Final Four 2015: Best Matchups, Championship Odds for Remaining Teams

With just four games remaining in the Sweet 16, the Final Four is so close you can taste it. If the remaining matchups are anything like Thursday night's—except for Notre Dame and Kentucky's blowouts—fans will be in for another enthralling slate of games.

Betting everything on Kentucky seemed like a smart option before the tournament, but that might all come to an end at some point. Notre Dame is the next challenger, and a worthy one. The Irish pulled off an improbable run with victories over Duke and North Carolina to win the ACC tournament.

In the four games on Friday night, each program will be looking to secure the other four berths into the Elite Eight. Leading up to those games, here's a look at the full championship odds to this point and a matchup to watch with one side of the bracket nearly complete.

Team	Odds
Kentucky	1-1
Arizona	13-2
Duke	8-1
Wisconsin	8-1
Gonzaga	12-1
Michigan State	14-1
Utah	20-1
Louisville	25-1
Oklahoma	25-1
Notre Dame	33-1
NC State	50-1
UCLA	100-1

Regions	Date	Matchup
Midwest vs. West	April 4	Kentucky vs. Arizona
South vs. East	April 4	Duke vs. Michigan State

Matchup to Watch: Kentucky vs. Arizona

This is the one matchup we've all been waiting for outside of, maybe, the winner of this game making the national championship. But with a title shot on the line, this one promises to bring offensive fireworks like we haven't seen in the tournament to this point.

First of all, there are no surprising teams in the Elite Eight thus far.

Kentucky's winning streak has been well-chronicled, but Arizona is also on an impressive run. Arizona's 14-game run is no match for Kentucky's 37-0 record, but it's still the second-longest in the country.

Much of the success for Arizona is thanks to the trio of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson and T.J. McConnell. All three players have put together strong seasons but have a slim margin for error against the Kentucky defense.

That's not comforting considering they shot a combined 11-of-28 against Xavier.

Hollis-Jefferson was off his game against the Musketeers, but he still played well enough defensively to help his team. He'll need to repeat that success against Kentucky's full cast of forwards in check. Part of that poor showing was due to a vicious hit to the knee from Johnson.

Sean Miller will need all three to step up against Kentucky if he plans to make his first national championship game. In three trips to the Elite Eight, Miller is 0-3 with Xavier and Arizona. The irony here is that the Elite Eight matchup for Miller and the Wildcats is the same as last year, as Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports notes:

Miller spoke about how he'll approach the matchup, via Greg Beacham of The Associated Press (via AZCentral.com):

"The next step is a big one," Miller said. "The fact that we're playing Wisconsin…it's almost as if we had a summer to think about it, and we have to somehow make that to our advantage."

That will be a huge matchup before the Final Four, but the focus will quickly turn to Kentucky. John Calipari has his team rolling this season and heading to another potential national championship during his time in Lexington.

With all of that winning, the expectations for the team are constantly reaching a new high. Calipari addressed the pressure he puts on himself, via Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated:

In a matchup where both teams average over 70 points per game, there will be no dull moments between the two. If both make their way to the Final Four, Calipari vs. Miller will be a legendary battle of two of the best minds in the game.

College basketball fans can buckle up and feast their eyes on a game guaranteed to thrill from the tip to the buzzer.

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