Auburn 2019 March Madness Final Four Betting Preview

Of the four teams remaining in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the underdog comes from the SEC. This underdog is not Kentucky or LSU, though — it’s Auburn, who has kept on winning even though their more celebrated peers from the conference have departed the tournament. They almost didn’t even make it into the second round, as they almost lost to New Mexico State in the first round, winning a 78-77 squeaker. Then a switch flipped on, and the Tigers routed a pair of blue bloods, beating Kansas by 14 and North Carolina by 17. Then came the rematch with Kentucky, and Auburn won by six, despite not having star forward Chuma Okeke, who blew out an ACL and is done for the year. Next for Auburn comes a stingy defense in Virginia, and if the Tigers can get past the Cavaliers, they would play the winner of Texas Tech-Michigan State for the national championship. We have put together a list of reasons why you should back Auburn — as well as March Madness betting odds for all four teams and our prediction.

Auburn 2019 March Madness Final Four Betting Preview

They call it a game, we’re lookin’ for thrones.#WarEagle x #FinalFour x #UnfinishedBusiness pic.twitter.com/GuDRCZP4Hz

— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) 4 de abril de 2019

2019 Final Four Odds

• Virginia / Currently: 3/2 / Opening: 15/1
• Michigan State / Currently: 7/4 / Opening: 15/1
• Texas Tech / Currently: 4/1 / Opening: 40/1
• Auburn / Currently: 7/1 / Opening: 30/1

Jerod Harper and Bryce Brown are the best guard pairing in the nation

Just in case you’re wondering, Harper and Brown made this claim after sending Kentucky home. Never mind that neither of these two ranked in the top 100 guards in the nation. But when they play together, they handle the ball, pass to one another and apply pressure defense like no other pair. Now they face another tough pair of guards in Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, and if Auburn is going to win, their two proud guards are going to have to win the battle of the backcourts. They are quick down the court, and when Kentucky decided to focus on shutting down the three-point line, both Auburn guards penetrated to the hole. Harper ended up with 26 points, including 13 in overtime, and Brown had 24. That’s 50 points out of 77 total from just two players. For the whole tournament, they have scored 42% of the team’s points.

Auburn plays well at every tempo

Kentucky’s strategy against Auburn was to force the Tigers to beat them in the halfcourt. It looked like the Wildcats’ strategy had worked when they pulled out to a 30-20 lead. However, Auburn figured out how to win in the halfcourt as well, and they went on a 40-30 run to close regulation deadlocked at 60. In any other game in which Auburn had scored 60 or fewer points in 40 minutes, they had lost. However, they committed to halfcourt defense and rebounding and took the game to Kentucky, and then they imposed their will in overtime. So when Virginia grinds the game down to a halfcourt crawl, Auburn will already be ready for it.

Auburn already won a game without Chuma Okeke

With Okeke gone, Anferee McLemore and Austin Wiley had to take up the slack in the lane, and they did enough against Kentucky to turn the game Auburn’s way. Now, the Tigers weren’t dominant on the boards coming in. They ranked 334th in the nation in defensive rebounding at 22.3 per contest, and they have done even worse in the tournament, averaging just 20.5.

Why would you argue with a hot streak?

No other team can match Auburn’s 12-game winning streak right now. They rolled to the SEC tournament title and then kept on winning, now finding themselves just two more wins from a title. Against Kentucky, they lost the battles of shooting percentage, points in the paint and rebounds, but they won. Why? It helps that they are tops in the nation in steal percentage and in the top 10 in the percentage of their scoring that comes from three-point land. Can Virginia stop this juggernaut?

How far will Auburn go?

Virginia will clamp down on defense, and Virginia will make three-pointers. They have ridden this formula to victory all season long. Auburn will miss Okeke, and Virginia will figure out how to take advantage of the mistakes that Kentucky let slide. The Tigers have made a great run, but it will all end Saturday night.