The No. 6 seed BYU Cougars and the No. 11 seed VCU Rams battle in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Thursday. The Rams finished the regular season with a 28-6 record, including a three-game win streak. On the other side of the court, the Cougars were 24-9 during the regular season. 

Tip-off from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, is set for 4:05 p.m. ET. BYU is a 2.5-point favorite in the latest VCU vs. BYU odds from SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points scored is 148. The Cougars are -136 money-line favorites. 

Before making any VCU vs. BYU picks, check out the college basketball predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The model simulates every Division 1 college basketball game 10,000 times. It enters the 2025 NCAA Tournament on a 228-166 roll (+2025) on all top-rated college basketball picks dating back to 2023. This model has also produced brackets that have beaten over 91% of CBS Sports entries in four of the last six tournaments and nailed 24 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds! Anyone following could have seen HUGE returns!

The model has simulated VCU vs. BYU 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over, and it also says one side of the spread hites in almost 60% of simulations!

So who wins VCU vs. BYU, and which side of the spread hits in almost 60% of simulations? Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that is 228-166 (+2025) on top-rated college basketball pick and has nailed 24 double-digit upsets!