Today the Ohio State Buckeyes will take on the VCU Rams at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament . The game has a start time of 4:40 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Current Vegas betting odds have the Buckeyes listed as 4 point favorites, while the total is set at 136.5. 

Analysis: The Ohio State Buckeyes made it into the Big Dance, but most are saying that they have been vastly underseeded. We shall see. Still the Buckeyes had a very solid year, going 23-10 overall, while finishing 6th in the Big 10. This will be Ohio state's 32nd trip to the Big Dance and they have been to 11 Final Fours and have 1 National Title. Ohio State has gone 10-2-1 ATS in their last 13 games following a ATS loss, but just 2-10 ATS in their last 12 neutral site games. The Buckeyes have been a very good offensive team this year, ranking 24th in scoring (75.8 ppg), 9th in shooting (48.6%), 63rd in 3 point shooting (37.2%) and 231st in FT shooting (67.8%). Defensively the Buckeyes have been solid this year, ranking 74th in points allowed (62.4 ppg), 73rd in defensive FG% (40.5%) and 60th in 3 point defense (31.8%).

The VCU Rams did not finish the regular season on a strong note as hey had won just 1 of their final 4 games, but they turned it around in the A-10 tournament, winning all 4 games to getting the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Rams have won 5 games in a row and have gone 26-9 on the year. VCU has been to 14 NCAA Tournament with 1 final 4 appearance and no national titles. The Rams have gone 12-3 ATS in their last 15 NCAA Tournament games and 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600. VCU has been a good offensive team this year, as they come in ranked 53rd in scoring (72.5 ppg), 256th in shooting (42.0%), 188th in 3 point shooting (34.2%) and 297th in FT shooting (65.6%). Defensively the Rams have been rather average this year, ranking 143rd in points allowed (65.5 ppg), 187th in defensive FG% (43.2%) and 191st in 3 point defense (34.4%). .      

Pick:  I will be going with Ohio State in this one. The Buckeyes played the tougher schedule this year and they have had extra time to rest, while VCU played a grueling 4 games in the A-10 Tournament and now must travel cross country to Oregon. Not a good spot for the Rams here. The Rams are a confident team and they will play hard, but I feel that Ohio State will be able to wear this smallish team down in the last 10 minutes of the game to pull away for a comfortable win. 

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Handicapping Tips: NCAA Tournament Round 1
Steve Fezzik and Teddy Covers from Pregame.com give some insight and tips on handicapping the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.