Women’s College Basketball National Championship Best Bets:
South Carolina (-3.5) vs. UCLA, O/U 130.5
The stage is set; South Carolina has once again found its way to the national championship game after winning by double digits as a 6.5-point underdog against Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies on Friday night. Coaching beef aside, it was a very entertaining game, and I came away very impressed (again) with South Carolina’s turnaround after getting embarrassed in the SEC title game by Texas.
UCLA, on the other hand, punched their ticket in what was one of the ugliest basketball games I’ve ever watched. Think: Iowa vs Nebraska in college football. It was an absolute rock fight with little to no offensive display to speak of. But the Bruins prevailed and will have the opportunity to win a national title. My eyeballs and the recent data tell me that South Carolina is playing like the better team right now, even if UCLA was probably better throughout the season.
TSI projects South Carolina -3 with a total of 127 in this game, as both teams have seen the offensive output dry up and the defensive intensity skyrocket. While I’m not going to have a play on the spread pregame, I should note that the last 3 games’ worth of data favors South Carolina by 9. I do like the Under here, as we’ve seen these later tournament games dry up in scoring, and I think it’ll be more of the same on the tight rims and overinflated balls in Phoenix for the national championship. With such a tight spread, be on the lookout to get South Carolina moneyline at even money or better, which is where I’d pull the trigger live.
Bet: Under 130.5
