Elite Eight Saturday: Gonzaga Favored, Purdue a Strong Wager

Purdue and Texas Tech are coming off inspiring wins on Thursday in the Sweet 16. Will they ride that momentum into the Elite Eight and pull off another pair of upsets?

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The No. 2 seeds in the South and West Regions were knocked out in Thursday's Sweet 16 games, leaving a pair of No. 3 seeds looking to pull off two more upsets in the Elite Eight on Saturday.

Whether or not the Purdue Boilermakers can finish the job in the South and the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the West to get to the Final Four remains to be seen, but both of them have opened the eyes of bettors and oddsmakers at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com alike heading into their respective Regional Finals.

The Red Raiders will take the first shot against the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs as consensus four-point underdogs in the West on the March Madness lines. Texas Tech is coming off a 63-44 rout of the second-seeded Michigan Wolverines as a 1.5-point underdog, holding them to their lowest point total in NCAA tournament history.

The Red Raiders have won 12 of their last 13 games straight up, going 11-2 against the spread during this stretch. But the Bulldogs have won 24 of 25, going 16-9 ATS en route to their second West Regional Final in three seasons.

Because Texas Tech-Gonzaga is such a toss-up, there is much more value on Purdue as a 4.5-point underdog on the March Madness odds facing the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers in the South. The Cavaliers barely got past the 12th-seeded Oregon Ducks in the Sweet 16, topping them 53-49 but failing to cover as 8.5-point favorites as each team struggled offensively.

On the other hand, the Boilermakers played one of their best games of the season in outlasting the second-seeded Tennessee Volunteers 99-94 in overtime as 1.5-point underdogs. Purdue has won and covered each game in the tournament so far, and the Big Ten school is the best bet on Saturday to eliminate the No. 1 seed Virginia.

The Cavaliers were one of three top seeds from the ACC going into the Big Dance, but their lack of offense will end up costing them their first trip to the Final Four since 1984. Instead, bank on the Boilermakers to keep rolling into their first appearance in the national semifinals since 1980 when they ended up winning the third-place game.