College Basketball Betting: Final Four

The long and winding road that is the college basketball season comes to an end this weekend when the Final Four teams remaining in the NCAA basketball championship tournament square off at Ford Field in Detroit.

The first berth in Monday's national title game will be decided when the Big 10's Michigan State Spartans (30-6), playing less than 90 minutes from campus, take on the Big East's Connecticut Huskies (31-4) on Saturday evening (6:07 pm Eastern, CBS). And 30 minutes after the completion of the first game, the ACC's North Carolina Tar Heels (t) tangle with another Big East squad, the Villanova Wildcats (30-7), to settle the second title-game berth.

Michigan State went 15–3 in winning the Big 10's regular-season title this season, before losing to Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Then, as the second seed in the Midwest regional, the Spartans beat Robert Morris, USC, Kansas and Louisville to reach their fifth Final Four in the last 11 seasons.

Connecticut went 15–3 in tying for second place in the Big East during the regular season before falling in that six-overtime marathon to Syracuse in the quarters of the conference tournament. Then the Huskies, as the top seed in the West regional, knocked off UT-Chattanooga, Texas A&M, Purdue and Missouri to reach their third Final Four over the past 10 seasons.

Michigan State won the Midwest region as +300 choices at Oddsmaker.com, and UConn won the West as the +100 favorite.

North Carolina won the ACC's regular-season crown by going 13-3 in conference, but got upset by Florida State in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Then the Tar Heels, as the top seeds in the South region, beat Radford, LSU, Gonzaga and Oklahoma to get to their second straight Final Four, and their third in the last five seasons.

Villanova went 13-5 to place fourth in the Big East this season before losing to Louisville in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Wildcats, as the third seed in the East region, then defeated American, UCLA, Duke and Pittsburgh to reach the Final Four for the first time since Rollie's boys upset Georgetown in the national championship game 24 years ago.

Carolina won the South as a -120 favorite at Oddsmaker.com, while Villanova won the East as a +800 shot.

Going into this year's tournament, Oddsmaker.com listed the Tar Heels as the top choice on its NCAA championship betting board at +300. UConn was a co-third choice, along with Louisville, at +400; Michigan State was listed, along with Duke, at +1,200; and 'Nova was listed along with Florida State, Syracuse and UCLA at +4,000.

As of Monday afternoon, Oddsmaker.com was listing Connecticut as four-point favorites over Michigan State, with a total of 134.5. And while the pointspread had held steady through Wednesday, the total dropped a half-point, to 134. The Huskies are also listed at -190 on the Oddsmaker.com moneyline, with the Spartans getting +160.

Oddsmaker was listing North Carolina as 7.5-point chalk over Villanova back on Monday, with a total of 160. But by Thursday the Heels had been dropped a half-point to seven, and the total had been dropped a half-point to 159.5. Carolina was also listed at -350 on the Oddsmaker moneyline Monday, with the 'Cats getting +290, but those numbers had been adjusted to -330/+270 by Thursday.   

Two different rematches are possible for Monday's title game (9:21 pm Eastern). Back in early December, the Heels went up to East Lansing and pounded the Spartans 98-63. And in mid-January Connecticut beat conference-rival Villanova 89-83 in Hartford.

For the curious, North Carolina's regional title gives the ACC nine Final Four entrants over the last ten seasons, most among all conferences. Michigan State's berth gives the Big 10 eight Final Fours over that same span, second-most among conferences, followed by the Big 12 with six, the Big East (including UConn and Villanova this season) five, the PAC 10 and SEC four, and Conference-USA three.

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