Final Four lines: North Carolina -4½ over Oregon, Gonzaga -6½ over South Carolina
March 26, 2017 - 5:04 pm
Updated March 26, 2017 - 5:29 pm
The Final Four is finalized and so are the lines for Saturday’s national semifinals, which will feature two teams from the West Coast and two from the Carolinas.
No. 1 seed Gonzaga opened as a 6½-point favorite over No. 7 seed South Carolina in Saturday’s 3:09 p.m. opener and the total is 138 in the matchup of two of the nation’s stingiest defensive teams.
No. 1 seed North Carolina opened as a 4½-point favorite over No. 3 Oregon in the second semifinal and the total is 149½.
The Tar Heels outlasted the second-seeded Wildcats in a 75-73 thriller Sunday afternoon in the Elite Eight finale. Malik Monk hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 73-all with 10 seconds left, but Luke Maye answered with a long jumper with 0.3 seconds left to put North Carolina, a 2-point favorite, ahead for good.
Monk scored 47 points in Kentucky’s 103-100 win over the Tar Heels on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas. Sunday’s game went under the total of 161.
Oregon stunned Kansas 74-60 on Saturday as a 6½-point underdog and plus-300 on the money line.
Sindarius Thornwell scored 26 points as South Carolina erased a seven-point halftime deficit Sunday en route to a 77-70 win over Florida as a 3-point underdog.
Gonzaga cruised to an 83-59 win over Xavier on Saturday, easily covering the 8½-point spread.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.