Oregon's journey to the Midwest regional final has been remarkable. Despite not having Chris Broucher, the Ducks have managed to continue rolling in the postseason. Their latest win comes in a close battle with another hot team, Michigan. However, they've found quite the buzzkill in Kansas, who have been demolishing opponents in the big dance so far -- they're average margin of victory is 26.7 points.
Tipoff for this regional final is set for 8:49 PM Eastern time, and it will be broadcast on TBS and the March Madness Live app.
No. 3 Oregon (32-5, 20-15-1 ATS)
Many people expected Oregon's road to end against a hot Rhode Island team last weekend, but the Ducks were able to pull through with a close 75-72 victory. Again, they faced similar odds with the hottest team from the Big Ten, Michigan, on Thursday night. Same result -- a close 69-68 win to get them to the halfway mark of a championship trophy.
Much of the continued success has been the ability of Tyler Dorsey (14.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg) to step up really. He's averaging 23 points in his last six games, and his best performance was tallying 27 points in that win over Rhode Island.
No. 1 Kansas (31-4, 14-18-1 ATS)
Despite losing their opening round game in the Big 12 tournament, Kansas hasn't been fazed, and they look like the best team in the tournament so far.
The offense in whizzing at a funny 92-point average clip in their last five games. While the defense hasn't necessarily been shutting things down, their opponent (which gives up an average of 65.9 points this season) has been giving up just as many points in March (roughly 73 points).
Similar to Oregon's backcourt star, Frank Mason (20.9 ppg, 5.2 apg) has been stellar down the stretch.
He's averaged 24.5 points in his last six games. His best showing was putting up 29 points against TCU, a game Kansas lost mainly due to the suspension of Josh Jackson.
Kansas opened up as a 5.5-point favorite, but that line has since pushed to 7 points in many sportsbooks. The total O/U is set at 158 points. The Jayhawks are 7-1 against the spread in their last 8 NCAA tourney games as a favorite.