The first Elite Eight games of the 2021 March Madness Tournament went down on Monday and now the first Final Four game has been set. No. 2 Houston won the Midwest Region when they defeated No. 12 Oregon State by a score of 67-61. On the other hand, No. 1 Baylor clinched the South Region title by beating No. 3 Arkansas 81-72.
Baylor and Houston will meet on April 3 to see who’ll advance to the national championship game. The time has yet to be determined.
The matchup should be a good one, as both teams have had their fair share of dominance throughout the tournament. But who’ll be victorious in this Final Four matchup?
BetOnline is favoring Baylor in Saturday’s contest. The odds of them winning are -210 as of March 30. Meanwhile, Houston’s odds sit at +180.
Final Four Odds: Baylor (S1) vs. Houston (MW2)
Odds via BetOnline as of Tuesday, March 30
- Point Spread: Baylor -5.0 (-105) vs. Houston +5.0 (-115)
- Moneyline: Baylor -210, Houston +180
- Over/Under: Over 136 (-110), Under 136 (-110)
Baylor/Houston Matchups So Far
Baylor
- Round of 64: 79-55 vs. No. 16 Hartford
- Round of 32: 76-63 vs. No. 9 Wisconsin
- Sweet 16: 62-51 vs. No. 5 Villanova
- Elite Eight: 81-72 vs. No. 3 Arkansas
Houston
- Round of 64: 87-56 vs. No. 15 Cleveland State
- Round of 32: 63-60 vs. No. 10 Rutgers
- Sweet 16: 62-46 vs. No. 11 Syracuse
- Elite Eight: 67-61 vs. No. 12 Oregon State
Baylor Favored to Advance From Final Four
Baylor has been one of the favorites to win the entire March Madness Tournament since odds were released. The school went undefeated until they lost twice in two weeks leading up to the tournament. However, Baylor has since reasserted their dominance and look like contenders heading into the Final Four. They’ve won each of their first four games by an average of 14.25 and have defeated better teams than Houston has.
Another thing that Baylor has to their advantage is that Houston doesn’t score a lot. The only time Houston scored more than 67 points was in the first round. Meanwhile, Baylor is averaging 83.0 points per game on the season. If Houston wants to keep up with Baylor and advance from the Final Four, they’re either going to have to find a way to shut down the Bears’ offense or learn how to score more than they have in the tournament.
Can Houston Advance From the Final Four?
At +180, Houston has decent odds of advancing to the NCAAB championship game. However, it’s important to be realistic about things. Baylor is not like the teams that Houston has faced leading up to the Final Four. For starters, they haven’t played a team yet that’s higher than the 10th-seed. While they still needed to win those games to get this far, Houston only beat two of them by double digits.
While they’re the clear underdogs heading into the matchup with Baylor, that doesn’t mean Houston can’t win. They average more rebounds (40.9) and blocks (4.6) per game than Baylor does (36.0 and 3.8 respectively) this season. While Baylor rarely makes mistakes (just nine turnovers vs. Arkansas), Houston has the ability to capitalize on them
Baylor is also on an 11-game win streak. Even though those opponents don’t quite compare to Baylor and the challenge they present in the Final Four, sometimes the team with more momentum can get the job done against all odds.
