March Madness is underway following Selection Sunday, as college basketball fans across the country finalize their brackets and predict this year’s NCAA Division I champions. Five schools from Virginia—two in the men’s tournament and three in the women’s field—are set to compete, with all looking to have success in this year’s tournament.
Virginia Commonwealth University’s men’s basketball team competed in the Atlantic 10 conference, finishing second in the conference with a 27-7 record. Currently seeded at 11, they will have to face the University of North Carolina (UNC) Men’s basketball team. The UNC team is having an underwhelming year, finishing this season ranked fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference after finishing first just two years earlier. While the UNC Tarheels are the favorite to win the game, sports analysts believe the VCU Rams have a lot of momentum coming into this game, as they won the Atlantic 10 tournament. UNC is favored by only 2.5 points according to ESPN analytics, leading to a highly anticipated first round matchup.
The University of Virginia (UVA) men’s basketball team earned the third seed in the NCAA tournament, as the team went 29-5, finishing second in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). UVA had a major turnaround from the previous season, where they finished ninth in the conference with a losing record of 15-17. As the third seed, UVA will play Wright State on Friday. Wright State finished first in the Horizon Conference with a record of 23-11. Currently, UVA is heavily favored to win the game by 18.5 points according to ESPN analytics, though early-round upsets are a staple of the tournament.
In the women’s tournament, the University of Virginia women’s basketball team faces a play-in game against Arizona State in the First Four. The Cavaliers finished 19-11 and eighth in the ACC, while Arizona State went 24-10 and placed 10th in the Big 12 conference. The UVA Cavaliers are a narrow favorite by 2.5 points according to ESPN analytics. The winner of the game will qualify for the 64-team tournament and face the seventh seed, Georgia in the first round.
Two Virginia teams have already qualified for the 64-team tournament, with one of which being the James Madison Dukes. The Dukes Women’s basketball team finished fourth in the Sun Belt Conference with a record of 26-8. The team ended their season with an upset, defeating second-ranked Troy in the Sun Belt Basketball Championship. This win gave JMU an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where they are now the 12th seed. The Dukes will face the fifth-seeded Kentucky Wildcats women’s basketball team, who placed ninth in the Southeastern Conference with a record of 23-10. Kentucky is currently favored by around 15 points according to ESPN analytics, but after winning the Sun Belt Championship, the JMU Dukes are moving with momentum into this game.
The Virginia Tech women’s basketball team clinched the ninth seed in the NCAA Tournament after finishing their season with a 23-9 record and placing sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Hokies are expected to play a tight game against the eighth-seeded Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team, who finished their season 22-12 and ranked 11th in the Big 10 Conference. The Ducks are favored to get the win over the Hokies by a slim 3.5 points according to ESPN analytics, with the winner moving on to the second round of the tournament to play the winner of the Texas Longhorns vs the Missouri State Bears.
