Final Four prediction: Will Miami hang with mighty UConn in Houston?

The Miami Hurricanes’ mindset on the road to the first Final Four in school history: No matter the adversity, nobody is beating us.

The UConn Huskies’ mindset on the road to their sixth Final Four, all since 1999: No matter the opponent, nobody is competing with us.

So Saturday’s national semifinal nightcap at NRG Stadium in Houston is a classic clash of immovable object vs. irresistible force. It’s also a clash that is extremely tricky to handicap.

Our conclusion on this Miami vs. UConn showdown: It’s incredibly difficult to not lay a handful of points with a team that’s won all 15 of its nonconference games — including four NCAA Tournament contests — by double digits.

But it’s even more difficult not to take a handful of points with a team that’s near perfect as an underdog this season — one riding a wave of three consecutive March Madness upsets.

Odds updated as of 5:15 p.m. ET on March 31.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: We flat-out blew it with our Elite Eight recommendation of Texas over Miami.

After successfully riding the fifth-seeded Hurricanes in the first three games of the NCAA Tournament — wins over No. 12 Drake (63-56), No. 4 Indiana and No. 1 Houston (89-75) — we went the other way in Sunday’s Midwest Region final against No. 2 Texas.

It looked like the right call for about three-fourths of the contest, as the Longhorns were firmly in control and had a 12-point lead with roughly 10 minutes to play.

But the refuse-to-lose Hurricanes did just that: They simply refused to lose.

As was the case in its first-round game against Drake — which required a game-ending 16-1 run over the final six minutes — Miami woke up against Texas in the nick of time at both ends of the court.

When it was over, the Hurricanes had turned a 67-55 deficit with 10:04 remaining into an 88-81 Final Four-clinching victory.

» READ MORE: Final Four odds: UConn solidly favored to win fifth national championship

As usual, it was a total team effort for Miami, as all five starters scored in double figures. This time, guard Jordan Miller was the hero, as he went 7-for-7 from the field, 13-for-13 from the foul line and finished with a game-high 27 points.

The stunning upset of Texas as a 3.5-point underdog followed the Hurricanes’ equally stunning 14-point Sweet 16 win over top-seed Houston as a 7.5-point underdog. And that followed a 16-point blowout of Indiana as a 1.5-point underdog in the Round of 32.

But wait, it gets better: Since Feb. 4, Miami has taken the court seven times as an underdog and walked off the court with six outright victories.

The only exception was an 85-78 loss to Duke as a 2.5-point pup in the ACC Tournament championship game. It was a game in which the Canes lost 6-foot-7 forward/double-double machine Norchad Omier to a sprained ankle one minute into the action. Omier never returned.

The seven-point loss to the Blue Devils? It is Miami’s second-largest margin of defeat this season and largest since Maryland drubbed the Canes 88-70 on a neutral court — way back on Nov. 20.

The Hurricanes’ only other blemishes this season — at Georgia Tech, at North Carolina State in overtime, at Duke, at Pittsburgh and versus Florida State — were by a combined 14 points. And Miami cashed as an underdog in two of those contests (at Duke and at N.C. State).

In summary, coach Jim Larrañaga’s troops are 7-3 SU and 9-1 ATS as an underdog; four of their seven losses were by 3 points or fewer; two others were by 6 and 7 points; and they’ve suffered just one double-digit defeat all year.

Yes, we know about UConn’s thoroughly dominant 4-0 SU and ATS run to the West Region championship. It’s a run that included a 24-point win over No. 11 seed Iona, a 15-point win over No. 5 St. Mary’s, a 23-point win over No. 8 Arkansas and a 28-point thrashing of No. 3 Gonzaga.

We also know that the Huskies’ supreme talent and athleticism is matched only by their depth and versatility. And we know they’re red-hot, going 13-2 SU and 12-3 ATS since Jan. 31.

But here’s what else we know: UConn was involved in just two close games during that 15-game stretch. And the Huskies lost them both — 56-53 at Creighton and 70-68 to Marquette in the Big East Tournament.

Well, we expect the Huskies to finally get tested again Saturday night against a perpetually underrated opponent that simply will not quit, no matter the circumstances.

So if you’re going to give us 5.5 points with such an opponent — one that, again, took down a No. 4, No. 1 and No. 2 seed in successive games to reach this point — we’re not passing them up.

Not this time.

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