Villanova opens as 6½-point favorite over Michigan in NCAA title game

There were still a few minutes left in Villanova’s 95-79 victory over Kansas in Saturday night’s NCAA semifinals when the Westgate sports book posted a line on Monday night’s NCAA championship.

The Wildcats opened as 6½-point favorites over Michigan. The total is 145½.

Villanova has won 10 straight games and is 8-2 ATS during the streak. The Wildcats have rolled through the NCAA Tournament, going 5-0 straight-up and ATS while winning each game by an average of 18 points.

Villanova, the nation’s highest-scoring team at 87 points per game, has gone over in 15 of its past 19 games.

Michigan erased a 10-point deficit en route to its 69-57 win over Loyola-Chicago in the first national semifinal. The Wolverines, who closed as 5½-point favorites, ended the game on a 38-16 run to cover for the 11th time during their 14-game winning streak.

Michigan has gone under in four of its past five.

Derek Stevens, who owns the D Las Vegas and the Golden Gate, is one Michigan win from beating Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta out of $1 million.

Stevens placed a $25,000 futures wager on the Wolverines at 40-1 odds March 3 at the Golden Nugget sports book to win $1 million. He lost $50,000 in hedge bets on Loyola-Chicago.

Villanova is minus 330 on the money line in Monday’s game.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.