TOP THURSDAY VALUE PLAY - UP HUGE!
(NCAAB) Marquette vs. North Carolina, 03/17/2022 4:30 PM, Score: 63 - 95
Point Spread: 4.00 | -115.00 Marquette (Away)
Result: Loss
This is an 8* VALUE PLAY on Marquette.

The winner of this game between Marquette and North Carolina will then get to play Baylor.

Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels beat Duke in Coach K's final home game, but they then came crashing back down to Earth in the ACC Tournament, first benefitting from Virginia's terrible offense, before Virginia Tech stepped in and reminded Tar Heels fans how poor their defense can be at times.

Marquette isn't one of the nation's top offensive teams or anything, but it's a very well-balanced team, one that I think can also slow down this North Carolina offense, while also getting plenty of easy looks at the front of the rim.

Marquette has two really good players that I think North Carolina will have trouble containing in Justin Lewis and Darryl Morsell. The Tar Heels have plenty of talent as well obviously, including Junior Armando Bacot who is averaging a double double this season.

North Caronlia can score with the best of them, but it can also just as easily shoot its way right out of this tournament.

The Golden Eagles were far from perfect down the stetch either, and they made an early exit from the conference tournament with a 74-63 loss to Creighton as three-point favorites.

But Marquette is the more battle-tested team here as it faced a really tough schedule, facing 12 teams in the Top 25 this year (and in those 12 games the Golden Eagles went 6-6 with two wins over No. 2 Villanova.)

They each average and allow roughly the same amount of points, scoring 74 and allowing just over 70.

I think these are two evenly matched teams.

And while I do think that Marquette can win this game outright. my official call will be to grab the points and the Golden Eagles on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Good luck, NP