JEFF ALLEN GAME PREVIEW: VILLANOVA vs. NORTH CAROLINA
The college basketball National Championship will be decided in Houston tonight as the Villanova Wildcats (34-5) out of the Big East take on the preseason No.1 North Carolina Tar Heels (33-6) out the ACC. While the teams have no recent history, the teams have met six prior times in the college basketball post season (second behind only Kentucky/Marquette) with the Tar
Heels 5-1 SU and ATS in that series. Since 1987, No.1 seeds are 6-0 (4-2 ATS) when playing a No.2 seed in national finals. The line opened at North Carolina -2.5 with the high/low set at 151. The number moved to -3 for a short time on Sunday and a steady stream of Villanova money since has dropped the total to 149 1/2.
Villanova played nearly a perfect game in it’s record breaking 95-51 beat down of Oklahoma in the national semifinals. Other than their game with Kansas, the Wildcats have been unconscious shooting the basketball shooting 58% vs. Ashville, 59% vs. Iowa, 63% against Miami and 71% against the Sooners. Josh Hart (15.5, 6.7, 1.9) was a game changer vs. Oklahoma and the Cats top scoring threat all season. Kris Jenkins (13,6, 3.9, 2.2) will need to have his in and out game going to draw some of the UNC big men away from the boards. Ryan Arcidiacono (12.4, 2.9, 4.3) has been brilliant running the offense from the point and also spearheading the defense.
North Carolina hasn’t shot the ball well all year or in this tournament and in fact, the Heels best offense has been throwing it off the rim and backboard and having their four big men that are 6’11’ or better go and get it. Much like the way UNC handled Duke in the regular season, the Heels ripped down 16 offensive rebounds in it’s 83-66 win over Syracuse on Saturday. Brice Johnson
(17.0, 10.5, 1.5) gets all the pub and and will be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Marcus Paige (12.3, 2.5, 3.7) has played 140 games for the Carolina blue and the Heels are tough to beat when he’s shooting the ball well.
Villanova is playing it’s best basketball of the year at just the right time. The Wildcats thumped some pretty good teams by double-digits to get here and have been ultra-efficient on the offensive end. Villanova became the 7th team since 1985 to win it’s semi by 18+ points and the dog is 5-1 in those subsequent finals. The ACC and the Big East have split 12 games this year with the favorites going 9-3. The teams met in 2013 in an 8-9 game with the Tar Heels winning 78-71. Keys to the game are for Villanova to keep on
doing what it’s been doing, hitting it’s open looks and holding opponents to one shot on it’s defensive end. North Carolina will have to hit some outside shots and wear down the Nova front court with relentless physical play. This is an intriguing matchup that could go either way and will likely be decided in the final five minutes. Enjoy!
World champion handicapper Jeff Allen has had an epic college basketball season going 69-39 over this L108 plays. Get tonight’s slam dunk winner on the side at Allen’s home site of www.vegasscoresandodds.com.