UNC Advances to Final Four in Detroit

North Carolina continued to save face for the ACC this postseason with a 72-60 easy win over Blake Griffin and Oklahoma in the Elite 8. North Carolina used a balanced attack (that surprisingly did not feature Tyler Hansbrough, who had 8 pts. and 6 rebs.) that Oklahoma could not match.

Blake Griffin dominated inside (23 pts, 16 rebs.) for most of the game and really limited Hansbrough's effectiveness. However, as many thought, UNC's guards were miles better than Oklahoma's and this proved to be the difference. Lawson, Ellington, and Green dominated their match-up with Austin Johnson, Willie Warren, and Tony Crocker. Warren was really the only OU guard to do anything against the Tar Heels.

I have thought all year that UNC had the most experienced talent of any team in the country and this would lead them to a national championship. They have so many weapons that they can have a couple of their best guys not have good nights (as in Hansbrough on Sunday) and still win games, sometimes easily. Hansbrough didn't play well against the Sooners, but Danny Green had his best game of the postseason and Ellington knocked down shots. It is extremely hard to shut all of UNC's weapons down on a given night.

UNC plays in the second national semifinal on Saturday against the #3 seed out of the east region, Villanova. I believe this will be an extremely tough game for Carolina. Many of the national pundits I have seen have stated that Villanova has no inside presence and UNC will eat them alive inside and win the game. I don't see the game going that way, at least not with the ease that some are saying. The teams that have beat UNC this season have had great guards that have penetrated at will against the Heels and killed them with that penetration. (Toney Douglas, Tyrese Rice, and Greivis Vasquez, Jeff Teague). Villanova has GREAT guard play and two great penetrators/creators in Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher. These are the teams that have given UNC fits. Some would counter that UNC has a huge advantage inside, and while that may be true they also had huge inside advantages against Maryland (their tallest player is 6'7") and Boston College (no real inside presence) and lost those games.

Villanova has the ingredients of a team that could beat North Carolina. I predict an extremely tight game that will come down to the last four minutes. North Carolina has been very focused throughout this tournament and seem to be playing as a unit with one goal in mind: a national championship. I predict UNC will win this game and advance to the national championship game on Monday night. However, I do think it will be extremely close and it would not surprise me at all to see 'Nova pull the upset. Jay Wright is an outstanding coach and will have his guys prepared and a good game plan in place. He will know that slashing guards have given the Tar Heels trouble and will look to exploit this. Overall, UNC probably has too much talent though and they are playing maybe their best basketball of the season down the stretch.

UNC 86
Villanova 80