March Madness bad beat: North Carolina bettors get the cover on wild Kansas turnover

There weren't a ton of horrible beats in this NCAA men's basketball tournament, which is unusual. But don't tell that to anyone who bet Kansas on the point spread for the championship game.

Kansas was a favorite of 4 or 4.5 points at BetMGM, depending on when people bet the game. The game looked like a lock for North Carolina bettors until Kansas made a huge second-half rally. KU looked like it would cover a few times in the final minutes, and with a few seconds left a Kansas cover seemed inevitable. KU led 72-69 with 4.6 seconds left, inbounding the ball. The Jayhawks were going to get fouled with almost no time left, then go to the free-throw line for a one-and-one to get the cover or at least a push for those Kansas -4 bettors.

You can watch a lot of basketball and not again see what happened to get North Carolina the ball back. After Brady Manek's pass sailed out of bounds in front of UNC's bench with under five seconds left, Kansas inbounded from the sideline. They ran a nice play to get Dajuan Harris Jr. moving toward the Jayhawks' basket. But somehow, Harris stepped out of bounds. Barely. The side of his right foot landed on the sideline. Tar Heels ball.

Had Kansas not turned it over there, the Jayhawks would have been going to the line with about three seconds left. Harris was a 79.2% free-throw shooter coming in. Had he hit both, Kansas would have led by five, covering the spread and just needing to fade a desperate, meaningless shot by North Carolina to cover the spread. Maybe Harris would have missed the first or second free throw. Perhaps North Carolina would have thrown in a buzzer-beating shot, Chris Duhon style. But at that moment Manek threw away the ball, UNC bettors needed a lucky break. And they got one.

North Carolina shot a potential game-tying 3-point shot at the buzzer, not giving Kansas enough time to rebound the ball and get fouled. The game ended with UNC losing, 72-69, and the Tar Heels covered the spread.

North Carolina bettors deserved the cover. UNC was up big at halftime. The Tar Heels collapsed in the second half but in a back-and-forth second half, the underdog deserved the cover.

Kansas -4 or -4.5 bettors probably didn't feel that way. One turnover, with Kansas barely stepping out of bounds, cost them the money.

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