The 2019 NCAA Tournament Final will take place in Minneapolis tonight with Texas Tech (31-6) and Virginia (34-3) both vying for their first ever National Championship in men’s basketball. Currently, the college basketball betting odds at Bookmaker is showing Virginia as a 1.5-point favorite and there’s a posted total of 117.5.

Magnificent NCAA Tournament Defensive Dogs

Texas Tech is a perfect 5-0 ATS in this NCAA Tournament and their previous 3 covers have all come as an underdog. The Red Raiders dominance has been sparked by their stifling defensive play. During the “Big Dance”, Texas Tech has allowed a mere 55.8 points per game while permitting opponents to shoot a combined 36.4% which includes 24.6% from 3-point territory.

The Red Raiders were especially dominant defensively during their 61-51 win over Michigan State in Saturday’s national semifinal game. They held the Spartans to a horrendous 31.9% shooting effort. The 51 points allowed in that win sets up a very profitable NCAA Tournament betting angle that decisively supports the underdog in this evening’s game.

Any NCAA Tournament underdog of 8.5 or less that’s playing in the Sweet 16 or beyond, and they allowed 54 points or fewer in their previous game, resulted in those underdogs going an outstanding 21-4 (84%) ATS since 2009. As a matter of fact, Texas Tech already qualified for this system during their Elite 8 win over Gonzaga. The Red Raiders were coming off a 63-44 Sweet 16 win over Michigan. They followed that up by defeating #1 seed Gonzaga 75-69 while doing so as a 5.0-point underdog.

Low Scoring Prominent in College Basketball Postseason Finals

Since 2010, all college basketball postseason tournament finals have gone 198-124 (61.5%) under the total. That’s a great win percentage considering it’s a blind betting situation with no other variables or parameters being factored in.

Now let’s take this an additional step. If those postseason championship games had a total of between 116.0 and 124.0, this betting angle improved to an extremely profitable 28-5 (84.8%) under the total. The logic being, when 2 elite defensive teams face each other in games that either determine conference or postseason tournament champions, it’s resulted in these contests playing true to form a bulk of the time.

Good Luck with tonight's National Championship.

Ross Benjamin is a top sports analyst and one of the sports industry's most respected handicappers. Follow him on Twitter: @RossBenjamin1 or visit his website at RBWins.com