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Odds To Win The 2009 NCAA Tournament: North Carolina Tar Heels

Written by Jimmy Boyd

unc-31809 North Carolina earned a No. 1 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament after finishing the season with a 28-4 record and winning the ACC regular season title. The Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four in 2008 before going down to eventual champion Kansas. Many feel the North Carolina Tar Heels are poised to cut down the nets for the first time since 2005 and odds makers agree. North Carolina is listed as the +300 favorite to win the 2009 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Before blindly penciling the Tar Heels in, it’s good to do some research to see if they are worth the hype. No. 16 seed Radford certainly shouldn’t stand in the way in their first round contest. Odds makers have listed North Carolina as 25-point favorites in that game. The biggest question surround the Tar Heels making a national championship run at this point has to be the toe of star point guard Ty Lawson. He is currently listed as questionable for Thursday’s contest with Radford and the Heels may decided to give him another couple days of rest as they should be able to take care of business without him in round one. With Lawson out of the lineup Carolina is still a good team, but with him suited up they are a great team. Lawson averages 15.9 points per game and leads the team with 6.5 assists per contest. The way he is able to push the ball on the break puts tons of pressure on opposing defenses and that is when the Heels are at their best.

Another thing to look at is the desire of Tyler Hansbrough, who returned to college for the sole purpose of winning a national title, which is the only thing he hasn’t accomplished in his college career. Hansbrough leads the Tar Heels with 21.4 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game.

While defense is said to win championships, the old adage will have to make an exception for the Tar Heels if they are able to go all the way. North Carolina is one of the best offensive teams in the country, ranking No. 2 nationally in points per game with 90.2. What goes along with this is that North Carolina is an extremely balanced team, able to score in a variety of ways. It shoots a high percentage from both two and three point range and the foul line. In fact, five different Tar Heels average better than 11 points per game.

In looking at the bracket, North Carolina will get either LSU or Butler in round two and neither of those teams will be able to stack up. North Carolina should gets its first test in the Sweet 16, meeting either Illinois or Gonzaga. Of these two, I think Gonzaga poses the bigger threat because of its size, balance, and ability to knock down the three-point shot. When it’s all said and done, I have North Carolina waiting in the Elite Eight as Oklahoma and Syracuse battle through the bottom half of the region. After the early rounds it won’t be a cake walk for the Heels, but they are the best team in the South and I have them moving on into the Final Four and eventually cutting down the nets.

Beat the college basketball lines with your March Madness basketball betting with the help of Jimmy’s Boyd’s NCAA basketball picks.

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