NCAA Championship Prop Bets

Our long national nightmare is over. Coach K loses to UNC in the final four, and his dream of a storybook ending is over. I'm sure he'll be back to coach again next year, maybe even doing another full retirement tour, but at least for now, he's gone. UNC takes on Kansas in the National Championship, but the real big game was the one that took place on Saturday night, it's almost impossible to top that.

Now let's get to some picks.

R.J. Davis over 13.5 Points

Just one play tonight, and that's R.J. Davis over 13.5 points. On Saturday night against Duke, R.J. had 18 points on 6/13 shooting in 36 minutes of game time. On the season he's averaging the exactly the spread, 13.5 points per game. Per 40 minutes, he's averaging 16 points, obviously slightly higher because he isn't playing all 40 every game. If there ever were a game he would play all 40, it's this one. Court time shouldn't be hard to come by for Davis, who's a key piece of the Tar Heels' lineup; he's the primary ball-handler and coach Hubert Davis trusts him to run the offense, he'll be out there plenty later tonight.

He's only a sophomore, but in the biggest game of his career he looked like a senior. On Saturday night against Duke, there were several occasions were Duke looked ready to break the game open, only for Davis to hit a shot to stop a run before it even began. He'll have to do the same against the Jayhawks tonight to stay in this one. Caleb Love could go for 30 points again tonight, but watching Kansas take Colin Gilesspie out of the game makes me think Bill Self will try to make someone other than Love beat them.

Lastly, Davis is also good in transition, leading UNC in transition points per game. Kansas will be itching to run after Villanova slowed the game down like only Villanova can do. This game should feature a ton of possessions and a lot of offense, hopefully leading to a lot of R.J. Davis buckets. 14 points is a very attainable number here for Davis, looking to cap off what's been a magical run to the championship game.

David McCormack over 19.0 Points + Rebounds

Alright, I lied - two plays tonight. David McCormack was dominant on Saturday night against Villanova with 25 points and nine rebounds. Kansas looked to feed him all night and it paid off for them, leading to a wire-to-wire victory and ticket to the national championship.

Armando Bacot is a rebounding vacuum and the one guy who can keep McCormack off the boards, but he hurt his ankle on Saturday and will likely be playing somewhat hurt tonight. Even in an even matchup, I could see McCormack going for 12 and 8 for a total of 20 and the over. With a hobbled Bacot, McCormack could go off again for another 18 points or so. The Kansas big man already has a size advantage over Bacot and can hold his own in this matchup. UNC will be hard-pressed to keep McCormack in check and off the glass later tonight.

I've also talked myself into Kansas -4.0 again, three plays tonight.