With yet another blowout win, the North Carolina Tar Heels improved to 10-0 straight up and 8-2 against the spread over their last 10 games. The Tar Heels will face their toughest test of the NCAA Tournament in the championship game on Monday night against the Villanova Wildcats.
North Carolina vs. Villanova, 2016 NCAA championship game odds: Tar Heels favored
After blowing out their opponents in the Final Four, North Carolina and Villanova meet in the tournament final with the Tar Heels the favorites.
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North Carolina is a 2.5-point betting favorite for the title game at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. If that lines holds it would be the third time this season that the Tar Heels have been favored by 2.5 points, going 2-0 SU and ATS in the previous two instances.
The Cinderella story of the No. 10 Syracuse Orange came to a bitter end on Saturday night as the Tar Heels cruised to an 83-66 win and cover. The cover brought North Carolina’s ATS run to 8-1 over its last nine games, including a 4-0 run through the last four rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
In five tournament games, the Tar Heels have won by no less than 14 points in every game, averaging a margin of victory of 16.2 points per game and an average of 88 points per game.
The Tar Heels have thrived in the small favorite role in recent years. In the team’s last 17 games as a favorite of 2.5 points or less, North Carolina is 14-3 SU and 13-4 ATS, per the OddsShark College Basketball Database.
Villanova is perhaps best known for its offensive prowess and propensity towards the three-ball. Both were on display in the Wildcats’ 95-point effort against Oklahoma, which included an 11-for-18 night from three-point range.
But the Wildcats also entered the NCAA Tournament with the 11th-best scoring defense in the nation, and that defense was also on display Friday night in holding Oklahoma to just 51 points. The Wildcats have solved two of the nation’s top offenses in Kansas and Oklahoma so far in this tournament. They will now face their toughest offensive opponent to date.
Monday’s total for the title game matchup is set at 151 points. The OVER is 11-3 in Villanova’s last 14 games and 3-0 in North Carolina’s last three outings.
The madness of March has come and gone, and left in its wake are the two best teams left in the field. North Carolina has looked unstoppable over the last month of play, but Villanova has already knocked off one red-hot No. 1 seed in Kansas and will try to do the same again on Monday.
