Wichita State Shockers (9) vs. Louisville Cardinals (1) Sat. April 5, 2025

The Louisville Cardinals are running on pure emotion heading into the Final Four with the team suffering a major blow with Kevin Ware going down with a gruesome injury and the team beating the Duke Blue Devils by 22 in the Elite Eight.

Although Louisville has made it their mission to win it all for their fallen point guard, the Cardinals will face a scrappy underdog in the form of the Wichita State Shockers.

The Shockers have been able to pull off the seemingly impossible by consistently pulling off upsets from round to round.

Wichita State has beaten Pittsburgh (8), Gonzaga (1), LaSalle (13) and Ohio State (2) on their way to the Final Four. With the Shockers having arguably the toughest path to the last four, Wichita State can’t be underestimated, but the Cinderella story is going up against arguably the best team left on the board that won’t be going down without a fight.

Even though Louisville is by far the better team coming into this contest, the Shockers will make this game closer than predicted.

Prediction: Wichita State +10 ½

Syracuse Orange (4) vs. Michigan Wolverines (4) Sat. April 5, 2025

Arguably the most even and possibly the most intriguing matchup on Saturday will be the red-hot Michigan Wolverines taking on the Syracuse Orange. Michigan is riding high after taking down an always-tough VCU (5) squad, the number one seeded Kansas (1) and Florida (3) in the Elite Eight.

With the Wolverines having the player of the year in Trey Burke, Michigan will be tough to stop in this matchup with head coach Jim Boeheim of the Orange likely to struggling to find an answer for arguably the best player in the country.

Syracuse will put up a fight and this game may ultimately be the closer of the two matchups in the Final Four, but in the end, the Wolverines should come out on top.

Michigan is currently favored with a -2 point spread. This spread is safe in my opinion with Burke leading the way to the National Championship game.

Prediction: Michigan -2

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