North Carolina righted the ship from its disastrous West Coast roadtrip on Wednesday night, trouncing Notre Dame 91-69 in Chapel Hill. Now, the No. 22 Tar Heels are heading to Charlottesville for a matchup with No. 14 Virginia on Saturday with a chance to reestablish their place as an ACC title and national championship contender. But Vegas doesn’t see it that way.
No, after the Tar Heels lost three of their first five ACC contests, the oddsmakers have tanked UNC’s Final Four odds. The Tar Heels are No. 22 in the AP Poll, with a chance to climb much higher by beating UVA on Saturday. Yet, Hubert Davis’s team is currently given a 25-1 chance to make it to the Final Four in the FanDuel Sportsbook, tied for the 23rd-best odds, slotting in behind unranked Kentucky, which UNC beat in December and St. John’s.
North Carolina’s 25-1 Final Four odds are a brutal indictment of Hubert Davis
There isn’t much of a discrepancy between UNC’s placement in the AP Poll and the Final Four odds, but a 25-1 chance, which is tied with Iowa and Tennessee, isn’t exactly where UNC fans thought this team would be. After facing hot seat talk and narrowly squeaking into the NCAA Tournament last season, Davis spent up on this year’s roster.
It reportedly took $14 million to put it together and features arguably the greatest season by a UNC freshman ever from Caleb Wilson, yet the Tar Heels have undergone major starting lineup changes and are not being taken as a serious threat to win it all. That can only be a reflection on the head coach, and if things don’t turn around, his seat will continue to heat up.
It’s Davis’s fifth season at the helm in Chapel Hill, and his magical Final Four run in 2022 is growing smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. Even UNC’s 29-8 season in 2023-24 and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament feels like a long time ago.
North Carolina belongs in the Final Four conversation every year. That’s especially true when the program hits on a one-and-done freshman with the ability of Wilson. Yet, if UNC’s perimeter defense struggles persist through Davis’s lineup tinkering, the Final Four will be an increasingly long shot.
This could change on Saturday afternoon against Virginia, which sits at 10-1 to make the Final Four in Year 1 under head coach Ryan Odom. But right now, UNC’s season is still teetering on the brink of collapse, and Vegas knows it.