NCAA March Madness Final Four Betting North Carolina vs Kansas

BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds: North Carolina -4, Total 159.5

There will be storylines a-plenty on Saturday night in San Antonio, as Roy Williams takes his Kansas Jayhawks (35-3 SU, 19-15-2 ATS) in a showdown that is scheduled to get underway at approximately 8:47 PM ET. The winner of this game gets to face the winner of the Memphis-UCLA game for the national championship.

At BetUS Sportsbook, North Carolina is listed as a three-point favorite, with a total of 159.5 points.

Here are some of the  trends as they relate to this matchup:

* KAN has covered four of its last five games

* KAN has won its last 11 games SU

* KAN has played its last four games UNDER the total

* NC has won its last 15 games SU

* NC has covered its last four games

* NC has played four of its last five games OVER the total

North Carolina and Kansas both play a racehorse style of basketball. But both also demonstrated that they can play in a half-court setting (i.e., a slower game) and still be successful - North Carolina against Washington State in the Sweet 16 round and Kansas against Davidson in advancing to San Antonio. Of course, the 15 MPH lane is not what either team prefers, so expect blur after blur on Saturday.

So who's faster? That's hard to say. Kansas has averaged almost 81 points a game, which is actually eight points or so less than the Tar Heels. Kansas shoots over 50% from the field, with Carolina at a little over 48%. Kansas has put together 18.6 assists per game, and turned the ball over less than the Heels. But those are just stats.

Let's look at the matchup itself.

It is no secret that the defensive strategy of Kansas will have to revolve around stopping, or at least slowing, Tyler Hansbrough, who averages 22.8 points a game and just captured the Associated Press Player of the Year award. Hansbrough is tenacious and goes after every rebound and every loose ball. he is somewhat reminiscent, at least to this reporter, of Dave Cowens, the former great Celtic center.

Kansas has some muscle to deal with him. Darrell Arthur, at 6'9", and Darnell Jackson, a 6'8" bruiser, can occupy him, and there are reinforcements as well, including Sasha Kaun, a 6'11" veteran who came up big in the Davidson game. But it's on the offensive end that these guys can cause some problems for Hansbrough, especially since Kansas has enough perimeter firepower (6.9 three-pointers a game) to spread the North Carolina defense out. Kansas has defense out on the perimeter as well, with the guard duo of Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers, though we admit there is potentially a size problem with one of them having to deal with 6'4" future NBA player Wayne Ellington, who is the guy who can pick this game up and take it with him.

But Kansas has a guy who can do that too, in Brandon Rush (13.1 ppg), who made many pre-season All-America lists but sort of under-performed. In a way, he fell victim to the tremendous balance of the Kansas offense, with four starters averaging between 11.2 and 13.1, and punch coming off the bench in the persons of Kaun and Sherron Collins.