Up to March Madness Betting Trends

posted April 2, 2008 at 02:42 in March Madness Betting Trends

NCAA Final Four @ Alamodome, San Antonio, TX

(1) Kansas vs. (1) North Carolina: The top ranked UNC Tarheels put on a clinic last weekend in Charlotte making their backers very happy in the process. They obliterated the eight-point spread against Washington State winning 68-47, and came away with the 83-73 road win as five-point chalks in their Elite 8 match-up with Louisville. Kansas romped Villanova 72-57 as 12-point favorites in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated, but struggled mightily in their Elite 8 battle with Davidson ultimately winning the game SU on the last play of the game, 59-57.

This is the first match-up between these two schools since Roy Williams departed Lawrence, KS to take over the reigns in Chapel Hill. UNC has been a tremendous moneymaker all season long evidenced by their 24-11 ATS mark this season, but they’re only 2-7 ATS their L/9 match-ups when installed as favorites of 1-6.5 points. As for the Jayhawks, they’ve cashed four straight ATS when installed a neutral site underdog, but they’ve failed to cover the spread in 7 of their L/10 against the ACC.

Without further ado, this is how tonight’s Final 4 match-up played out according to the XBOX 360 while running a NCAA 2K8 game sim.

Both teams exploded out of the gates combining to hit all five of its shots from the field. Jayhawk fans were grinning from ear-to-ear as Brandon Rush came out hot connecting on both of his 3-point attempts from the field, but the defense wasn’t able to contain Tyler Hansbrough who picked right back up where he left off last weekend owning the paint. With the score tied at 17, KU big man Darrell Arthur was called for his second foul and was forced to go to the bench with over 12 minutes remaining in the half. This forced Jayhawk Head Coach Bill self to look to his senior, Sasha Kaun, to make Hansbrough and company continue to earn their keep in the paint. However, that didn’t go as planned when Kaun picked up three fouls in less than two minutes of play. With the Jayhawks hurting down low, Hansbrough took advantage with a couple lay-ups and a pair of successful FG attempts from eight-feet out. Now down 10 at the seven minute mark, 38-28, Kansas was reeling and in need of one of its team leaders to step up. Instead, the Tarheels continued to increase its lead by kicking it out beyond the arc to Wayne Ellington and Danny Green once the Kansas “D” swarmed Hansbrough in the blocks. They rattled off three straight shots from beyond the arc to extend its lead to 18, and went into the break with a comfy double-digit lead, 52-36.

With Kansas in severe foul trouble and hurting at the defensive end of the court, the Jayhawks decided to run a bit to open up the second stanza. They opened up the half with a 7-0 spurt, and eventually trimmed the lead down to six once Brandon Rush connected on his third 3-point attempt of the game right before the first media timeout. UNC Head Coach Roy Williams was noticeably irate in the teams huddle, and the Tarheels responded once play resumed. Ty Lawson penetrated the KU defense enough to get off a fabulous finger roll that rung true. Then the Tarheels forced another Jayhawk turnover that was quickly outletted to Deon Thompson for a thunderous dunk. The play seemingly took the air right out of KU’s balloon, and the Jayhawks run at the Tarheels was over. KU missed five straight shots from the field, while UNC converted its next three and the lead was back up to double-digits for good at the 10-minute mark. When the dust cleared, Roy knocked off his former mates by a 95-79 final count and sent Jayhawk nation off to drown its sorrows at the closest watering hole.

Final Score: North Carolina 95 Kansas 79

BetUS Odds: North Carolina (-4.5) 159.5

Turnovers and poor shooting from beyond the arc led to KU’s demise, as well as poor outings from both Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson.

XBOX recommends a play on North Carolina (-4.5) and Over 159.5

UNC Points Rebounds Assists FG% 3-Point %

Wayne Ellington 26 4 3 10/16 63% 4/6 67%

Tyler Hansbrough 21 8 1 9/15 60% 0/0 0%

Danny Green 20 3 3 7/15 47% 4/7 57%

Ty Lawson 12 3 13 5/7 71% 1/1 100%

Deon Thompson 4 4 2 1/5 20% 0-0 0%

Kansas Points Rebounds Assists FG% 3-Point %

Brandon Rush 25 4 1 10/15 67% 3/7 43%

Darrell Arthur 17 10 2 7/12 58% 0/0 0%

Sasha Kaun 11 5 2 4/8 50% 0/0 0%

Mario Chalmers 9 0 5 4/11 36% 0/2 0%

Russell Robinson 11 3 9 5/11 20% 1/4 25%

Kansas Teams North Carolina

33/61 Field Goals 37/72

54% Field Goal Percentage 51%

3/11 3-Pointers 9/16

27% 3-Point Percentage 56%

10/16 63% Free Throws 12/15 80%

20 Assists 23

14 Turnovers 7

10 Team Fouls 9

27 Total Rebounds 31

4 Offensive Rebounds 7

6 Steals 13

6 Blocks 3

44 Points In The Paint 46

22 Bench Points 12

4 Second Chance Points 10

8 Fast Break Points 4

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