March Madness is nearing its end with the Final Four now set, but one team continues to stand out as the overwhelming favorite to win college basketball's national championship.

Following a dominant run through its side of the bracket, No. 1 Gonzaga is the biggest betting favorite in Final Four history. The Bulldogs will face No. 11 UCLA on Saturday in the second Final Four contest of the night. No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 Houston are scheduled to meet in the first Final Four matchup.

Both games will be played Saturday at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium. The winners will meet Monday night at the same venue in the NCAA Tournament's national title game.

Here are picks against the spread for the 2021 NCAA Tournament’s Final Four games. Betting odds come from OddsShark.

Houston (+5) vs. Baylor, 135 (5:14 p.m. EDT)

It’s not much of a surprise that the top-seeded Bears and the No. 2-seeded Cougars are in the Final Four, though their paths were quite different.

Baylor has won every NCAA Tournament game by at least nine points, beating quality opponents in No. 5 Villanova and No. 3 Arkansas. Houston was fortunate to only face double-digits seeds in its side of the bracket, and the Cougars could be in for a rude awakening now that they’ll take on a top seed.

Houston had a few easy wins, but they narrowly escaped upsets in close games against No. 10 Rutgers and No. 12 Oregon State. An outstanding Cougars’ defense could be overmatched by the Bears, who lead the nation by making a spectacular 41.1% of their 3-point attempts. Jared Butler, MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell lead a terrific Baylor backcourt that will find ways to score.

Baylor has been the sport’s second-best team throughout the year, and it’ll be difficult for Houston to keep them out of the national championship game.

Prediction ATS: Baylor

UCLA (+14) vs. Gonzaga, 145.5 (8:34 p.m. EDT)

This game has a bigger point spread than any Final Four matchup ever with good reason. With a perfect 30-0 record, Gonzaga has beaten all but one of its opponents by double digits. All four of the Bulldogs’ tournament wins have come by at least 16 points, including a dominant 85-66 victory over No. 6 USC in the Elite Eight.

UCLA has proven to be a better team than its No. 11 seed might suggest, but the Bruins don’t have the offense to keep up with Gonzaga. UCLA needed 28 points from Johnny Juzanga just to score 51 points in a low-scoring Elite Eight affair.

That kind of effort won’t come close to getting it done against the Bulldogs, who have put up at least 83 points in every March Madness contest and are loaded with NBA talent. Look for Drew Timme and Corey Kispert to lead the way in another rout.

Prediction ATS: Gonzaga

Gonzaga Basketball
The Gonzaga Bulldogs celebrate on the court after their 88-78 victory over the Brigham Young Cougars to win the championship game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 9, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images
RELATED STORIES