After three weeks of March Madness headlined by incredible upsets and buzzer-beaters, it all comes down to Monday’s showdown between UConn and San Diego State in one of the most unlikely championship matchups in NCAA Tournament history.
Both sides are led by elite defenses that have flexed their might throughout the first five rounds of this tournament, but the title game will likely come down to which star players are able to break through on the biggest stage.
Here are two of our favorite player props to target ahead of Monday’s NCAA championship, with odds courtesy of BetMGM:
UConn vs. SDSU player prop picks for March Madness National Championship
(via BetMGM)
Matt Bradley under 12.5 points (-105)
The over has seen some early action on the Aztecs’ leading scorer (12.7 PPG), who erupted for 21 points in Saturday’s win over FAU – his most in a game since late December.
In those 23 games in between, he’s averaged just 12.2 points per game, which includes a lousy 8.8 PPG scoring average on 31% shooting through his first four tournament games.
His four made 3-pointers on Saturday were more than he’d hit in those first four rounds combined (1), which coincided with his third-highest minutes total (32) of the entire season.
Bradley should get some extended run in the title game, too, but it’s hard to ignore his struggles shooting the ball this tournament – and, really, all season long (40.1%) – ahead of Monday’s matchup with one of the best defenses in the country.
UConn mostly bottled up Miami’s shooters on Saturday and won’t leave much room for Bradley to operate, either.
Jordan Hawkins over 14.5 points (-120)
Most of the attention ahead of this matchup is on UConn star center Adama Sanogo, and deservedly so: He’s leading the Huskies with 20.2 points per game through five dominant tournament wins.
That said, the 6-9 center will almost certainly command the full focus of SDSU’s elite defense.
That should free up Hawkins – the best NBA prospect on the floor on Monday – who has been UConn’s second-leading scorer on the season (16.2 PPG) and during the NCAA Tournament (16.4 PPG).
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The sophomore sharpshooter has already dropped 20-plus points twice in this tournament, and he scored 13 points in just 25 minutes on Saturday as he fought through what he’s described as food poisoning.
He should be good to go on Monday and will have plenty of chances to fire away against an Aztecs defense that saw its usually stout 3-point defense exploited by FAU (9-of-22) in the semifinals.