Wolfpack Continue To Be Disrespected, Take The Points

North Carolina State vs. Purdue, 6:09 ET

The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 were essentially .500 for me with the betting efforts. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but obviously could've been a lot worse. Some of them were easy wins, some were close losses, and others were just the wrong call. Now we are down to the Final Four with two games deciding who will play in the Championship game on Monday night. This has been a spectacular tournament, and even though I think I know who will win the championship, I still think we've had great games. I'm going to put out a play here on the game between North Carolina State and Purdue. 

North Carolina State has been on quite the run lately. They were able to take the ACC Tournament Championship, which guaranteed them a spot in the NCAA Tournament. To be honest, though, I still maintain they might not have even made the tournament if they didn't win the ACC one first. Now they've run through their schedule and reached the Final Four. This 11-seed has been very strong in almost every single game they've played in the tournament as well. In the first game, they took down Texas Tech, winning by 13 points. In the next game, it looked like the success was running out as Oakland took them into overtime. Finally, the Wolfpack was able to escape with a six-point victory. Against Marquette, North Carolina State led pretty much from start to finish and made it look rather easy. They took down the win by nine points, but the game felt farther apart than that. In the Elite 8, they took down ACC rival Duke by 12 points. Duke started strong, but they couldn't keep it going. DJ Burns Jr. dominated inside and put up 29 points, getting basically anything he wanted. Watching him in the post was like watching a drop step clinic as the Blue Devils had no answer for him. 

DETROIT, UNITED STATES - 2024/03/31: Zach Edey of Purdue Boilermakers in action against the Tennessee Volunteers in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena. Final score; Purdue 72-66 Tennessee. (Photo by Nicholas Muller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Speaking of post play, Zach Edey remained the beast he has been this entire tournament. Edey poured in 40 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Tennessee had no answer for him. Edey basically backs people down as far as he can, camps out into the post for 10 seconds (seriously, when will they call three seconds on this guy?), and then the ball gets dumped into him. He is so far under the basket at that point that the defense can't do much except foul him. The biggest issue for Tennessee against Purdue was the offensive rebounds they allowed. Purdue got too many chances and Edey was one of the main reasons for that success. Still, this was the closest someone has come to knocking off Purdue in the tournament. The Volunteers lost by just six points as Dalton Knect was able to rack up points to at least neutralize Edey in that regard. This won't be quite as easy for Edey to back down the big men of North Carolina State. Don't get me wrong, he will still find ways to get position and get baskets, but he will also probably have to work harder on the defensive end than he has before.

I'm not a big believer in the shooting from Purdue. For me to sit here and say the only reason that the Boilermakers are in the Final Four is Edey would also be a lie. They do have a fairly complete team, but the way North Carolina State is working right now is hard to argue with. They continue to be undervalued in the market and I think they are going to play good basketball in this game. Again, the biggest thing is they have the personnel that can stop Edey, or at least make it more difficult on him than any other team has had in the tournament. Giving 8.5 points is too many. Take them and trust that the Wolfpack can at least keep this close, if not win outright again. 

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024