The Louisville Cardinals and the Michigan Wolverines were largely two of the best teams in the country all season long. Michigan floundered just a bit down the stretch of the regular season, while Louisville played its best basketball when it mattered the most, but after each team won five straight games in the dance, they now meet each other with the National Championship on the line. The Cardinals haven’t won the title since 1986. The Wolverines have failed to be the victors since 1989. Here at Bankroll Sports, we analyze the last battle on the college basketball betting lines of the season, as these two duke it out in Atlanta for all of the marbles.

March Madness: Michigan Wolverines vs. Louisville Cardinals
Michigan vs. Louisville Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
Michigan vs. Louisville Date/Time: Monday, April 8th, 9:23 p.m. (ET)
2013 March Madness On TV: CBS

Key #1: Trey Burke can’t have another game like he did against Syracuse
Big time players come to life in the biggest games of the season. Surprisingly though, Burke was rather MIA against the Syracuse Orange in the Final Four. He only scored seven points, and he wasn’t hitting any of those remarkable shots that we have become accustomed to seeing him knock down. In the clutch though, there still isn’t a player on either side of the court that we would rather have on our side, and it is definitely worth embracing that fact. Burke has proven time and time again that he has the ability to play the biggest ball in the biggest games, and it hasn’t even just been here in the dance. Sure, we all remember the two shots against the Kansas Jayhawks that eliminated the No. 1 seed in the South Region, but few remember that Burke was the man that came up with the steal to beat the Michigan State Spartans earlier this year, and he is the man that kept finding ways to score against some of the best and most ferocious defenses in the nation. Simply put, Burke is the man for the Wolverines, and though there is going to be plenty of discussion about some of the other players in this game, this is the one that has to step it up and become the de facto MVP if Big Blue is going to cut down the nets.

National Championship Game Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
#4 Michigan Wolverines +3.5
#1 Louisville Cardinals -3.5
Over/Under 137.5
Click Here to Bet Your National Championship Game Picks!

Key #2: One of these teams needs to have its role players make some huge plays
When you talk about role players in big games like this one, you often only think of which player can come up with the most points, especially off of the bench. That being said, the player that it makes the most sense to talk about right now is F Luke Hancock, who came off of the bench and scored 20 points to lead the way for the Cardinals. Though we know that Hancock had a huge game, we’re not really referring to men like him that are used to playing regular minutes. Instead, we are referring to men like G Tim Henderson, who scored 16 points all season long and put up two threes in a row to push Louisville from down 12 to down six in a span of less than a minute. We’re talking about G Caris LeVert, who came onto the court for Michigan and scored eight huge points after not scoring a single point since March 3rd. G Spike Albrecht did damage as well, hitting two threes in his five minutes on the court against Syracuse. Albrecht now has 19 points in this tournament. He only had scored 48 points in the entire regular season and the Big Ten Tournament. Whichever one of these teams can get the most out of these types of players will have a huge leg up on the other, because the truth of the matter is that the talent level from #1 through #6 or #7 that these two teams have is remarkably similar.

Key #3: If the Wolverines get ahead, they have to throw down the hammer
We’ve watched time and time again here in the NCAA Tournament that teams that build substantial leads just don’t figure out how to put teams down. Davidson failed against Marquette, and the Golden Eagles ran all the way to the Elite Eight as a result. Wichita State didn’t put away Ohio State, and the Buckeyes had the ball down three points in that game with a chance to erase a 20-point deficit. The Shockers then blew a 12-point second half lead against Louisville. Even Michigan really isn’t exempt. The Wolverines had opportunity after opportunity to put away the Orange in the Final Four, and still, Syracuse found a way to have possession of the ball with less than 30 seconds to play with a chance to tie or take the lead. However, we have also seen the Wolverines as the beneficiaries of such an act. They were badly outplayed for most of the game against the Jayhawks, only to ultimately find a way to blow the game by getting outshot and turning the ball over too many times in the final five minutes or so. The one thing that we know about the Cardinals is that they aren’t giving up in games. The G Kevin Ware injury showed us that this team is resilient, and it has the ability to go on some massive runs to get the job done. If Michigan gets ahead and it doesn’t figure out how to keep its foot on the gas pedal, we know that the Cardinals are going to find their way back in this game.

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Just two teams are left standing in the chase to pick up college basketball’s most illustrious award. Don’t miss all of the action on the March Madness betting lines for the one final game of the year, and here at Bankroll Sports, we’re giving you the inside edge for which one of these two dynamite teams you should be backing on the National Championship Game odds.

The Michigan Wolverines (March Madness Odds: 1.65 to 1 @ 5Dimes Sportsbook) has shocked the world out of the No. 4 seed in the South Region to not just make it to the Final Four, but to ultimately win the National Semifinals as well. We have continually said that this is a touched team, and we are sticking by that logic in the National Championship Game as well. This is the toughest test that the team has faced all season long, though. For as great as teams like Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois, and Minnesota really were this year, Louisville is the best team that the Wolverines will be challenged by. The hope is that Big Blue doesn’t fall by the wayside the same way that Iowa did against Baylor in the NIT Final earlier this week. What we will say about Michigan though, is that it does have the best player that is going to be on the court. G Trey Burke didn’t play all that well against the Syracuse Orange, but he had some help from his friends. The Wooden Award winner is joined in the backcourt by the talented G Tim Hardaway Jr. and the streaky G Nik Stauskas. F Glenn Robinson III has done a remarkable job in this tournament, but the real man of the hour has been F Mitch McGary, who has averaged 16.0 points and 11.6 rebounds per game after averaging under seven points and under six rebounds per game in the regular season.

List Of NCAA Tournament Basketball National Champions (Since 2000)
2012 NCAA Tournament Champions: Kentucky Wildcats
2011 NCAA Tournament Champions: Connecticut Huskies
2010 NCAA Tournament Champions: Duke Blue Devils
2009 NCAA Tournament Champions: North Carolina Tar Heels
2008 NCAA Tournament Champions: Kansas Jayhawks
2007 NCAA Tournament Champions: Florida Gators
2006 NCAA Tournament Champions: Florida Gators
2005 NCAA Tournament Champions: North Carolina Tar Heels
2004 NCAA Tournament Champions: Connecticut Huskies
2003 NCAA Tournament Champions: Syracuse Orange
2002 NCAA Tournament Champions: Maryland Terrapins
2001 NCAA Tournament Champions: Duke Blue Devils
2000 NCAA Tournament Champions: Michigan State Spartans

The Louisville Cardinals (Odds To Win National Championship: 1 to 1.75 @ 5Dimes Sportsbook) are the team to beat for sure. Though they did have a tough time with the Wichita State Shockers in the Final Four on Saturday, they have definitively been the toughest team in America to knock off for the mass majority of the season. Ironically, there is only one player, G Russ Smith that is averaging double digits in scoring per game for Head Coach Rick Pitino, but that doesn’t make the team any less talented. C Gorgui Dieng usually doesn’t have a man that can match his combination of size and strength on the inside, while G Peyton Siva has a leadership quality that isn’t able to be taught even in the best practices. F Chane Behanan has been relatively quiet in this tournament, but though he has really not done all that much, F Luke Hancock became a star instantaneously when he scored 20 points against the Shockers. Head Coach Rick Pitino is the master of getting the most out of his team, and Louisville has been the bona fide favorite on the odds to win the National Championship for the duration of this tournament. If Louisville were to win it all on Monday, it would be just the third time in the history of the dance that the No. 1 overall seed went on to claim glory at cut down the nets at the Final Four.

2013 Odds To Win NCAA Tournament @ 5Dimes Sportsbook (as of 4/7/13):
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Louisville Cardinals Win NCAA Championship -175
Michigan Wolverines Win NCAA Championship +165

Louisville Cardinals -3.5
Michigan Wolverines +3.5
Over/Under 138

2013 College Basketball National Championship Odds @ JustBet Sportsbook (as of 4/7/13):
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Louisville Cardinals -185
Michigan Wolverines +165

Louisville Cardinals -4
Michigan Wolverines +4
Over/Under 137.5

The 2013 NCAA Tournament is officially here! Don’t miss a moment of the action here at Bankroll Sports, as we feature all of the games that are going to be on TV from the opening game of the First Four all the way to the final gun in Atlanta with the nets coming down. Join our officially March Madness Television schedule and check out where you can find all of the NCAA Tournament games on TV.

National Championship Game On TV: Monday, April 8th (4/8/13)
9:23 p.m. ET #4 Michigan Wolverines vs. #1 Louisville Cardinals (CBS)

All sorts of history and tradition is going to be on display on Saturday night in the National Championship Game, as Louisville and Michigan get set to wage war with one another. The Cardinals are playing in the NCAA Tournament Final for the first time since 1986, and they have won both of their opportunities in which they have played for all the marbles. Michigan’s Fab Five teams from the 1990s were never able to pull off a feat quite like these Wolverines have been able to do this season. The Big Blue Nation hasn’t been to the National Title Game since 1989.

Of course, these aren’t nearly the only storylines that are going on for this game. Head Coach Rick Pitino is trying to become the first coach in the history of college basketball to win a National Championship with two different teams. He has a talented side that is full of experienced players at this level, and men like G Peyton Siva and G Russ Smith have been playing with their hair on fire. Louisville has knocked off an interesting group of teams. The Cardinals probably had the most impressive game of these two clubs, beating the snot out of the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight, but aside from that, the No. 8 Colorado State Rams in the Round of 32 was the toughest foe that the Big East champs faced. In order, the Cardinals knocked off North Carolina A&T, Colorado State, Oregon, Duke, and Wichita State. The Cards had their really only tough fight in the dance in the Final Four against Wichita State. They never led by more than five points in spite of the fact that they were favored by 9 1/2.

Michigan meanwhile, should have been dead in the water against the Kansas Jayhawks in the Sweet 16. The Wolverines should have been had if not for the fact that G Trey Burke came up with two monstrous shots to send the game to overtime. Ultimately, the Big Ten reps prevailed, and they stormed through the Elite Eight against the Florida Gators to reach the Final Four. The 2-3 zone didn’t give Michigan any troubles against the Syracuse Orange, and though the final score was relatively close, the outcome of the game really never should have been in serious doubt. The Wolverines were able to dispose of South Dakota State and VCU without all that much of a fight on either account to get through the first weekend of the tourney as well.