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NCAA Betting: Kansas shock North Carolina, can they go on to final glory?

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Nick Shiambouros previews tonight's NCAA March Madness final between Kansas and Memphis

The North Carolina Tar Heels were sensationally beaten in a magnificent semi-final clash by the Kansas Jayhawks in San Antonio on Saturday night. After just over 12 minutes Kansas were 32-12 up after one of the most explosive starts I have ever seen between two top-ranked teams. Kansas coach Bill Self had a clear strategy for his team and they executed it with military precision to beat the Heels.

Brandon Rush recaptured his hot hands and scored 25 points and had seven rebounds in this remarkable game. Kansas were trading as low as [1.03] in the first half as, for once, Tyler Hansbrough was smothered by one of the best defensive displays I have seen. Kansas used up a great deal of energy in the first half in a attempt to deliver a knockout blow to North Carolina with superb transition play and high percentage scoring. By half-time both teams looked exhausted as they staggered off the court to thunderous applause.

At the start of the second half a beautiful back-door pass to open the scoring sent a message to the Tar Heels that Kansas were ready to continue to turn the screw and finish them off but North Carolina had other ideas and slowly began to eat into the lead. The comeback was inevtiably led by that man Hansbrough and the very talented Wayne Ellington. With nine minutes left the Tar Heels had reduced the deficit to just five points and Kansas looked to be wilting under the pressure. At that point North Carolina briefly traded as [1.98] favourites but the Jayhawks fought them off and Sasha Kuan came off the bench to be very effective late on taking the final score to 84-66 in this great game.

In the other semi-final the Memphis Tigers were very impressive in beating UCLA in a very entertaining contest. UCLA did very well to go into the break trailing by just three points as Derrick Rose was in unstoppable form with 25 points and nine rebounds. NBA scouts must have been on hand to see this artist at work and we will have to wait and see if he enters the draft.
Chris Douglas-Roberts also had a huge game with 25 points but even with Joey Dorsey not scoring a single point the Tigers had too many guns for UCLA. Kevin Love of the Bruins had a very poor game by his standards and could only manage 12 points. Memphis traded at odds-on throughout the whole match finally winning 78-63.

The championship game takes place tonight between Kansas and Memphis in what promises to be a thrilling encounter. As previously reported, Kansas were my pick to win the tournament but my money's not in the bank yet and this promises to be a very close affair. I think that Kansas have a more balanced team and players like Chalmers and Collins are able to take the point to give the team more flexibility. In addition everyone is able to shoot the ball and the scoring is evenly distributed.

If Kansas are able to contain Derrick Rose and that is a very big if then that could be the difference between victory and defeat. Chris Douglas Roberts the man they call "CDR" is another player along with Rose who will be a major threat to the Jayhawks.

At present Kansas are trading at [2.14] on the exchange and I think this is the value play. As for the total points market I do not think it will be a very high scoring affair so I will be backing the under 145.5 pts market.

I think that the two best teams are left to decide the championship game and it promises to be a great match. I have enjoyed the last three weeks of this wonderful game and each match has been played with respect and dignity for the sport and each university. Behaviour and sportsmanship has been impeccable and every player involved should be proud. Some of these athletes will go forward to the NBA but many will pursue other careers. I wish them well and thank them for providing such great basketball played in the NCAA spirit and may the best team win on Monday night.

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