BYU vs. VCU: 2025 NCAA Tournament Preview & Predictions

by BettingPros Staff |
Mar 16, 2025

The 2025 NCAA Tournament is officially here! The March Madness Bracket is set, and first-round NCAA Tournament matchups are in place. It’s time to make your picks and predictions for the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament! We’re here to help as we’ll have picks and predictions for each of the first-round 2025 NCAA Tournament games. Here are our NCAA Tournament previews and predictions for BYU vs. VCU.

2025 NCAA Tournament Preview & Predictions: BYU vs. VCU

Here are the odds for this opening-round matchup of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Let’s dive into our preview and predictions for this first-round NCAA Tournament matchup.

BYU 2025 NCAA Tournament Preview

If you value momentum when making your bracket decisions, BYU appeals to you. From Feb. 10 to the end of the regular season, BYU went 8-0 and ranked as the second-best team on Bart Torvik, trailing only Duke.

You’d think it would have been because the Cougars’ top perimeter shooters, Richie Saunders and Trevin Knell, went on an unprecedented perimeter-shooting heater, but the Cougars only shot 37% from deep during that run, 81st in the country. What was a catalyst for that run was BYU’s top-ranked interior scoring, as the Cougars made 62% of looks from inside the arc over the final month of regular-season play.

Keba Keita is a shifty 6-8 center who finished with the best offensive rebounding rate and fourth-highest 2pt-shooting percentage in Big 12 play. Fousseyni Traore can step up as needed with his elite rebounding, and BYU has a plethora of reinforcements with the 12th-most bench minutes in DI ball.

Defensively, it’s not as if the Cougars are elite, but defense shouldn’t be the reason for a potential early exit. The Cougars will keep players out of the paint, allowing the second-fewest near-proximity looks in the Big 12. They don’t allow anything quick, with the 25th-best transition defense, per Shot Quality, and they rank top-10 in second-chance conversion defense.

BYU may live and die by the three, ranking top-25 in percentage of points allowed on both sides of the ball, but with the Cougars’ ability to have a dynamic offense depending on what defenses show, and with the floor their defense offers, BYU is a sneaky choice for a deep run.

VCU 2025 NCAA Tournament Preview

The VCU Rams are 28-6 and enter March Madness as Atlantic 10 champions. VCU has a balanced attack under second-year head coach Ryan Odom, who has maintained the program’s winning tradition while evolving its identity.

Though the “Havoc” pressure defense is gone, VCU remains one of the nation’s most suffocating defensive teams, excelling at rim protection and perimeter containment while generating momentum-shifting fastbreaks off turnovers. No team has held opponents to a lower effective field goal percentage than VCU.

Offensively, Odom’s four-out system features a loaded backcourt led by the dynamic Max Shulga. alongside explosive wings Joe Bamisile and Zeb Jackson, plus newcomer Phillip Russell, a mid-major scoring dynamo. The frontcourt boasts versatile defender Jack Clark from Clemson and improving center Christian Fermin, whose rim protection anchors the defense.

The 28 wins by VCU are the most since their Final Four run back in 2011. Since Jan. 1, VCU has gone 19-2 with a top-30 offense and defense. They’ve gone 12-1 in their final 13 games. While depth concerns exist with essentially an eight-man rotation, VCU’s combination of veteran leadership, defensive intensity, and multi-dimensional scoring makes the Rams a formidable opponent capable of disrupting higher seeds with their disciplined approach.

Check out all of our 2025 NCAA Tournament Bracket & Betting Coverage >>

2025 NCAA Tournament Game Previews

March Madness is officially here! The 2025 NCAA Tournament Bracket has been announced, and the teams are lining up for the Big Dance. Let's take a look at the early odds, previews, and predictions for the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

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