FINAL FOUR BREAKDOWN
NO. 2 VILLANOVA VS. NO. 2 OKLAHOMA
The facts: 5:09 p.m. Saturday, TBS (TNT/truTV team broadcasts).
The outlook: With Buddy Hield (25.4 points per game, 146 three-pointers), Jordan Woodard (13.0, 78) and Isaiah Cousins (12.8, 63) on the floor, Oklahoma can shoot any opponent out of the gym. The potential problem for the best jump-shooting team in the tournament: The Final Four games will be played in anything but a gym.
Cavernous, gargantuan settings such as NRG Stadium in Houston, home of the NFL’s Texans, often have led to trouble for teams that rely on the jump shot. Villanova likes the three-ball itself — Kris Jenkins, Ryan Arcidiacono, Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson all can heat up — but the Wildcats’ style doesn’t revolve around it. This is the best grind-it-out team Jay Wright has had, but it’s also an efficient offense.
The Sooners have more giddy-up offensively, and Hield will be the best player on the floor. This will be his biggest test yet, though, because Villanova has multiple outstanding perimeter defenders who’ll get shots at him. Watch for long, aggressive Mikal Bridges off the bench. Bridges can get it anyone’s jersey and make things uncomfortable.
Greenberg’s pick: Villanova, 74-69.
NO. 10 SYRACUSE VS. NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA
The facts: 7:49 p.m. Saturday, TBS (TNT/truTV team broadcasts).
The outlook: By now — Jim Boeheim’s 840th season as Syracuse’s coach — we’re all well-acquainted with the zone defense favored by the Orange. It makes it difficult for teams that run their offense through the post to get the ball where they want it to go. Many a foe has perished through the years by settling for easier-to-get three-point shots against Syracuse.
North Carolina — far better from twopoint range than it is from deep — will have to work harder than that.
But this is the strongest-willed Tar Heels team we’ve seen since the championship days of Tyler Hansbrough. Forward Brice Johnson, who has incredible quickness and spring — and a deadeye mid-range jumper — will be a nightmare to defend. Carolina will pound the offensive glass, capable of dominating in that department against the Orange’s thin front line.
Then again, Syracuse was buried in the Elite Eight against Virginia, trailing by 16 in the second half, before freshman Malachi Richardson led a furious and spectacular comeback. No doubt, the Orange are peaking. A dangerous team? For sure.
Greenberg’s pick: North Carolina, 76-67.