Who you got in the Final Four?
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Who you got in the Final Four?
North Carolina Is Heavy Favorite of Final Four Teams
By Erik Matuszewski
The University of North Carolina returns to the Final Four of the men’s college basketball tournament as a heavy favorite to claim a fifth title, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.
The Tar Heels (32-4) are rated a 10-11 chance to win the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament’s championship game on April 6 at Ford Field in Detroit.
The University of Connecticut has odds of 9-5 to win the title, while Michigan State and Villanova are listed at 4-1 by Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which advises Nevada sports books on gambling lines.
North Carolina was also the favorite to win the tournament entering last year’s Final Four and lost to eventual champion Kansas in the national semifinals after falling behind 40-12 in the first half.
“Each and every year you put yourself in a position that you can be one of those teams that has a chance to win it all,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said at a news conference following yesterday’s 12-point win over Oklahoma. “This team has dealt with a great deal of adversity, a great deal of expectation from other people. They’ve got us going to Detroit, and we’re excited about that.”
Final Four Spreads
North Carolina is favored by 7 1/2 points over Villanova (30-7) in one national semifinal on April 4 in Detroit. Connecticut (31-4) is a 4 1/2-point favorite over Michigan State (30-6) in the other game.
North Carolina, which claimed NCAA titles in 1957, 1982, 1993 and 2005, has won its first four tournament games by an average of 20.2 points. Should the Tar Heels reach the championship game, oddsmakers said they would be favored over either Connecticut or Michigan State. North Carolina beat the Spartans in Detroit by 35 points in December. The Tar Heels also defeated Michigan State 87-71 in the 2005 national semifinals before claiming their last title.
“We have high expectations every year,” Tar Heels senior forward Danny Green said at a news conference. “It’s nothing new to us. They were expecting us to go undefeated and all that talk. We lost a couple of games and everybody thought the world was ending. We handled it very well. This team is mature enough and we’re more experienced than we were in the past.”
While North Carolina is making a record 18th Final Four appearance, Villanova is back in the national semifinals for the first time since winning its lone title in 1985.
Connecticut won the NCAA tournament in 1999 and 2004, while Michigan State won its last championship in 2000 and is back in the Final Four for the fifth time in 11 years. The Spartans won their only other title 30 years ago, when Magic Johnson led the school past Larry Bird’s Indiana State team.
Source: bloomberg.com
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Re: Who you got in the Final Four?
UNC promises to be tough, but The Big East is a superior conference to that of the ACC:
Edge - Huskies.
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Wise Owl
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Re: Who you got in the Final Four?
ERROR: A link was posted here (img) but it appears to be a broken link.
GO OWLS!!!
2017 and 2019 Conference USA Champions
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Wise Owl
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Re: Who you got in the Final Four?
WKU_Slam_Dunk said
I pick UConn, although its tough to pick against UNC. Michigan St. could be a sleeper because they will practically have home court advantage.
Know it's "old news", but i'm still ticked they didn't see your coach clearly calling time out in that rediculously close loss to Gonzaga…….
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