2015 Free March Madness Picks – Harvard vs North Carolina Odds and Expert Predictions

2015 Free March Madness Picks – Harvard vs North Carolina Odds and Expert Predictions: The #13 seeded Harvard Crimson will take on the #4 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2nd round of the West Regional on Thursday, March 19th from the Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The oddsmakers have released the odds for this matchup and North Carolina is currently listed as a -10.5 point favorite with the game total set at over/under 133 points at MyBookie.ag Sportsbook.

North Carolina enters this matchup with a 24-11 overall record out of the ACC Conference and averaging 77.9 points per game while allowing 68.4 ppg. The Tar Heels won three games in the ACC Tournament over Boston College, Louisville and Virginia to reach the ACC Tournament Championship Game where they ultimately lost to Notre Dame. The Tar Heels enter the NCAA Tournament feeling pretty good about themselves and the 2015 NCAA Bracket is pretty favorable to the Tar Heel as they avoided the dreaded Kentucky Midwest region and they look like they can make a deep run in the West Bracket if they play up to their capabilities.

The Tar Heels enter the 2015 NCAA Tournament as the #11 rated RPI team and come in plenty tested. The Heels played the 2nd toughest schedule in the nation according to the RPI index and ended up going 3-7 versus RPI Top 25 teams, 7-10 versus RPI Top 50 teams and 11-11 against RPI Top 100 teams. Head coach Roy Williams will look to outstanding junior guard Marcus Paige to lead the Tar Heels on a long run in this 2015 NCAA Tournament and he is definitely more than capable of doing just that. The talented lead guard led the Heels in the regular season with a 13.5 ppg average to go along with a team leading 4.4 assists per game.

Harvard enters the 2015 NCAA Tournament with a 22-7 overall record and earned the automatic bid from the Ivy League after winning a tiebreaker games against Yale. The Crimson enter this big dance averaging 64.2 ppg on offense and giving up 57.2 ppg on defense. The Crimson will be playing in their 4th straight NCAA Tournament and are the 1st Ivy League team to accomplish that feat since Princeton did it in 1989-1992.

The Crimson are the #52 rated RPI team but have not played anywhere near the caliber of schedule as the Tar Heels. The Crimson played just the 143rd toughest schedule in the nation and did not win a single game against RPI Top 50 teams and only played one RPI Top 50 team total. The Crimson ended up 0-1 versus RPI Top 50 teams and 4-2 versus RPI Top 100 teams. Head coach Tommy Amaker will lean heavily on his star senior swingman Wesley Saunders to carry the load against the Tar Heels and will need him to play a monster game if the Crimson are to have a chance. Saunders led Harvard in the regular season with a 16.3 ppg average to go along with 6.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.

This matchup does not appear close on paper and, frankly, it should not be close on the court either. North Carolina simply has way too much talent and matchup advantages to not control this game from start to finish and win going away. Harvard has just as much NCAA Tournament experience on it’s roster as North Carolina does but they don’t have the size and athleticism to make this game much of a contest. Our expert March Madness handicapper Sonny LaFouchi(aka The Legend) looks for North Carolina to cover the -10.5 point spread with ease and win this game by 18 to 20 points.

2015 Free March Madness Picks: North Carolina -10.5 over Harvard