UNC vs. Villanova: Tar Heels Favored by 2 Points by Las Vegas Sportsbooks

At this point, it seems crazy that either the Villanova Wildcats or North Carolina Tar Heels could be the underdogs in any men's college basketball game, but Las Vegas has spoken: North Carolina opened as a two-point favorite at multiple sportsbooks for Monday night's NCAA championship game, per David Purdum of ESPN.com.

Villanova is coming off a semifinal win in which it dismantled the Oklahoma Sooners by 44 points Saturday, 95-51—the largest margin of victory in Final Four history. The Wildcats are averaging 84.8 points per game in the NCAA tournament and defeated the No. 1 overall seed, the Kansas Jayhawks, in the Elite Eight.

But according to Vegas, North Carolina has been more impressive.

The No. 1-seeded Tar Heels defeated the No. 10-seeded Syracuse Orange on Saturday, 83-66, to keep their streak of winning every game in the tournament by at least 14 points alive. According to Purdum, it's only the third time all season that Villanova has been the underdog and the second time in the tournament.

Jason McIntyre of the Big Lead was impressed with Villanova but gave the edge to North Carolina when he tried to predict the spread, even before the Tar Heels defeated Syracuse:

There is a good chance the spread will move closer to even, as many people who were impressed with Villanova's historic performance against the Sooners could place their faith in head coach Jay Wright's Wildcats.

Monday's game will be hard to predict, as it's tough to picture either team losing, but of course one has to in the end. If Vegas has anything to say about it—and it usually does—we at least know it should be a close contest.