Las Vegas Predicts Winners Of Tuesday's NCAA Tournament Games
03/18/2025 10:43 AM
The first half of the First Four is tonight with a pair of 16-seeds and a controversial matchup of 11-seeds doing battle.
The first matchup at 6:40 p.m. ET on truTV will see Saint Francis take on Alabama State. Both teams are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in many years with the Alabama State Hornets back for the first time since 2011 while the Red Flash haven't gone dancing since all the way back in 1991. Saint Francis have the longest drought of any team in the tournament making at least their second appearance.
The second matchup at 9:10 p.m. ET, also on truTV, will feature ACC semifinalist North Carolina playing against San Diego State. The Tar Heels are by far the most controversial team in the entire tournament with many believing that they were undeserving of their bid. As for the Aztecs, they finished 21-9 and fourth in their conference.
The spreads on both games is predictably small. College hoops insider Jon Rothstein noted that FanDuel Sports has listed Alabama State as a 3.5-point favorite while North Carolina are 4.5-point favorites over San Diego State.
TUESDAY'S FANDUEL (@FANDUEL) LINES:
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 18, 2025
St. Francis/Alabama State (-3.5)
North Carolina (-4.5)/San Diego State
Via @FDSportsbook.
The North Carolina-San Diego State game will pit two coaches who took underdogs all the way to a national title game.
As a rookie head coach in 2022, North Carolina's Hubert Davis led the Tar Heels all the way to the championship game as a No. 8 seed, becoming just the fourth 8-seed to take a team that far before losing the title game to Kansas.
One year later, San Diego State's Brian Dutcher would pull off a similar feat with his team. His 5-seeded Aztecs knocked off No. 1 Alabama and Cinderella FAU before falling to UConn in the title game.
Will any of the four teams competing tonight be the next NCAA Cinderella story?
Related: Hubert Davis Has Blunt Response To Critics Of North Carolina
