Friday’s Southwest bracket semifinal duels at San Antonio’s Alamodome assure at least one low-seeded squad to reach the Elite Eight.  

The No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks are the foursome’s ‘chalk’ favorites, matched up against the No. 12 Richmond Spiders.  The second battle pits the No. 10 Florida State Seminoles against the No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth Rams.

No. 1 Kansas vs No. 12 Richmond

Kansas was opened as a sizable 10 ½-point favorite against Richmond, with the ‘total’ traveling south a half-point from its opener of 138 to 137 ½ on the NCAA basketball betting boards.

The Jayhawks are 1-1 ATS in the tourney, with victories against the Boston University Terriers, 72-53, as 23 ½-point favorites and Illinois Fighting Illini, 73-59, eight-point ‘chalk.’  The ‘under’ went 2-0, with both matchups plunging below the ‘total’ by an average of 12 points in each affair.

Richmond is 2-0 ATS, edging out the Vanderbilt Commodores, 69-66, as a three-point dog and defeating the Morehead State Eagles, 65-48, as a 4 ½-point favorite.  The ‘under’ went 1-0-1 against the closing ‘total’ of each duel, extending Richmond’s ‘under’ stretch to 7-0-1 in its last eight games.

Look for the ‘under’ trends to possibly end in what sets up to be a lopsided affair.  Kansas’ Marcus Morris was a top-five scorer in the Big 12 Conference during the regular season, putting up 17.3 PPG.  The Jayhawks also bring the Big 12’s top two shooters to the floor, with Marcus and Markieff Morris uniting to hit 59.4 percent of their buckets.

No. 10 Florida State vs No. 11 VCU

Florida State opened as a 3 ½-point favorite in Friday’s nightcap against VCU, with the ‘total’ first set to 133.  Early action on the Seminoles and ‘under’ saw the numbers move to four and 132, respectively.

FSU presently has a 5-0 ATS streak, including its first two tourney matchups.  The Seminoles logged wins against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 71-57, as 4 ½-point dogs and the Texas A&M Aggies, 57-50, as one-point favorites.  The ‘under’ cashed in both battles, extending to 4-0 in Florida State’s last four games.

Virginia Commonwealth enters the Sweet 16 with its own hot run, collecting at 3-0 ATS in three upsets during the tourney.  The Rams began with last Wednesday’s play-in game, notching a 59-46 win as four-point dogs against the USC Trojans.  Shaka Smart’s squad surged on with triumphs against the Georgetown Hoyas, 74-56, as a 5 ½-point dog and the Purdue Boilermakers, 94-76, as a 9 ½-point dog.

With both squads sizzling, the ‘under’ may be where to find the best value instead of backing a side.  FSU has given up a stingy 55.2 PPG in its last four contests, with top shot-blocker Bernard James averaging 2.8 BPG in that span.  Virginia Commonwealth is coming off one of the tourney’s highest-scoring duels, but a four-day break and facing a slower-paced foe like the Seminoles should cool that off.

Regional final

Sunday’s Southwest regional final will have the survivors of Friday’s semifinal pairings squaring off.  Kansas is currently a minus 325 choice at BookMaker to win the Southwest and advance to the tourney’s Final Four next weekend.  Florida State is listed at 4/1, followed by VCU (7/1) and Richmond (15/2).