The 13-seed Furman Paladins (27-7) face the 4-seed Virginia Cavaliers (25-7) Thursday in a 1st Round South Region game in the NCAA Tournament. Tip-off from Amway Center in Orlando is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. ET (truTV). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Furman vs. Virginia odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
The Paladins won the Southern Conference tournament title with a solid 88-79 victory over Chattanooga on March 6. Furman has won 6 straight games and is 14-5 against the spread (ATS) across its last 19 games overall.
Furman played 2 teams in the NCAA Tournament field this season — NC State and Penn State — losing and failing to cover either matchup. The loss to the Wolfpack, its only ACC opponent, came by 19 points on Dec. 13 in Raleigh.
The Cavaliers came up short in the ACC Tournament championship game against Duke on Saturday (59-49). The Hoos are just 4-3 straight-up (SU) across the past 7 games and 2-6-1 ATS across the past 9 games.