The NCAA Tournament is finally here, and the North Carolina Tar Heels begin their journey this Thursday against VCU in Greenville, SC. The Tar Heels will enter this game as the 6 seed in the South Region, while the Rams will enter the game as the 11 seed.
To get everyone caught up that may not know how VCU got here, they finished their season with a 27-7 overall record, and 15-3 in A-10 play. They earned a NCAA Tournament bid by beating Dayton 70-62 to win the A-10 Tournament Championship title. The Rams
have won 16 of their last 17 games, so the Tar Heels will be dealing with a team that has a lot of momentum going into the NCAA Tournament.
Looking at what Vegas has to say, UNC enters the game as a 2.5-point favorite per FanDuel Sportsbook. A good amount of this is likely because of the absence of Caleb Wilson, but it also could be because of the egg that the Heels laid against Clemson. Anybody that watched that game knows that the final score was not indicative of how much UNC struggled for most of the game. It was good seeing them fight in the final minutes, but this falls in line with a dangerous habit that this team has — they have rarely played good basketball for a full 40-minutes this season. They know how to win anyway, but continuing this trend won’t fly in the NCAA Tournament.
Still, it is worth noting that UNC is ranked higher in adjusted offense and defense than VCU per KenPom.com. It’s also worth noting that the Rams only managed to blow out one of the teams that they played during their current six-game win streak. The Heels could and should win this game, but as has been the case all season long, it really depends on which team gets off the bus. They could just as reasonably get sent home early, which would be a frustrating end to the 2025-26 season.
The Tar Heels square off against the Rams at 6:50 PM ET on TNT. What do you think of the opening odds for this game? Let us know in the comments below.
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