North Carolina Tarheels NCAA Basketball Picks

NCAA March Madness Final 4 Score Predictions

Written by on March 30, 2016

Want to know who’s going to win Saturday’s quickly approaching Final Four matchups outright? Check! How about a great ATS pick to go along with that? Roger! Better yet, how about a final score that could be right on the mark? Done! You’re going to get all of the above thanks to the pair of final score predictions that you’re about to get on both Final Four pairings. Since haste makes waste, let’s get into some March Madness betting predictions!

NCAA March Madness Final 4 Score Predictions

Villanova vs. Oklahoma

When: 6:09 PM ET, Saturday, April 2, 2016 Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas Odds: Villanova -2 Total: 146 Game Analysis: The Sooners (29-7 SU, 14-20 ATS) pounded Villanova (33-5 SU, 19-17 ATS) by a whopping 23 points back on Pearl Harbor Day in December, but the Wildcats are a much better team than they were in the early going and I expect the Sooners to find that out right away in their Final our matchup. Villanova and Oklahoma have both been playing stupendous defense through their four tourney games with the Wildcats not allowing more than 69 points in all four of their March Madness matchups and Oklahoma limiting three of their four tournament opponents to 68 points or less. Having said that, Villanova is clearly the better defense ballclub in this affair, having not allowed more than 69 points in an impressive seven straight games while giving up more than that figure just twice over their last 10 games. Oklahoma narrowly got by VCU in giving up a whopping 81 points to the Rams in their second tournament game and will find stopping Villanova’s well-balanced team extremely difficult. I know Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield (25.4 ppg) is an absolute monster player and one that will almost assuredly be a top five pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, but for me, the two players that will have the biggest impact on this contest are sweet-shooting Villanova forward Kris Jenkins (13.5 ppg) and 6-11 center Daniel Ochefu (10.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 62.0% FG). Villanova is 4-0 ATS in their last four NCAA Tournament games and an insane 34-15-2 ATS in their last 51 non-conference games. On the flip side of the coin, Oklahoma has struggled like crazy to cover the spread all season long. The Sooners are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 NCAA Tournament games and just 3-11 ATS in their last 14 games against a team with a winning straight up record. I like the well-balanced Wildcats to get the SU win and ATS cover and here’s the final score! The Pick: Villanova 82 Oklahoma 76

No. 10 Syracuse vs. No. 1 North Carolina

When: 8:49 PM ET, Saturday, April 2, 2016 Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas Odds: North Carolina -9.5 Total: 149 Game Analysis: I’ve got to give some love to a Syracuse (23-13 SU, 20-15 ATS) team that most college hoops fans thought shouldn’t have even been in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Orange have overachieved in a big way in reaching the Final Four, but they certainly haven’t been luck as they’ve created their own success, generally by never quitting – and playing lockdown defense. Still, it’s really hard for me to envision Syracuse beating a North Carolina (32-6 SU, 19-18-1 ATS) team that has already beaten them twice this season and simply has too much talent to be beaten by a basketball program that lacks depth and consistent scorers. Carolina beat Syracuse 84-73 on January 9 before doubling up on Syracuse by beating the Orange 75-70 on February 29. Syracuse was held to less than 30.0 percent shooting from downtown in both games and almost assuredly won’t have an answer for stopping North Carolina All-American power forward Brice Johnson. The bottom line for this matchup is that North Carolina can run waves of athletic high school All-Americans at any opponent they face and unless it’s a team like Kentucky, most teams just don’t possess that kind of flat-out talent. I really like Syracuse’s Michael Gbinije (17.6 ppg) and the blossoming Malachi Richardson (13.3 ppg), not to mention heady point guard Trevor Cooney (12.7 ppg), but they alone won’t be able to keep the Orange within striking distance of a Carolina squad that has looked increasingly better with each passing game. Carolina is 5-0 ATS in their last five games against their ACC conference rivals and a blistering 7-1 ATS in their last eight games overall but Syracuse is 4-0 ATS in their last four NCAA Tournament games and a perfect 5-0 ATS in their last five neutral site games. Last but not least, Syracuse is also 3-1-1 ATS in the last five meetings against the Tar Heels. North Carolina wins, but the cover goes to the defensive-minded Syracuse Orange.   The Pick: North Carolina 77 Syracuse 70