The North Carolina Tar Heels have punched their ticket to the Final Four for the 20th time in program history. The Oregon Ducks last made it through the first two weeks of the NCAA Tournament way back in 1939 which just so happens to be the very first year the tournament took place. They actually went on to win it all. Dana Altman’s kids face a steep uphill climb in order to match that feat with the Tar Heels installed the odds on favorites to cut the nets down come Monday night.
Don't miss this Final Four showdown from the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ at 8:49 ET on Saturday, April 1. Catch every moment of the game live on CBS.
Final Four Odds at BookMaker.eu
Oregon Ducks +5 -115
North Carolina Tar Heels -5 -105
Over/Under 152
Odds Analysis
Some big money bets immediately came in on the Tar Heels at the open bumping the line up from the -4 opener to where it currently sits at -5. The betting line has however fluctuated between -4.5 and -5 due to the Ducks receiving some love with 48 percent of the tickets written backing them off their dominant upset of the Jayhawks in Kansas City.
The total for this game has seen more action early on. It originally opened at 148.5, but was quickly increased to 152 with 73 percent of the tickets written expecting a high scorer to play out. Pretty surprising when you consider the job Dana Altman’s defense just did against KU’s potent offensive attack.
How They Got Here
With all the talk of Chris Boucher’s absence limiting what the Ducks can do in this tournament, they calmly took the floor in the first-round and handled MAAC rep Iona with ease dropping 93 points on the Gaels to covering the 15 point spread. It wasn’t until the second-round that Oregon got a scare after Rhode Island had them on the ropes for the first 38 minutes, but failed to administer the knockout blow. In the end, Oregon secured the 75-72 comeback win to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.
Down three points with just over a minute remaining, the Ducks goose looked to be all but cooked. But an offensive rebound that followed a missed front end of a 1-and-1 cut the lead to one, and they then took the lead on a put back off another offensive rebound. The 69-68 lead held up after Michigan failed to connect on its last possession. Oregon then punched its first Final Four ticket in nearly 80 years by pulling a wire-to-wire job on the heavily favored Jayhawks.
UNC steamrolled its way to the 103-64 win and cover against Texas Southern to cruise into the second round. It then jumped on Arkansas early, but took their collective foot off the gas way too early ultimately allowing the Hogs to give them a major run for their money. It took a 12-0 run at the tail end of the game to allow for Roy Williams’ kids to reach its third straight Sweet Sixteen.
Butler proved to be no match for the Heels whom they easily disposed of 92-80 on the back of draining nearly 55 percent of their shots while holding a +11 advantage on the glass. It was onto the Elite Eight from there against a Kentucky squad that set up one of the best blueblood battles we’ve seen in the dance in quite some time. Luke Maye ended up being the surprising hero of that contest with his last second jumper proving to be the ultimate decider in a thrilling 75-73 that moved UNC into the Final Four in back-to-back tourneys.
Comparable Games of Note
The furthest Oregon had gone in the NCAA Tournament since the turn of the century was the Elite Eight. After getting trounced by Oklahoma last season, they put a ton of effort to at the very least go a round further versus Kansas. The absence of Boucher is yet to rear its ugly head. Jordan Bell played like a man possessed versus the Jayhawks. Oregon would be better served in this matchup if he had his paint mate beside him versus the Heels.
North Carolina toyed with Syracuse in the Final Four last season beating their conference rivals 83-66 as 10 point neutral court chalk. It also covered as favorites versus Villanova the last time it reached the Final Four back in 2009, but fell to Kansas the year before that 84-66 as 2.5 point favorites. So to sum it up, UNC checks in 2-1 straight up and against the spread in its last three Final Four appearances.
Though both Oregon and North Carolina partook in the Maui Invitational at the beginning of the season, neither team crossed paths due to the fact that the Ducks slipped up against Georgetown early and was placed in the loser’s bracket.
They did however each get stiff challenges from the Tennessee Volunteers. Oregon was forced to battle back to beat the Vols 69-65 in overtime on the island, and because of it, grossfully failed to cover the closing 13.5 point spread. UNC also needed to come back against Tennessee trailing 44-36 at halftime, but outscored them 37-27 in the second half to escape with the 73-71 win and non-cover as near 20 point favorites.
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