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The Charleston Cougars take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Charleston North Carolina prediction and pick.
The North Carolina Tar Heels came agonizingly close to winning the 2022 NCAA Tournament. They held a double-digit lead over the Kansas Jayhawks at halftime of the national championship game last April in New Orleans, but KU played a brilliant second half to take that game away from the Tar Heels. Yet, it was a spectacular season for first-year head coach Hubert Davis. He and his team struggled for three and a half months, but then found a spark in late February, spoiled Mike Krzyzewski's final home game as Duke head coach, and then made a remarkable run to the title game as a No. 8 seed.
North Carolina dethroned defending national champion Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels also took out another 2021 Final Four team, the UCLA Bruins, in the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels reached the Final Four and beat Duke and Coach K one more time in the national semifinals, ending Krzyzewski's coaching career. It was a magical run and a tremendous transformation from a team which looked terrible in early February and seemed like an NIT squad. Davis stayed the course and was rewarded for keeping the trust of his players.
The core of the North Carolina roster — knowing it didn't perform well for a full season — chose to come back for another run at the national title. Obviously, that's not the only goal — these players want to significantly improve their NBA draft stock — but it certainly is a powerful incentive for a group of players which want to play great basketball for four and a half months this season, not just one.
It will be fascinating to see how this team, under Davis, evolves in the 2022-2023 college basketball season. One thing seems clear, though: Hubert Davis, who stood on rocky ground in late January of 2022, earned the full trust of the Carolina community. He was the man his predecessor, UNC legend Roy Williams, wanted to be the new head coach of the Tar Heels. After last season's epic March run, Davis enters this new campaign on very solid footing.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Charleston-North Carolina College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Charleston-North Carolina Odds
Charleston Cougars: +20.5 (-105)
North Carolina Tar Heels: -20.5 (-115)
Over: 160.5 (-108)
Under: 160.5 (-112)
Why Charleston Could Cover the Spread
This is an early-season game. Rosters — even those with experience, such as North Carolina's — will go through some ups and downs as players settle into the rhythms and workings of the season. Early-season games invite the very real possibility of erratic basketball even from good teams. That factor could certainly make this game closer than many people think.
Why North Carolina Could Cover the Spread
The fact that UNC has a veteran roster which chose to run it back one more year should make the Tar Heels comparatively less vulnerable to in-season instability. This team has one game under its belt, and with each new game, the starting five should be able to regain the continuity it had last March, when it pulled off several surprising results.
Final Charleston-North Carolina Prediction & Pick
North Carolina's team should become great in the course of time, but Charleston will treat this game as its Super Bowl. It doesn't mean the Cougars will win, but it does mean they will be competitive.
Final Charleston-North Carolina Prediction & Pick: Charleston +20.5
