The Baylor Bears are an underdog for the first time this season when they face the unbeaten and No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2021 NCAA Tournament National Championship matchup on Monday night in Indianapolis. Baylor (27-2) also earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament and justified it by winning four of its five games by double figures, including an impressive 78-59 drubbing of second-seeded Houston in Saturday's Final Four. The combined two losses by the Bears and top-ranked Gonzaga (31-0) are tied for the fewest for two teams in the national championship game, matching North Carolina vs. Kansas (1957) and Kentucky vs. Texas Western (1966).
Tip-off is set for 9:20 p.m. ET on CBS at Lucas Oil Stadium. William Hill Sportsbook lists the Bulldogs as 4.5-point favorites, while the over-under for total points scored is 159 in the Gonzaga vs. Baylor odds. Before locking in any Baylor vs. Gonzaga picks, you need to see the 2021 NCAA Tournament National Championship Game predictions from SportsLine's Matt Severance.
A well-connected writer and handicapper who has worked in the industry since 2005, Severance is on a stunning run and called UCLA to cover vs. Gonzaga in the Final Four. He is on a blistering 138-101 roll on college basketball picks against the spread, returning $2,674 to $100 bettors during that span. Anyone who has followed him is way up.
Now, he has set his sights on Baylor vs. Gonzaga in the 2021 NCAA Tournament National Championship Game. You can head to SportsLine to see his picks. Here are several college basketball odds and trends for Gonzaga vs. Baylor:
- Gonzaga vs. Baylor spread: Gonzaga -4.5
- Gonzaga vs. Baylor over-under: 159 points
- Gonzaga vs. Baylor money line: Gonzaga -200, Baylor +175
- ZAGS: The Bulldogs have won 14 straight neutral-site games
- BAY: The Bears are 6-0 against AP top-10 teams this season
Why Gonzaga can cover
Freshman Jalen Suggs earned a permanent spot on NCAA Tournament highlight reels with his improbable 40-foot buzzer-beater in overtime to sink UCLA. The most high-profile recruit ever brought in by coach Mark Few and an expected lottery pick in the NBA Draft, Suggs' spectacular game-winner capped a 16-point, six-assist, five-rebound performance. He became only the fifth freshman to collect totals of 65 points, 25 rebounds and 25 assists in the tournament.
Suggs does not have to shoulder the offensive load for Gonzaga, ranking third on the team in scoring at 14.1 points per game while the forward tandem of Drew Timme and Corey Kispert average a combined 38.0. Although Kispert has struggled from long range in the past two games, he is shooting a team-best 44.5 percent from 3-point range. He is among the reasons the Bulldogs own the highest overall offensive efficiency (+38.1) of any team in 20 years.
Why Baylor can cover
The Bears reached the Final Four without the usual contributions from star guard Jared Butler, an Associated Press first-team All-American and their top scorer at 16.6 per game. Butler averaged 13.0 points and struggled with his perimeter shooting during the first four NCAA games, connecting on 6 of 24 3-point attempts after converting on 44.4 percent in the regular season. That changed Saturday as Butler scored all 17 of his points in the first half, burying 4 of 5 3-pointers.
Butler is one of four players shooting at least 40 percent from distance for Baylor, nation's best-shooting 3-point team (41.2 percent). The Bears also can bring in two more guards off the bench in Adam Flagler and Matthew Mayer, who average a combined 17.3 points and shot 8 of 16 in Saturday's victory over Houston. MaCio Teague is the team's No. 2 scorer (15.8 points) and can be lethal from outside, hitting 10 3-pointers vs. Texas Tech on March 7.
How to make Baylor vs. Gonzaga picks
Severance is leaning over on the total and he's found a critical X-factor that has him jumping all over one side of the spread. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins Gonzaga vs. Baylor? And which critical X-factor makes one side hit hard? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side of the Baylor vs. Gonzaga spread you need to jump on, all from expert who has crushed his college basketball picks.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/baylor-vs-gonzaga-odds-2021-ncaa-tournament-title-game-picks-march-madness-predictions-from-proven-expert/
2021-04-05 18:07:59Z
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