surviving an overtime game against St. John’s in the quarterfinals. This is a tough Marquette team which is great at winning close games. The blowout over Xavier was surprising not because Marquette won, but because it won easily. Marquette has been so good at controlling the final five minutes of games. This team improves its focus in close-game situations. Obviously, Marquette hopes to dominate Vermont the way it dominated Xavier, but if this is a seven-point game with five minutes left, Marquette is not likely to panic. Keep that in mind when you consider your betting choices. Shaka Smart, who failed to lift Texas to a higher level during his tenure with the Longhorns, has found the perfect landing spot with Marquette. It will be fascinating to see if he can get this overachieving group – not picked to win the Big East before the season began – to the Final Four and maybe beyond.
