And Then There Were Four

The March Madness tournament moves to its final venue in San Antonio for the Final Four. If you had these 4 teams in your legal betting online bracket, you may in fact be some type of fortune teller or college basketball guru. It has been an electric tournament with multiple upsets throughout and the trend continued in the Elite Eight round. Now, Loyola, Michigan, Villanova and Kansas are all that is left amongst the top college teams in the country.

#11 Loyola has fought against all odds to make it to their first Final Four since 1962-1963. The Ramblers were considered the underdogs in each matchup of the tournament—Miami, Tennessee, Nevada, Kansas State and now Michigan. The small Chicago school’s run is unprecedented. These players refuse to go down without a fight. Their Elite Eight game against Kansas State was the first game not won with a dramatic buzzer-beater or late go-ahead bucket. They outscored the Wildcats in both halves and Donte Ingram, Ben Richardson and Marques Towns all finished in double digits. Loyola is up against a tough shooting team in Michigan, so their defense needs to show up. It is hard to pin them as underdogs with all of their performances thus far, but most sportsbooks have the Wolverines advancing to the championship.

If it weren’t for Jordan Poole’s buzzer-beater over Houston in the second round, Michigan would not be here. They justified their glory shot with a dominant win over Texas A&M. They were also able to fend off the lively Florida State Seminoles in the Elite Eight. The Noles almost came back but blew 2 wide open shots at the end. Now, Michigan is up against the Cinderella team in Loyola. Moritz Wagner and Charles Matthews led the charge in the Elite Eight, but it will take a full team effort to stop the motivated Ramblers from pulling off another upset.

The other Final Four matchup consists of the only 2 remaining #1 seeds in the tournament. The Villanova Wildcats have had a somewhat easy run to this point, defeating Radford, Alabama, West Virginia and Texas Tech. All of the games were dominant wins and help maintain Nova’s place as the team favored to win it all. There were 5 players in double digits in the Elite Eight—Eric Paschall, Omari Spellman, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo. If the Wildcats get hot from behind the arc, Kansas is in trouble.

The Jayhawks bested Duke in the Elite Eight. It was a close game that came down to the wire, and there is some controversy over certain foul calls. However, Kansas was the better team on the day and won the game in overtime. Malik Newman had 32 points and 7 rebounds. Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Silvio DeSousa was an x-factor with 10 rebounds and provides relief inside the paint. Newman will be the driving force behind this win. This game will be an exciting matchup for both teams.

If you are considering Final Four betting, Villanova and Michigan are both projected to win by 5 points. It is worth noting that Loyola has been the underdog in each round so far and has come out as victors. Kansas is coming off a grueling win against Duke and have been more battle-tested along the way. Tune in on Saturday, March 31, to see which teams make it to the NCAA Championship.

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