March Madness 2023 Championship Game Betting Preview

Two of the most unlikely teams have made it to the championship game. The No. 5 San Diego St. Aztecs will take on the No. 4 UConn Huskies for the 2023 NCAA title on Monday. It has been a memorable run for both of these teams and one will be crowned a winner.

UConn has been dominant for the entirety of the tournament. Their Final Four game against Miami was the closest contest for them so far and the Huskies won that game by 13 points. This team can score the ball and defend. They have yet to allow a team to score 70 points so far in the tournament and have held their opponent under 60 points three times, including Miami in the Final Four and Gonzaga who led the nation in points per game. In this championship game against San Diego St. they will look to do that again as it is just a 132.5 projected-point total.

San Diego St. has had a much different run to the finals than UConn. In the first two games they may have gotten lucky with the teams they drew. College of Charleston and Furman proved to be two easy matchups for them to start. It got them hot as they then were able to take down the No. 1 seed Alabama. After that the Aztecs won two games in a row by just one point, including beating Florida Atlantic on a wild buzzer beater. Now they find themselves as heavy underdogs to UConn in this game by a whopping 7.5 points. It makes sense as UConn has won every game so far by 13 or more points. It would be shocking if San Diego St. pulls off the upset but they have come from behind before and beat a huge favorite in Alabama, so anything is possible.

This total appears to be pretty low for a game of this magnitude. Three of San Diego St.’s games so far have gone under that total. As for UConn, two of their tournament games have been under 133 points. This game also implies that San Diego St. will score just 63 points, something that has happened in this tournament just once. UConn has an implied point total of 70 points for this game which they have reached in every game so far in the tournament, with three of their games where they scored 82 or more. This total could easily hit the over and if it is a close game it may almost certainly be over the projected total.

7.5 points is a big spread for an NCAA championship game. UConn deserves to be the favorite though after their incredible dominance over every opponent so far. A championship game could be closer than people think though. Anything can happen come Monday and don’t be surprised if it is a close game in the end. The Aztecs have only lost two games all year by more than eight points so it would be a big loss.

For San Diego St. Lamont Butler is a player to watch. He has had some big games in this tournament. He scored 18 points against Creighton to secure that one-point win and hit the game winner in the Final Four to beat Florida Atlantic. Butler is clutch and gives this team a big boost when his shot is falling. If the Aztecs are going to win this game, or even cover the spread, he will need to have a big game offensively.

Jordan Hawkins for the UConn Huskies will be a player that the Aztecs will need to keep an eye on. He is a big-time scorer when the team needs him to be. He has two 20-point games in the tournament already and if he goes for 20 or more in this game the Huskies should be walking away with the trophy.

Another player to watch for the Huskies is Adama Sanogo. He not only is the leading scorer for the team but also the leading rebounder. In the tournament he has been super efficient. He has had games where he went 13-17, 11-16, and 9-11 from the field twice. San Diego St. will have to keep him off the offensive glass as he had six offensive rebounds in their win over Iona which is devastating for any team.