Getting into the NCAA Tournament is a big deal for some schools. Not for the UCLA Bruins, however. The bar was set high by John Wooden and the likes of Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton back in the day, and a national championship is expected, even if it’s been over two decades since the Bruins last won a title and nine seasons since a Final Four appearance. This could be UCLA’s best team in some time and the chance to hang another banner at Pauley Pavilion begins with a matchup against the Kent State Golden Flashes.
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Getting hot at the right time can do wonders for a team. Just ask the Golden Flashes, who had an epic run through the Mid-American Conference tournament to earn the league’s only bid to the Big Dance. And they almost didn’t make it to Cleveland for the party. Kent State needed an overtime victory over Central Michigan in the first round of the MAC Tourney to advance. They then ran through the top three seeds in the tournament – Buffalo, Ohio and Akron – winning them all by a combined 10 points.
UCLA is loaded, and if not for a few other juggernauts in the Pac-12 the Bruins could have been looking at a No. 1 seed. But that’s how it goes. Two of UCLA’s four losses were delivered by Arizona, another by Oregon and the last by another tournament team USC. The Bruins also have wins over those schools, showing us just how good the top of the conference is. The committee saw that as well and that’s why UCLA is a 17-point favorite, the largest of any No. 3 seed in the Tournament. The Bruins were favored by at least 17-points 12 times during the season and were 5-7 ATS.
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The Bruins were the highest scoring team in the country averaging over 90 points per game and they were also the most accurate from the field sinking 52 percent of their field goals. The excitement was back in Pauley Pavilion as the Bruins constantly pushed the tempo and scored at an alarming rate. Of course, you have to have the horses to do that, and the Bruins certainly do.
But when Lonzo Ball and Bryce Alford have trouble from the outside, the team suffers. The two struggled in the Pac-12 semifinal loss to Arizona and the Bruins produced their second lowest scoring output of the season. UCLA has the third-most efficient offense in the country with 122.7 points per 100 possessions, and the likelihood of the team scuffling all at once is minimal.
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Kent State’s secret weapon isn’t much of a secret any longer. Not after what Jimmy Hall did in the MAC Tournament. But it wasn’t just the tournament where Hall came alive. In fact he’d been doing it all year for the Golden Flashes. Hall is averaging a double-double and ranks fifth in the conference with 18.9 points and 12.6 rebounds along with 1.4 blocks per game.
Hall was huge in Kent State’s four-game tournament run. He scored 24.5 points and hauled in 10.5 rebounds per game, while also finding time to dish out 13 assists. The Bruins have an imposing front line that will make it difficult for Hall, but he has the chance to singlehandedly keep the Golden Flashes competitive.
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The Bruins suffered a minor scare in their loss to Arizona when Ball and T.J. Leaf experienced some health issues. Ball had a problem with his hand and Leaf rolled an ankle. Both are expected to play, but that’s a good chunk of UCLA’s minutes that could be affected. Ball is the key. He didn’t perform well against the Wildcats and the Bruins were upended. Granted, Arizona is a quality team, but with Ball at 100 percent, there’s a different outcome.
Kent State used a miraculous late season run through the MAC Tournament to continue its season, and the euphoria over dancing could carry over. The Flashes are a big underdog and they have nothing to lose, so expect them to leave it on the floor. Still, that won’t be enough against the ultra-talented Bruins. Ball and Alford will return to form following that Arizona ordeal and they’ll carry UCLA to a cover win.
College Basketball Odds: UCLA 83, Kent State 63
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