Central Florida vs. Virginia Commonwealth Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
It’s the Abbreviation Bowl of sorts in NCAA Tournament East Region action on Friday night from Columbia, South Carolina, as No. 8 VCU (Virginia Commonwealth) faces No. 9 UCF (Central Florida).
UCF (9) vs. VCU (8) NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The winner of this game has the misfortune of facing NCAA Tournament favourite Duke in the second round – think we are safe saying that Duke will advance past Round 1. UCF is +6000 to win the East Region and VCU is the same price.
It’s been quite the athletic stretch for Central Florida as its football team completed a second straight unbeaten regular season but lost in the Fiesta Bowl without its injured star quarterback to LSU. Now the Knights have their first-ever NCAA Tournament at-large berth. UCF makes its fifth Big Dance appearance (first since 2005) and has yet to win a game. The No. 9 seed is the best in school history.
Meanwhile, it’s the 17th NCAA Tournament appearance for VCU and eighth in the past nine seasons (last year it missed out). The seed is the program’s best since it was a seven in 2015.
Central Florida Knights
UCF was the preseason favorite to win the American Athletic Conference but finished third in the regular-season standings. Easily the Knights’ most impressive win was March 2 at then-No. 8 Houston, which ended the Cougars’ 33-game home winning streak, the longest in the nation. It also snapped UCF’s seven-game losing streak against ranked foes. However, it has lost two of three since, falling in the AAC Tournament opener by 24 points to Memphis. One of the most unique players in Division I basketball plays for the Knights: 7-foot-6 centre Tacko Fall of Senegal. He has the greatest career shooting percentage in Division I history and is hitting an absurd 75.4 per cent this year. Yes, they are nearly all dunks and layups. He doesn’t even have to jump to dunk. UCF also has a terrific backcourt of B.J. Taylor (16.2 ppg) and Aubrey Dawkins (15.4 ppg).
VCU Rams
VCU was the Atlantic 10 regular-season champion – picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll — but upset by Rhode Island in its conference tournament opener to end a 12-game winning streak. In the loss, sophomore forward Marcus Santos-Silva had the game of his career with 26 points and 22 rebounds to become the first player with a 20/20 game in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Santos-Silva’s rebound total was the most by a Ram in more than 30 years. Junior guard Marcus Evans was named first-team All-Atlantic 10. He leads the club in scoring (13.8 ppg), assists (3.2 apg) and steals (1.9 spg). He played just 11 minutes in the loss to Rhode Island due to injury but is expected to be good to go for UCF. The Rams are a great defensive team (61.6 ppg) but really struggle to shoot from deep.
