It's over. It ends today. UCLA was in the Sweet Sixteen last year, and they will be again this year. I'm not ready to back a UAB team that went 1-5 SU vs the top 50 teams. Before shocking an overrated Iowa State team, UAB had road losses to FAU (7-20 SU), FIU (14-17 SU), Rice (10-19 SU), and North Texas (12-17 SU). And these were teams that played weak opponents. If they had played UCLA's opponents, those records would be much worse. And UAB lost by an average of 20 ppg against Wisconsin, UNC, Florida, and UCLA on neutral courts. This team does not belong in the tournament, and today UCLA will eject them back to oblivion.
UCLA: took Arizona (who will be in the Final 4) to the wire in the last two matchups and is 6-1 ATS in road/neutral games since Feb 1. UAB: lost to shitty opponents and is 3-5 ATS in road/neutral games since Feb 1.
When these teams met each other in the Bahamas early in the season, UCLA won by 11 on a day when their top two scorers were ice cold and went 7 of 25 from the floor. Don't count on that kind of performance twice. You now drop these two teams into the NCAA tournament and unleash UCLA's Bryce Alford (27 points vs SMU and 15.4 per game) and Norman Powell (16.5 ppg and 65 steals), and we will see what happens to UAB today. UCLA could win this by 15+
UCLA -6
UCLA: took Arizona (who will be in the Final 4) to the wire in the last two matchups and is 6-1 ATS in road/neutral games since Feb 1. UAB: lost to shitty opponents and is 3-5 ATS in road/neutral games since Feb 1.
When these teams met each other in the Bahamas early in the season, UCLA won by 11 on a day when their top two scorers were ice cold and went 7 of 25 from the floor. Don't count on that kind of performance twice. You now drop these two teams into the NCAA tournament and unleash UCLA's Bryce Alford (27 points vs SMU and 15.4 per game) and Norman Powell (16.5 ppg and 65 steals), and we will see what happens to UAB today. UCLA could win this by 15+
UCLA -6
