unc
Kansas vs. North Carolina Free Pick
UNC Defense
The Elite Eight is set. Eight teams remain from the 68 that started just over a week ago. Sunday four teams will face off in two games, with the winner moving on to the Final Four. In one of those matchups, the Kansas Jayhawks face the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Kansas reached the Elite Eight with a 60-57 victory over a stubborn North Carolina State Wolfpack team. The Jayhawks entered that game as the favorite by 9 points. The won SU but did not win ATS. The North Carolina Tar Heels had to go into overtime to reach this round. They outlasted Ohio 73-65. They entered the game as 10 1/2-point favorites and did not cover the spread.
Kansas had not made it look very easy the entire season or in the NCAA tournament. Nevertheless, the Jayhawks are amongst the final eight teams. Kansas is 5-4 SU when they play teams in the Top 25 in the country. Kansas is now 6-4 SU when they play at sites that are neutral. They also played the 17th toughest schedule of any Division I-A team.
North Carolina had all they could do to get past Ohio. Big man Tyler Zeller scored 22 points and hauled down a game high 22 rebounds. He was helped Reggie Bullock’s 17 points, Johns Henson’s 14 and Harrison Barnes’ 12. They may have point guard Kendall Marshall back but that will not be decided until game time.
At neutral sites, North Carolina is 7-2. They have had problems with Top 25 teams, as they are just 4-5. This season they played the ninth most difficult schedule in the nation.
Kansas is just 3-7 ATS in the last 10 games they have played in the NCAA tournament. They are just 1-4 ATS following a victory and 4-9 ATS against ACC opponents. North Carolina is 13-5 ATS over the last 18 NCAA tournament games they have played. The Tar Heels are 9-4 ATS in the last 13 games they have played overall.
The current line has the Jayhawks as 2 ‘-point favorites and the total at 144. The Tar Heels have won without their star point guard once and will do it again on Sunday.
Pick: North Carolina (2 ‘) Total: UNDER
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College Basketball Pick: UNC at FSU
UNC Basketball
It should be a fascinating battle of opposites on Saturday afternoon in Tallahassee as the nation’s top-scoring team, No. 3 North Carolina, faces one of the country’s top defensive clubs in Florida State. And the Noles usually pull off one big home upset a season.
UNC (15-2, 2-0 ACC) enters on a nine-game winning streak and leads the nation in points 86.9 ppg and rebounds (46.7 pg). The Heels enter off a 17-point win over Miami on Tuesday. Dexter Strickland scored 14 points while Kendall Marshall added 12 — both season highs — to help the Tar Heels beat the Canes. Tyler Zeller scored 16 points to lead the Tar Heels, who closed a nine-game homestand with a perfect record to rebuild some momentum after early losses to UNLV and Kentucky. The Tar Heels led almost the entire night against the Hurricanes and blew the game open with a 17-0 run spanning halftime, which staked UNC to a 23-point lead that never got below 15 the rest of the night.
FSU (10-6, 1-1) had lost three of four but bounced back with a 63-59 win at Virginia Tech on Tuesday. Bernard James had 18 points and 14 rebounds and Florida State survived a furious comeback. Ian Miller added 15 points for the Seminoles, who rebounded from a 20-point loss at Clemson in their ACC opener.
Prior to the game against the Hokies, James was averaging just 10 points and eight rebounds per contest and had only scored in double figures three times all year. If FSU wants to survive the ACC schedule and make another deep run into March it needs James to be at his best.
“My coaches have been challenging me the last couple days leading up to that game,” James said. “They’ve still be challenging me just to play with more energy [and] to motivate my teammates more. I just went out trying to give as much energy as I could. Trying to be an energy giver instead of an energy taker for our team.”
James and the rest of Florida State’s post players have the task of controlling UNC big men Tyler Zeller and John Henson, who stand 7-feet and 6-foot-11, respectively. Henson and Zeller average a combined 29.1 points per game.
Carolina leads the series with Florida State, 42-10, including a 32-9 advantage since the Seminoles joined the ACC prior to the 1991-92 season. The Tar Heels have won 23 of the last 28 in the series, including 12 in the last 14 meetings. Carolina currently has a five-game winning streak in Tallahassee, the longest Tar Heel winning streak at FSU (UNC won four in a row in Tallahassee from 1993-96 and 1998-2001).
The last four UNC appearances in Tallahassee have been thrillers and Tar Heel wins. Last season, Harrison Barnes’ three-pointer with 0:03 on the clock gave Carolina a 72-70 win. In 2009, Ty Lawson’s running three-pointer at the buzzer gave UNC an 80-77 victory. In 2008, the Tar Heels beat FSU in overtime, 84-73. In 2006, The Tar Heels beat FSU 81-80.
Carolina is 14-4 against FSU in the Donald L. Tucker Center with losses in 2003-04, 2001-02, 1996-97 and 1991-92. Roy Williams is 12-3 vs. FSU as the UNC head coach with the losses coming in the 2004 regular season in Tallahassee, the 2009 ACC Tournament semifinals in Atlanta and the 2010 regular season in Chapel Hill.
SA Take: FSU will put up a good fight but these North Carolina players are just too much. The line came out tonight at UNC -7 and is sure to creep up to 8 or 9 before game time. Either way UNC wins by 10. I can see 68-78 UNC victory. Take the Tar Heels.
Place your college basketball bets at WagerWeb.com.
North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Missouri Tigers Bowl Game
- UNC Football Gunning for Win
The North Carolina Tar Heels and the Missouri Tigers will both be gunning for a victory on December 26when they meet at Independence Stadium in the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl.
Oddsmakers currently have the Tigers listed as 4½-point favorites versus the Tar Heels, while the game’s total is sitting at 54.
North Carolina won its last outing, a 37-21 result against Duke on November 26. North Carolina covered in that game as a 14-point favorite, while the 58 combined points took the game OVER the total.
Missouri was a 24-10 winner in their most recent outing on the road against Kansas. They failed to cover the 26?point spread as favorites, while the total score (34) made winners of UNDER bettors.
SA Take: The public is on Mizzou here. The conventional thinking is that they are the more explosive team from the more explosive confernce. That may be true but we feel that UNC has key athletes in key places to stop this team. With better athletes on special teams and defense it will be hard for them to run up an down the field. Take UNC.
Team records:
North Carolina: 7-5 SU, 6-6 ATS
Missouri: 7-5 SU, 6-5-1 ATS
North Carolina most recently:
When playing in December are 5-3
When playing on turf are 6-4
After outgaining opponent are 6-4
When playing outside the conference are 8-2
Missouri most recently:
When playing in December are 3-7
When playing on turf are 6-4
After outgaining opponent are 5-5
When playing outside the conference are 7-3
A few trends to consider:
The total has gone OVER in 4 of North Carolina’s last 6 games
North Carolina is 15-8 SU in its last 23 games
North Carolina is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
Missouri is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
Missouri is 2-3-1 ATS in its last 6 games
Saturday NCAA basketball: No. 5 North Carolina at No. 1 Kentucky
North Carolina and Kentucky, two of the most storied programs in NCAA basketball history and the two favorites to win the national championship in New Orleans come April, meet on Saturday afternoon in what could be the game of the regular season. The Cats, who have never lost in 37 games at home under Coach John Calipari, opened as slight college basketball bets favorites on WagerWeb.com.
The Heels (6-1), who bring back all five starters from last season, opened the season at No. 1 but fell to No. 5 after a 90-80 loss against UNLV last weekend. UNC then had some trouble with No. 7 Wisconsin on Wednesday, winning by three but scoring its fewest points of the season (60).
UNC freshman guard P.J. Hairston suffered a sprained left wrist and bone contusion in the win over the Badgers. Hairston is questionable for Saturday’s game but not expected to play. Hairston is Carolina’s fifth-leading scorer (8.3 ppg) and leads the Tar Heels with 14 three-point goals. He scored a season-high 19 points against South Carolina and 15 against UNLV and was named to the Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Kentucky (7-0) will carry the nation’s No. 1 ranking into Saturday’s game with Carolina, On Thursday night in Rupp Arena, the Cats played with the top-ranking for the first time this season and handled it fine, downing St. John’s 81-59.
Anthony Davis, UK’s unbelievable freshman, flirted with the second triple-double in school history before “settling” for 15 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocked shots. Terrence Jones overpowered the smaller Red Storm front line for 26 points and nine rebounds.
There could be a dozen future NBA players combined on these two rosters. UK’s Davis or UNC’s Harrison Barnes is likely to go No. 1 in next year’s draft. The Heels and Cats met twice last season, with UNC winning a close one at home during the regular season but losing to UK in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Carolina hasn’t played a No. 1 team since winning at Duke in 2006. UK is in its 90th week all-time at No. 1 — fourth all-time behind UCLA (134), Duke (122) and North Carolina (108).
Sportsbook Advisor take: You give me UNC with their talent level getting point anywhere and I am on them like stink on the trud. Take UNC.
Friday Night College Hoops: Michigan State vs. North Carolina
(Wagerweb) Easily the best matchup on the first weekend of college basketball comes not from any gym but from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego Harbor on Friday when top-ranked North Carolina, the preseason national title favorite on WagerWeb.com, faces perennial power Michigan State in the first Carrier Classic. Of course the event is being staged in conjunction with Veterans’ Day. President Obama is expected to attend and the game is essentially closed to the public, with the large majority of tickets going to military personnel. And both teams will wear camouflage uniforms.
The last time North Carolina opened the season as the AP preseason No. 1 was then the Heels had all five starters back heading into the 2008-09 season. And those Heels, behind Tyler Hansbrough, rolled to the national title – beating Michigan State in the championship game. This year’s UNC team also welcomes all five starters back from last year’s ACC regular-season champions and Elite Eight club. Harrison Barnes is the preseason national player of the year, and he, John Henson and Tyler Zeller all passed up likely being chosen in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft to return to Chapel Hill.
Michigan State opened last season as No. 2 in the nation but injuries and a few suspensions/defections led to one of Tom Izzo’s most trying teams as Sparty finished only .500 in Big Ten play and barely snuck in the NCAA Tournament, losing its opening game. Only two starters are back for Izzo: guard Keith Appling and forward Draymond Green.
North Carolina is 89-12 all-time in season-opening games. UNC has won 76 of its last 81 season openers, including six in a row. Overall UNC is 10-3 vs. MSU and has won the past five meetings. In addition to winning all five games against Michigan State in the Roy Williams era, the Tar Heels have outscored the Spartans in seven of the ten halves in that span. In the most recent meeting on Dec. 1, 2009, the Tar Heels beat the Spartans 89-82 in The ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Chapel Hill.
The ship is named after former U.S. Rep. Carl Vinson, a Georgia Democrat known as the father of the two-ocean Navy because of his success in pushing through bills that greatly expanded and modernized the Navy’s warship fleet during his time in Congress from 1914 to 1965. He was chair of the House Armed Services Committee when Congress authorized the procurement of the first nuclear-powered aircraft carriers starting with the USS Enterprise in the late 1950s.
(Sportsbook Advisor) The spread is currnetly UNC -8.5. Carolina is supposed to be beast this year. Michigan State is good every year but not in the same class as UNC. With that said, a strange playing environment and early season jitters should make for a closer game. Take MSU +8′
MSU vs. UNC
