UCLA vs Michigan -6.5 O/U 136
This game could be one of those turn off the TV and do laundry games if it gets out of hand. The Pac 12 has been playing much better than not only their seedings, but their efficiency statistics on the Kenpoms of the world. My questions are, at what point does it stop (if it does) and at what point do we trust the top seeds in this tournament? I think that we need to look at the full body of work from both of these teams. First, during the regular season, UCLA looked like an NIT type team and barley got into the tournament while Michigan has been a consistent top 6 team over the last few months. During the tournament, Michigan was able to take out very difficult LSU and Florida State teams to get this far while UCLA was fortunate to face some of the worst competition in this tournament in Michigan State, BYU and Abilene Christian before facing an Alabama team who went 7-28 from 3 point land, and 11-25 in free throws. Alabama was still able to get to overtime with numbers like that. Listen, I am not saying that UCLA is a bad team and I actually think that they have improved here, but at some point, the luck has to end here and I think that Michigan is that team that can slow pace with them, and cause some serious issues down low with their great ball rotation and overall height. Michigan ranks 7th and 8th in offensive and defensive adjusted efficiency while UCLA ranks 11th and 50th respectively. Michigan ranks 11th in 3 point percentage at 38.2 while UCLA ranks 138th in defending the 3. I think that this could be the spot that UCLA finally cools off. Laying the points.
Michigan -6.5 – 1.5 stars
