National Championship: Defense Wins Championships
Tough one in the Final Four here. Unfortunately, Duke did not get it done for us, but that was one of the most entertaining college basketball games I’ve ever watched. We now sit at 7-2 for the tournament with one night left. If you recall in my Tournament Futures Post, I had Kansas +900 to win the national championship. Due to that I will not be playing a side in this game or breaking that down. I will only be taking the total. Let’s get into it.
Play of the Day: Under 152
Generally speaking in close championship games, the game tightens up and the pace slows down. Defense is ultimately Kansas’s calling card and they have the athletes to make UNC uncomfortable and contest their shots. Throughout this tournament, Kansas’s opponents have scored 56, 72, 61, 60, and 65. We all know that UNC wants to get out in transition, so I expect that Kansas wants to play a bit slower than they usually do in order to make Carolina beat them in a different way. The other night we had a track meet between Duke and Carolina ending with a total of 158. With only two days of rest and an injured Armando Bacot, will UNC have the same energy to play at a rampant pace in order to get to the 150 mark? I believe that this game is going to be close, so in the last 5 minutes I think we will see a lot of walking the ball up and taking the air out of the ball to get good shots. Having to get to 153 feels like everything needs to go right and both teams to hit a lot of shots. Since I don’t expect to see a super fast pace like in Duke-UNC, I will take my chances on some more misses and less volume, helping us hit the under in this one.