Elite 8: Kentucky vs. UNC predictions 3/27

[HammerTime]

UK opens as 1 point favorite.

[Alabama Larry]

Picking Tarheels for the same reason I picked the Buckeyes. Go Big Blue!

[Pancake]

UK opens as 1 point favorite.

 

Sweet! I love UNC being the underdog...

[Pancake]

UK played a great game last night and pulled out a big win. I hope UNC can get Harrelson in foul trouble...

[Walter]

Some of you are selling UNC short big time. They are much better with Marshall running the show and Barnes is playing much better now.

 

Unlike OSU, UNC has a lot of size and length across the board. This is a bad match up for the Cats. 7' Zeller, 6'10 Henson, 6'9 Knox, 6'8 Barnes, 6'6 Bullock, 6'4 McDonald, 6'3 Strickland, 6'3 Marshall.

 

I see the Heels depth being too much for the Cats in a win by less than 5.

[Pancake]

Some of you are selling UNC short big time. They are much better with Marshall running the show and Barnes is playing much better now.

 

Unlike OSU, UNC has a lot of size and length across the board. This is a bad match up for the Cats. 7' Zeller, 6'10 Henson, 6'9 Knox, 6'8 Barnes, 6'6 Bullock, 6'4 McDonald, 6'3 Strickland, 6'3 Marshall.

 

I see the Heels depth being too much for the Cats in a win by less than 5.

 

Bullock is out for the year, from an injury about a month ago. I believe it was his ACL. Justin Watts (6'4) is their 8th man off the bench.

[Michael Corleone]

Bullock is out for the year, from an injury about a month ago. I believe it was his ACL.

 

Yes but he is still 6'6".

[Pancake]

Yes but he is still 6'6".

 

It doesn't matter how tall he is, if he sits on the bench.

[NEERFAN]

UNC's interior size makes this an interesting matchup. Zelller torched UK for 27 on 12/4 and he's been playing large. UNC isn't a good shooting team, 95th in FG % and 228th from the arc so Cal's defensive game plan may be the opposite of the OSU game. UNC is #1 in the nation on the glass so limiting the Heels' offensive boards has to be a priority.

[cincy217]

Do you put Liggins on Marshall to disrupt the flow of the offense or do you put him on Barnes who has been a stud recently? Who guards Barnes if Liggins is on Marshall? Miller's the only one who is his size, but he's not exactly a defensive stopper.

[dolamite]

Do you put Liggins on Marshall to disrupt the flow of the offense or do you put him on Barnes who has been a stud recently? Who guards Barnes if Liggins is on Marshall? Miller's the only one who is his size, but he's not exactly a defensive stopper.

 

I think Liggins on Barnes and either Knight/Lamb on Marshall would be the best bet. The biggest thing though is going to be defending the post. Going to have to be another monster effort from Jorts on Zeller, and Jones is going to have to something against Henson, something he didn't do in the first meeting. Say what you want about Jones but he has been playing excellent lately IMO, not selfish, doing all the little things. Obviously he could get a few more shots to go, but he is still contributing enough. The biggest thing with him is that there were times earlier in the year in which he seemed to hurt the team more than he helped, but recently he has really bought in and has played great team basketball and hasn't tried to do too much. He's going to have to play big tomorrow.

[dolamite]

As bad as I hate to say this, if UK doesn't win tomorrow it could cause the OSU win to all be for not. As happy and as pumped as every UK fan was last night and today (myself most def included) all of that will go right down the drain with another loss to UNC, for a spot in the Final Four. It will be a tough pill to swallow going from beating the best team in the tourney to losing to a good team but a team they are capable of beating. I'm really hoping they pull it out, I don't want to stomach the thought of losing to the Heels.

[Hatz]

Don't you mean Zeller, Henson, and Barnes?

 

Yes. Had a brain hiccup.

[Michael Corleone]

It doesn't matter how tall he is, if he sits on the bench.

 

Really? I was being sarcastic.

[TheLegends64]

Toughest team UNC has played is Washington and won by 3. Washington came close to losing to UGA. I'm not sold on UNC. There path to the elite 8 wasn't that tough. Played the 11th best team in the Big Least. Long Island kept it interesting. Just have to play our game and make shots!