As the Xavier Musketeers were going through a six-game losing streak, which pretty much coincided with the loss of their point guard, there were a lot of people who doubted their ability to even make the field in the NCAA Tournament, much less get to a spot where they are one step from the Final Four. But here they are, challenging the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who were at one point the #1 team in the country, and still have only one defeat, in a game that begins at 6:09 PM ET in San Jose. CBS will televise it, and BetAnySports customers, who get reduced juice on their March Madness betting odds before the game starts, can continue to stay in the action by utilizing the state-of-the-art software available through Live Betting Ultra.

Edmond Sumner, the 6-6 guard who created a lot of matchup problems for opponents, was lost about midway through the schedule with a knee injury. Xavier later felt the effect of that, going on that six-game losing streak, but under head coach Chris Mack, they started to adjust. A team that had shot a dismal 29% at Villanova, 31% at Baylor and 39% at Cincinnati started to bring itself around, but even getting through two rounds of the Big East tournament before getting beaten by Creighton was not enough to convince a lot of people. Since they have been in the Big Dance, they have been, we dare say, dominant.

Gonzaga has lost only to BYU, and that has to really stick in their craw, because it happened in Spokane, spoiling what could possibly wind up an undefeated season. Of course, they have to advance the Final Four first. After losing a couple of big men off last year's team, there still retain some size, starting seven-foot Przemek Karnowski and bringing in Zach Collins behind him. But the Bulldogs have their share of problems against West Virginia, committing 16 turnovers and permitting the Mountaineers to pull down 20 offensive rebounds, and they were probably fortunate to come out of that game with a 61-58 win.

In the March Madness betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, Gonzaga is laying quite a few points:

Gonzaga Bulldogs -8.5
Xavier Musketeers +8.5

Over 145 points -110
Under 145 points -110

Xavier has been shooting lights-out, and they certainly hope that can continue. They hit 50% of their shots against Maryland in the opening round, then followed that with almost 56% against Florida State. In that game, they drove the Seminoles' big men crazy, and also got out to the perimeter to force FSU to miss 17 out of 21 attempts at three-pointers. The final was 91-66, and that had to throw caution to the winds in the West regional. In their last game, Xavier continue to show its mettle with 57% shooting against Arizona in a 73-71 victory. Again, they had to deal with an opponent that had a lot of size to throw at them, and they also limited the Wildcats to 7-27 from beyond the arc. This is all incredibly impressive.

And BetAnySports customers know that Trevon Bluiett has been at the center of the offense. He has made 52% of his shots over these last three games, averaging 25 points, but he has been doing some of this all season long. He just had to step up his game a little to make up for the absence of Sumner. Xavier has 6-10 Sean O'Mara and 6-9 Rashid Gaston to bang bodies up front, but what's interesting is that they don't really have any little guys playing key roles. The shortest guy who will have considerable playing time is 6-4 Quentin Goodin, so the Musketeers should be able to get their shots.

We will see who is assigned to Nigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga's 6-3 guard who was the West Coast Conference player of the year. The Bulldogs' backcourt people made just eight out of 29 shots against West Virginia, and you have to remember that Xavier is 30th best in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, so even though Mark Few's team is #2 in the nation defending two-pointers and #5 in the country defending the triple, they will have to defend it twice, in order to avoid giving up second-shot opportunities.

BetAnySports offers you a great free play bonus, in addition to reduced juice, which gives you much better March Madness odds...... Remember that you can stay in the action after the opening whistle by taking advantage of what is available with Live Betting Ultra, and you can deposit in a number of different ways, including your Visa card, person-to-person transfers and the virtual currency of Bitcoin, which is fast and easy with their automated system!