The Virginia Cavaliers landed a three seed in the East Region of the bracket, and they’ll face off against the 12-seed Akron Zips.
Virginia vs. Wright State opening odds
Wright State arrives as the Horizon League champion at 22-11, carrying a style that rarely hides what it wants. The Raiders play quickly, score 80.6 points per game, shoot 47.8% from the field and 36.5% from three, and lean on offensive rhythm more than defensive grinding. Brandon Noel anchors the roster at 19.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, Alex Huibregtse adds 15.3 points while shooting better than 39% from deep, and the offense flows through a lineup comfortable spacing the floor and firing early in the clock. Wright State has been to the NCAA tournament four times, including the 2018 trip that produced the program’s only tournament win, and this version again arrives with the sense that it would rather turn the floor into a track than a chessboard.
Virginia greets that approach with the exact opposite basketball philosophy and decades of postseason memory behind it. The Cavaliers are 25-8, finished near the top of the ACC, and carry the kind of tournament pedigree that still defines the program: 25 NCAA appearances, three Final Fours, and the 2019 national championship that completed one of the sport’s most famous redemption arcs. Ryan Odom’s current group still operates inside the familiar Virginia architecture—66.2 points allowed per game, opponents shooting just 39.5% from the field, and a pace that ranks among the slowest in Division I. Isaac McKneely leads the scoring at 15.8 per game, Reece Beekman runs the offense with 6.4 assists per night, and the Cavaliers rarely hurry possessions unless the defense forces the moment.
