This Final Four is North Carolina’s for the taking.
All four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Sweet 16 but only one — North Carolina — survived last weekend. And now UNC gets a No. 10 seed in Syracuse Saturday in an all-ACC national semifinal contest.
Yep, the door is wide open for the Tar Heels.
When you are the only No. 1 seed left in the tournament, your odds of winning increase tremendously. In 2013, Louisville was the only No. 1 seed in the Final Four and went on to win the title. The year before that, it was No. 1 Kentucky accomplishing the same feat. In fact, a one-seed has won the March Madness tournament seven of the last nine times.
The two exceptions belong to UConn, with a 2014 championship as a No. 7 seed (a run that included a Final Four win over No. 1 Florida) and a 2011 title as a No. 3 seed.
There are no gimmies at this level, but UNC is almost a sure bet to make Monday’s national title game. The Tar Heels are favored by 10 points vs. Syracuse.
North Carolina beat Syracuse during both regular-season ACC contests, but Roy Williams’ bunch didn’t do so in dominating fashion by any means.
Syracuse, just the fourth double-digit seed to ever reach the Final Four, can make history with an upset win Saturday in Houston to become the first-ever No.10 seed to reach the national championship game.
Jim Boeheim’s squad has played the role of Cinderella quite well. The Orange have done so with stifling defense and by making stops when they’ve needed them most. Syracuse allowed 101 total points in wins over No.7 Dayton and No.15 Middle Tennessee State, and it held No.11 Gonzaga and No.1 Virginia to 60 points and 62 points, respectively. Syracuse’s 2-3 zone will have to be just as good if this team hopes to beat the best team left in March Madness.
On the other side, we have a rematch between a pair of two seeds — Villanova and Oklahoma.
Much has been made of Oklahoma’s 78-55 win against Villanova in December, but don’t let that poor showing by the Wildcats lessen your expectations for this matchup.
Oklahoma was 14 of 26 from 3-point range in the first meeting, which is obviously exceptional. Villanova, on the other hand, had the worst 3-point outing of its season (4 for 32).
I expect OU guard Buddy Hield to continue putting on a show. He’s averaging nearly 30 points a game in the NCAA Tournament. But for every 3-pointer Hield connects on, look for Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono to have an answer. After all, the senior is hitting 58 percent beyond the arc in this tournament.
My picks to advance are North Carolina and Oklahoma, with the Tar Heels cutting down the nets Monday night.
