Toying with the idea of betting on the North Carolina Tar Heels to win it all in your bracket pool? Well, wagering on March Madness is certainly one of the greatest games of chance that a person can play. Entering a NCAA Tournament pool is like going to Situs Judi Online, it’s always extremely exciting as you just don’t know if the ball will bounce your way, and if luck will be on your side.
Well, there’s a strong case both for and against betting on the Tar Heels, and we’ll explore each side of the coin here.
After all: “The test of a first–rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald.
This college basketball season we have no elite teams, but a lot of very good ones. There are about 10-12 teams that we can see having a legitimate shot at the national championship, but at the same time no clear favorite. You really can’t even limit the field of favorites down to less than five. It’s looking more and more like a season in which a program will get its first national title and/or a team seeded below #4 and above #8 might win it all.
I stopped by WGN-TV studios, to do a guest segment on CLTV Sports Feed with Jarrett Payton tonight. It was mostly to cover March Madness and we covered the North Carolina Tar Heels and my first trip to Tobacco Road:
Press that Button/Write ’em In:
In Joel Berry and Theo Pinson, the North Carolina Tar Heels have two seniors that been to two national title games already. Combine the duo with Pitt transfer Cameron Johnson, Kenny Williams (not the Chicago White Sox guy) and leading scorer Luke Maye, and you have a really deep and balanced squad that’s long, lean and athletic.
Although they don’t have a ton of size, the Heels are still as good a rebounding team as you’ll find. And until further notice, they are the champions, and if you want to be the champs you got to beat the champs.
Pick Somebody Else:
Lacking those bigs, and relying on all shooters and wings, could mean trouble against the wrong team with a really dominant big man. Also, look at the seasons that followed a North Carolina Tar Heels title- you won’t find a single Final Four, let alone a national title among those seven.
Also, this team has some issues with closing. You saw that on Senior Night against Miami, and in two of the three Duke contests. Yes, they won two of the three meetings with their bitterest of rivals, but the ACC Tournament semifinal clash shouldn’t have been that close. Failing to close teams out could definitely come back to bite them this March Madness.
The Road Ahead:
They lucked out in getting the weakest of the four #1 seeds (Xavier) in their region, but got dealt a tough hand on the #4 line, as Gonzaga is vastly underrated. Michigan could be a dangerous, tough out for anybody and the Heels would see them in the sweet sixteen.
Bottom Line:
It’s safe enough to pick UNC, but it’s far from the safest choice. They have the ninth best odds of anybody at 20-1.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.