T.M. Selection: UNC/UCLA OVER.

I am on the over in the UNC vs UCLA game on Friday. UCLA has been putting up a lot of points in their games lately but they are also the kind of team that has played up and has played down to their level of competition all year. They put up 70+ points in their most recent game, blowing out Saint Mary's as UCLA finally found their groove in the tournament. They won their game in the round of 64 by only 4 points though and they only put up 57 points in that game since they held Akron to 53. This has happened before though and even in their conference tournament final this year, UCLA lost 84-76 to Arizona and that was a game that they were leading in the 1st half and then had multiple lead changes in the 2nd half. I think UCLA looked a lot better in the round of 32 and now that they have the taste of the sweet 16 in their mouth, I expect them to put up a lot of points here and try to keep themselves alive. UNC has looked really good lately too and they just knocked out the 1st seed Baylor in their most recent game. They have been putting up a lot of points in their games too, putting up 90+ points in both of their games in the NCAA tournament so far. UNC has looked great on offense and I think this will be another game where they come out hot and try to put up a lot of points. I expect UCLA will match their energy and put up a lot of points themselves to match UNC but UNC hasn't looked good on the defensive end in their games and letting Baylor come back from 20+ points in their previous game really exposed that. I think that the lack of defense by UNC will be the difference here and I think UCLA will take control at some point causing UNC to put up more points to keep up. Either way, I see this game having a ton of points in it from both teams. I like the over in this game.

T.M. Prediction: 83-77 UCLA.