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Two number two seeds would be meeting in the NCAA Championship game with Villanova vs. Duke, but the Wildcats will be without star sophomore guard Justin Moore, resulting in 2.5 points shaved off the line. We are looking at a line of Duke -2.5/-3 as a result. Bet this game at Jazz Sports and be sure to claim your RISK FREE $1000 FIRST BET.
With a healthy Moore, Villanova would have had a 42 percent chance of beating Kansas in the national semifinals on Saturday and a 22 percent chance of winning the national championship, according to FiveThirtyEight’s March Madness model. But with Moore out, those chances fell to 31 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
Villanova punched its ticket to the Final Four with a 50-44 win over Houston.
In this NCAA Tournament, Jermaine Samuels is shooting 63% (26 of 41) while averaging 17½ points and 8½ rebounds a game. He had 16 points and 10 rebounds against Houston, with his 3-pointer on the first shot putting the Wildcats ahead to stay. That was after he scored 22 points in their Sweet 16 win over Michigan.
Collin Gillespie played more than Samuels in that 2018 Final Four, with eight minutes in the semifinal and then 16 in the championship game when he had four points — on 4 of 4 free throws — and five rebounds.
While he is shooting only 33% this postseason, 10 of his 15 made field goals are 3-pointers. His only basket against Houston came when, after a timeout and the Cougars within two, he stepped just inside the arc and hit a long jumper with 5:02 left.
The Wildcats (30-7) have made the Final Four for the third time in the past six NCAA tourneys — they also won it all in 2016.
Duke got to the Final Four by beating Arkansas 78-69.
The Blue Devils delivered their most complete performance of this NCAA Tournament run. A.J. Griffin scored 18 points, West Region MVP Paolo Banchero added 16 and and second-seeded Duke (32-6) frustrated fourth-seeded Arkansas (28-9) on the offensive end to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2015 when they won the Championship.
Retiring Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski had won an astounding 101 of 131 NCAA tournament games ahead of Saturday's first ever Final Four match versus arch rival North Carolina.
"I've been fortunate to be in a lot of these games," Krzyzewski said Thursday. "And I don't think there's an exact formula. You just have to figure out how your team does it in this tournament. And I've enjoyed trying to figure that out with this group."
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
