Virginia has been one of the highest-ranked teams in the country all season and received a top seed in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time this decade. Conversely, Auburn spent most of the season as a middling SEC club that came alive at the right time. The Cavaliers and Tigers meet Saturday night in the 2019 NCAA Tournament Final Four for a berth in the national title game. Tipoff is set for 6:09 p.m. ET from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Cavaliers (33-3) haven't appeared in the Final Four since 1984. The Tigers (30-9) are making their first Final Four appearance in program history. The Cavaliers are six-point sportsbook favorites and the over-under for total points scored is 132 in the latest Auburn vs. Virginia odds. Before you make any Auburn vs. Virginia picks of your own, be sure to see the 2019 Final Four predictions from SportsLine expert Micah Roberts.
Roberts has worked in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry for nearly 20 years, including a 13-year run as Station Casinos' book director, and can spot a bad line from a mile away. He enters the 2019 NCAA Tournament Final Four on a sizzling 22-12 run on his college basketball picks and has been zeroed in on these two programs, with a record of 12-4 in games involving either Auburn or Virginia. Anyone who has followed him is way up.
Now, Roberts has studied Auburn vs. Virginia from every possible angle and locked in his strong 2019 Final Four picks. You can only see them at SportsLine.
Roberts knows Virginia is known for its air-tight defense, but the Cavaliers needed their offense to step up in the Elite 8 to knock off a red-hot Purdue club and perhaps the tournament's most dynamic player, Carsen Edwards. Purdue's star scored 42 points behind 10 three-pointers, but Virginia kept pace with key contributions from veterans Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy, who combined for 49 points. The Cavaliers memorably forced overtime when Mamadi Diakite hit a short jumper as time expired off a missed free throw.
But the Cavaliers are far from a sure thing to cover the Auburn vs. Virginia spread against a surging Tigers club that believes destiny is also on its side in the Final Four 2019.
Although the Tigers aren't exactly a Cinderella story -- a tournament champion from a power conference with 30 wins doesn't fit the criteria -- they are the lowest-seeded team in the Final Four. They do fit the profile of a dangerous team getting hot at the right time, and also boast the most impressive resume in the NCAA Tournament thus far. They rolled through a trio of college basketball blue bloods on their way to the Final Four, with dominant wins over Kansas and North Carolina before Sunday's overtime victory against Kentucky.
Injured star Chuma Okeke, who tore his ACL against North Carolina, originally told the team that he was in so much pain he could not attend Sunday's game and instead planned to watch from the team hotel. But near halftime he contacted an Auburn staff member and requested to be taken to the arena, where he watched the second half from a wheelchair. Afterward, coach Bruce Pearl said the win over Kentucky was dedicated to Okeke and the next two are dedicated to the Auburn fans.
We can tell you Roberts is leaning over, but his much stronger play is on the side. He has scoured this matchup and unearthed the critical X-factor that makes one side of the spread a must-back. He's only sharing what it is, and who to back, at SportsLine.
Who wins Virginia vs. Auburn? And which critical X-factor makes one side of the spread hit hard? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the Virginia vs. Auburn spread you should be all over Saturday, all from the seasoned expert who's hitting 75 percent of his picks on these teams.
