{"id":102989,"date":"2016-03-28T23:10:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T03:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/?p=102989"},"modified":"2016-03-29T08:03:01","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T12:03:01","slug":"north-carolina-tar-heels-vs-syracuse-orange-final-four-experts-picks-and-predictions-2016-march-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/north-carolina-tar-heels-vs-syracuse-orange-final-four-experts-picks-and-predictions-2016-march-madness.html","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Syracuse Orange Final Four Experts Picks and Predictions &#8211; 2016 March Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s no madness in March Madness unless there are surprising upsets, right? Well, the\u00a010<sup>th<\/sup>-seeded Syracuse Orange have certainly lived up to the role of dark horses in\u00a0this year&#8217;s tournament, and unexpectedly\u00a0made it all the way to the Final Four for the second time in four seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Standing in the way of the Orange&#8217;s national title run are the top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels, who have looked every bit like the Division I powerhouses at the Big Dance. Although the Tar Heels appear to have a significant\u00a0edge over their ACC rivals in their upcoming clash on this Saturday, do the experts from the internet unanimously agree to that notion as well?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s find out what the analysts have to say about this thrilling Final Four duel\u00a0below. And to find out\u00a0how\u00a0the pundits have weighed-in for the other NCAA Tournament semifinal bout, head on over to our experts picks feature for <a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/villanova-wildcats-vs-oklahoma-sooners-final-four-experts-picks-and-predictions-2016-march-madness.html\" target=\"_blank\">Villanova vs. Oklahoma<\/a> right after this.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>March Madness News &amp; Predictions<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2016-ncaa-march-madness-sleepers-and-sleeper-picks.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2016 March Madness Sleepers Predictions and Picks<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2016-ncaa-march-madness-longshots-and-best-long-shots-picks.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2016 March Madness Longshots and Best Long Shots Picks and Predictions<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2016-ncaa-march-madness-predictions-picks-odds-and-preview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2016 March Madness Preview<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2016-ncaa-march-madness-expert-predictions-and-picks.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2016 NCAA March Madness Expert Picks<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Experts Picks for the North Carolina vs. Syracuse\u00a0Final Four Game<\/h2>\n<h3>Bleacher Report<\/h3>\n<table class=\"table-bordered\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Expert<\/th>\n<th>Prediction<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Kerry Miller<\/th>\n<th>North Carolina\u00a081-65<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Jared Johnson<\/th>\n<th>North Carolina 80-63<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Danny Webster<\/th>\n<th>North Carolina<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/14\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-97846 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/March-Madness-News-Banners_250x130_v2.gif\" alt=\"March-Madness---News-Banners_250x130_v2\" width=\"250\" height=\"130\" \/><\/a><\/p>No surprises here from the folks over at Bleacher Report, as Kerry Miller, Jared Johnson and Danny Webster all went with\u00a0UNC\u00a0as this Saturday&#8217;s victor.<\/p>\n<p>All three columnists praised the Orange for making it this far into the Big Dance under the circumstances, but they also collectively agreed that North Carolina&#8217;s white-hot streak (nine-straight wins to date) behind great depth and excellent work on the glass will\u00a0prove to be insurmountable for Jim Boeheim&#8217;s team.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that only seven Syracuse players have seen action in the tournament, and that while the Orange&#8217;s 2-3 zone has baffled a lot of March Madness hopefuls in its wake, it&#8217;s a\u00a0scheme that struggles to crash the boards\u00a0in essence.<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, the Tar Heels are expected to gobble up rebounds in bunches against one of the worst rebounding teams in the nation. Here&#8217;s a scary statistic that B\/R&#8217;s Miller raised to put things into better perspective: North Carolina allowed just 70 defensive rebounds to their opposition in the tournament, while the team hauled in a total 59 <em>offensive <\/em>rebounds alone.<\/p>\n<h3>USA Today<\/h3>\n<table class=\"table-bordered\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Expert<\/th>\n<th>Prediction<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Scott Gleeson<\/th>\n<th>Syracuse<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Syracuse finally found a backer in USA Today&#8217;s Scott Gleeson, who highly\u00a0believes that the team&#8217;s unbelievable\u00a0momentum and tenacity will not only beat the Tar Heels on Saturday, but also bring\u00a0home the school&#8217;s second national title when all is said and done.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Bleacher Report&#8217;s analysts, Gleeson\u00a0trusts that the Orange&#8217;s zone defense is truly a force to be reckoned with in this tournament. He cited that the 75-70 loss to UNC in their final regular-season meeting showed that the Orange can certainly hang in with the Heels, and their March Madness form is far\u00a0beyond what they&#8217;ve exhibited during the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Gleeson touted &#8216;Cuse&#8217;s outstanding tandem of freshmen Malachi Richardson (the team&#8217;s\u00a0comeback hero against Virginia in the Elite Eight) and Tyler Lydon for providing fresh and much-needed\u00a0talent in the starting unit along with standout\u00a0seniors Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney.<\/p>\n<p>With a couple of young guns thirsty for a championship and determined to turn a few more heads, maybe Syracuse doesn&#8217;t really need depth beyond its sensational starters after all.<\/p>\n<h3>Fox Sports<\/h3>\n<table class=\"table-bordered\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Expert<\/th>\n<th>Prediction<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Adam Meyer<\/th>\n<th>North Carolina<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>We had quite some\u00a0fun with our final expert selection.\u00a0Adam Meyer of Fox Sports introduced us to WhatIfSports.com&#8217;s college basketball game simulator, which automatically predicted a particular game&#8217;s outcome based on a number of factors and statistics relevant to\u00a0the two teams set\u00a0to go\u00a0head-to-head.<\/p>\n<p>The Fox Sports crew ran the North Carolina-Syracuse contest 1,001 times, and the Tar Heels won 72.8 percent of the time by an average margin of about eight points per contest. Meyer also mentioned that No. 1 seeds in the Final Four have won the tournament seven of the last nine times, so that could be one deciding factor taken into consideration by the simulator.<\/p>\n<p>We then gave their prediction machine a whirl ourselves, albeit just with five attempts. Four of the five results were victories for UNC by no less than nine points, and the lone win for Syracuse was a 13-point blowout. Eerily accurate, or a clever hoax?<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re curious\u00a0to put\u00a0What If Sports&#8217; simulation engine to the test yourself and hopefully aid you with your Final Four predictions\u00a0for Saturday, then go right ahead and have a crack at it over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatifsports.com\/ncaab\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Create a betting account now<\/a> to cash in from this exciting Final Four showdown and all the action from the NCAA Tournament before it&#8217;s too late.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/14\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-97847 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/March-Madness-News-Banners_620x110_v2.gif\" alt=\"March-Madness---News-Banners_620x110_v2\" width=\"620\" height=\"110\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s no madness in March Madness unless there are surprising upsets, right? Well, the\u00a010th-seeded Syracuse Orange have certainly lived up to the role of dark horses in\u00a0this year&#8217;s tournament, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":102994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7450,70,9417],"tags":[11776,11785,11775,11784,11777,7286,11778,3383,11774,974,11761,11803,11804,11805,11806,11762,8260,11763,1089],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>North Carolina vs Syracuse Final Four Experts Picks 2016 March Madness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Experts picks and predictions for the North Carolina Tar Heels vs Syracuse Orange Final Four game on April 2, 2016, courtesy of TopBet online sportsbook.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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