VCU vs. Butler Line Opens at Bulldogs -2.5

Written by :

Don Shapiro

Published on :

27 March, 2011

Two Cinderella teams promise to make this year’s Final Four interesting and one will ultimately end up in the NCAA Championship game as the VCU vs. Butler line opened at -2.5 in favor of the Bulldogs on Sunday at BetDSI.com (Diamond Sports International). Early spread betting action on this game was balanced although 75 percent of the money line action was going towards Virginia Commonwealth. The payout on the money line would be $12.50 for every $10 bet on VCU to win next weekend’s game outright.

Both teams shocked and amazed this weekend. Just when we thought Butler brought about one of the biggest upsets in recent sports history, along came VCU (a First Four team) with 150/1 odds of winning the Southwest Region, and they did just that, knocking off number one-seeded Kansas. They became just the third 11^th seed to make the Final Four.

The Bulter-VCU matchup will feature the highest combined seeds of any Final Four game.

ESPN.com noted that “two weeks ago, the 11th-seeded Rams so doubted they would get an NCAA tournament invite that they watched Cartoon Network and went out for burgers instead of watching the selection show. Now, all of America will be watching them in the Final Four.”

"Once again we felt like nobody really thought we could win going into this game," said VCU coach Shaka Smart, the budding star of the tournament. "Our guys have done a phenomenal job of putting all the doubters aside, all the people that didn't believe in us, and going out to do their job."

On Saturday, number 8-seeded Butler managed to beat number 2-seeded Florida in overtime with a final score of 74-71.

Butler is 9-1 in its past 10 tournament games. The Bulldogs last nine games have been decided by a combined 30 points, with no winning margin larger than seven points. Six games were decided by three or fewer.

Butler is the first team from outside the six power conferences to reach consecutive Final Fours since UNLV in 1990-91.

NCAA TOURNAMENT - FINAL FOUR RELIANT STADIUM - HOUSTON, TX

3:05 PM

811

VA COMMONWEALTH

+2½-110

o132-110

+125

812

BUTLER

-2½-110

u132-110