Final Four 2016: Complete Odds, TV Schedule and Predictions

While the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament gets the most hype due to the upsets, it's the Final Four weekend that provides the best basketball of the season.

The fun underdog stories are gone, but instead we are left with elite teams looking to bring home a national championship. Three of the four remaining squads spent time as the No. 1 team in the polls this year and clearly aren't here by accident. Even Syracuse is led by a Hall of Fame coach and multiple McDonald's All-Americans, not your usual No. 10 seed.

This should create a pair of fun games to watch Saturday with any outcome possible.

Date	Matchup	Time (ET)	TV	Spread
Sat, Apr 2	No. 2 Villanova vs. No. 2 Oklahoma	6:09 p.m.	TBS	NOVA -2
Sat, Apr 2	No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 10 Syracuse	8:49 p.m.	TBS	UNC -9.5

Team	Odds
North Carolina	Even
Villanova	+275
Oklahoma	+350
Syracuse	+800

Villanova vs. Oklahoma

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Much of the talk going into this game will be about Buddy Hield, and for good reason. The All-American was one of the best players in college basketball this season and undoubtedly the best pure scorer.

The senior has been as consistent as possible with 25.4 points per game this season and has somehow raised his game during the NCAA tournament with an average of 29.3 points in four games. This includes two games of more than 35 points scored.

Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard are also quality options in the Oklahoma backcourt, but when Hield is on, he is almost impossible to defend.

Of course, it's easier defending one player than an entire team. That is what Villanova provides with as much balance as any team in the country. Five players average at least 9.8 points per game and any of the starters has a chance to be the leading scorer on a given night.

Freshman guard Jalen Brunson explained how the mentality of the team helps on the court, per Reuben Frank of CSN Philly:

"

There’s no egos on this team. No one’s saying, ‘I want to get mine,’ no one’s like ‘I’ve got to get my stats.’ Everyone’s really out there playing for each other. The eight guys, the guys in the rotation, there’s no dropoff. Everyone that goes in or goes out has the same intensity on defense and in rebounding and that’s really what matters most.

"

Villanova will keep the intensity it had against Kansas in its matchup against Oklahoma, using its zone to trap Hield and force tough shots. On offense, the Wildcats will be able to spread the floor and either score with outside shots or drives to the net.

The Big East squad does a little bit of everything well, and it will simply be too much for Oklahoma to handle by the end.

Prediction: Villanova 68, Oklahoma 64

North Carolina vs. Syracuse

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One of these teams is a No. 1 seed and the other is a No. 10 seed. North Carolina won the regular-season and tournament titles of the conference Syracuse is also in, with the Orange nowhere near competitive in either. The Tar Heels have also beaten their upcoming opponent twice already this season.

Despite all of this, the Orange have a chance to make things interesting.

Syracuse is clearly playing its best basketball at the right time with Michael Gbinije and Malachi Richardson appearing unstoppable at times offensively. The two long, athletic perimeter players could be a matchup nightmare for a North Carolina defense that has struggled with these type of opponents this season.

UNC has especially struggled defending the arc, and the undersized Marcus Paige and Joel Berry won't have a good chance of stopping Syracuse's shooters.

On the other end of the court, the Tar Heels' poor outside shooting could come back to haunt them. While they made just about everything in the Sweet 16 win over Indiana, this is an historically bad shooting team overall, as explained by David Teel of the Daily Press:

"

One final stab at putting the Tar Heels’ 3-point issues in context: For the season, they’re shooting 32.1 percent, worst in program history. The previous low is 32.8 in 2011, when Carolina lost in the Elite Eight to Kentucky.

The worst 3-point shooting teams to win the national championship since the arc was introduced in 1986-87: Connecticut in 2011 at 32.9 percent and Louisville in 2013 at 33.3.

"

This hasn't hurt North Carolina for most of the season because it pushes the ball inside, but Syracuse's 2-3 zone has a way of forcing outside shots. According to Ken Pomeroy, this is what happened the last time these squads played:

While this should keep the game close, UNC still has a superior team with a lot of ways to score. If Paige and Berry aren't making shots on the outside, Brice Johnson will still get plenty of buckets in transition and on second-chance points. The squad's defense has also improved from earlier in the year.

It will be a closer matchup than the seeds would indicate, but the top seed should advance to the finals.

Prediction: North Carolina 76, Syracuse 70

Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.

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