Kyle Singler missed all 10 of his FG attempts versus Baylor.
Duke, West Virginia, Butler and Michigan State enter the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament a combined 14-2 ATS.
Duke, however, is the only school of the four owning an pointspread mark above .500 on the season. The Blue Devils are 22-13 (62 percent) ATS. This mark is even more impressive considering Duke has been favored in each of its games.
West Virginia is 17-19 ATS, Butler is 16-20 ATS and Michigan State is 15-20 ATS.
Duke opened as a two-point favorite versus West Virginia. Early money quickly pushed the Blue Devil up to minus 2 ½ and even three-point favorites at a few places. The ‘total’ has held steady at 131.
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The Blue Devils have covered all four of their NCAA Tournament games defeating Arkansas Pine-Bluff, California, Purdue and Baylor by an average margin of 16 points. Duke’s closest game was a seven-point victory against Baylor in the South Regional final.
Since 2002, Atlantic Coast Conference teams are 5-1 ATS when playing in the Final Four. Duke, though, is 1-5-1 ATS in its past seven meetings versus Big East Conference teams.
West Virginia isn’t a public team like Duke. The Mountaineers don’t hold a lot of sex appeal to bettors, being more about defense and rebounding than scoring.
But the Mountaineers have some strong angles in their favor such as being 12-2-1 ATS in their last 15 NCAA Tournament games and 7-1 ATS in their past eight neutral site matchups. West Virginia also has covered in five of its last six contests versus ACC opponents.
There are a number of trends pointing to an ‘under’ in the Duke-West Virginia matchup. The ‘under’ has cashed in seven of West Virginia’s past eight games. The ‘under’ has cashed in 19 of Duke’s last 26 games on a neutral court. Duke also has gone ‘under’ in 27 of its past 40 games following a pointspread cover.
Butler opened minus 1 ½ against Michigan State. The number has gone down to minus one at some books. The total opened at 125 and currently is at 126.
It probably won’t be surprising if money goes on Butler. The Bulldogs have won 24 games in a row, have a home-court advantage being just five miles from Indianapolis and are the lone Cinderella team in the tournament being a mid-major from the Horizon League.
The Bulldogs have held their four NCAA Tournament foes to an average of 56.4 points in beating Texas El-Paso, Murray State, Syracuse and Kansas State. Not one of those teams could reach 60 points against Butler. The ‘under’ has cashed in eight of Butler’s last nine games.
Butler is 43-21-1 (67 percent) ATS in its last 65 non-league games. Butler is 5-1-1 ATS in its last seven meetings with Big Ten Conference schools. The Bulldogs, though, are 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games following a pointspread cover.
Michigan State has been getting by guts and the outstanding coaching of Tom Izzo. The Spartans’ margin of victory in their four tournament victories is 13 points, the lowest in NCAA history by a Final Four team since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
The Spartans have gotten past New Mexico State, Maryland, Northern Iowa and Tennessee. They defeated New Mexico State, Maryland and Tennessee by a combined six points.
The Spartans, who are without injured star guard Kalin Lucas, are 25-10-1 ATS in their last 36 NCAA Tournament games. Michigan State has covered in nine of its past 13 neutral site games. The Spartans also are 9-4 ATS the past 13 times they’ve met foes from the Horizon League.
The ‘over’ has cashed the past eight times Michigan State has faced a Horizon League opponent. The ‘under,’ though, is 30-12-1 the last 43 times Michigan State has been an underdog.