NCAA Basketball Betting: Virginia Commonwealth vs. Oklahoma

Nothing better than good sized underdogs that I would still bet as a short priced favorite. Shaka Smart has moved on to coach the University of Texas but Virginia Commonwealth is still up to their old tricks. That’s playing nasty, man-to-man defense and ‘havoc-ing’ opponents into submission. Oklahoma is yet another overrated team from a big name conference, in this case the Big 12. The NCAA has done everything they can to help Oklahoma advance into the Sweet 16. They gave them a #2 seed that they probably didn’t deserve. Nothing but respect for head coach Lon Kruger, but that’s how I see it. While the NCAA was at it, they gave Oklahoma arguably the cushiest ‘phony neutral site’ assignment of the whole tournament. Yep, the Sooners are playing their first two rounds in the ‘neutral site’ of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Virginia Commonwealth doesn’t care. The NCAA’s may have tried to do everything they can do get the Sooners into the round of 16 but they neglected something very important: tactical matchups. Virginia Commonwealth doesn’t have great size which gives them problems when they face bigger, stronger teams that want to pound the ball inside. They don’t defend in the paint very well nor do they excel in a bruising half court team. But that’s not Oklahoma–the Sooners live and die on the perimeter and get the majority of their points from behind the three point line. Head coach Kruger said it best before the start of the tournament: “We are what we are. We’re not gonna stop all of the sudden and throw the ball inside a whole bunch.”

Another problem with Oklahoma–they don’t take care of the ball particularly well. That’s another way to beat a pressure defense team like VCU–don’t give up the basketball. Think that new VCU coach Will Wade has shown his team film of Oklahoma’s last regular season game when they turned the ball over seventeen times against TCU? In this matchup, the cushy home venue is going to work against Oklahoma–they think this will be a cakewalk on a de facto home court. They’ll think otherwise after they’re eliminated.

BET VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH +6 OVER OKLAHOMA