Odds give North Carolina slim edge over Villanova in championship game

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, April 2, 2016 | 8:32 p.m.

Updated Saturday, April 2, 2016 | 8:51 p.m.

College basketball fans feeling slighted over the lack of suspense in Saturday’s pair of Final Four games may only need to wait until Monday’s national championship to get their fill if the betting line is any indication.

For the third straight year, oddsmakers see the NCAA Tournament final as a one-possession game. No. 1 seed North Carolina opened as a 2-point favorite over No. 2 seed Villanova in the national championship at most Las Vegas sports books after both teams registered blowout victories in the semifinals.

The Tar Heels and Wildcats deprived sports books of any tight-game atmosphere Saturday by eclipsing their lines before halftime. Villanova cruised to a 95-51 victory over Oklahoma as a 2.5-point favorite before North Carolina slowed Syracuse 83-66 as a 10-point favorite.

That both favorites had such an easy time was nothing out of the ordinary for this year’s NCAA Tournament. Favorites are now 37-28-1 against the spread dating back to the beginning of March Madness.

Both games also climbed above the point total, meaning overs are 34-32 in the tournament. The over/under for Monday's game is set at 151.5 points, the highest in the last game of the year since 2009 when North Carolina won its most recent title.

In each of the last two national championships, the underdog overcame the tight odds to prevail. Duke closed a 1-point underdog before beating Wisconsin 68-63 last year, and Connecticut was plus-2.5 going into a 60-54 win over Kentucky in 2014.

Monday’s game marks the sixth time in the last decade that the NCAA Tournament concludes with a matchup carrying a betting line of 3 or fewer points.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.