UNC, Kentucky Rematch In Elite Eight
Tonight two powerhouse basketball schools collide for a trip to the Final Four! It all goes down tonight! Kentucky. UNC. Malik Monk. Justin Jackson. This is guaranteed to be one hell of a matchup! UNC finished the 2016-17 season with an 27-7 record and was 7th in the final AP Poll. The Tar Heels walked away with the regular season ACC Championship, but fell to Duke in the Semifinals of the ACC Tournament. They received a #1 seed in the South which some people thought was undeserving. They took on #16 Texas Southern in the Round of 64 and crushed them by 39 points, 103-64. In the Round of 32 they took on a hungry Arkansas team who had beaten a good Seton Hall team two nights before. This game was tough for the Tar Heels but they pulled out the win 72-65. Arkansas really should've won that game they had an opportunity and when they missed their free throws they basically shot themselves in the foot. Next came Butler in the Sweet Sixteen. Butler had a fairly easy road to the Sweet Sixteen after beating #13 Winthrop and #12 Middle Tennessee. You could tell Roy Williams was fired up for this game and so were his players. UNC ran over Butler with a 12-point victory, 92-80. There’s no question this team can score, but how will they do against a much improved Kentucky squad? Kentucky finished the year with an 29-5 record, and ended 5th in the nation in the AP Poll. They took home the SEC Regular season and Tournament Championships. The Wildcats received a 2-seed in the South Region and took on Northern Kentucky in the Round of 64. They pulled off a win by just 9 points, the closest 2 vs 15 seed game in the tournament. In the Round of 32 they took on familiar foe Wichita State (Back in 2014 #8 Kentucky upset #1 Wichita State to ruin their perfect record). Wichita State was looking for revenge and took it right at Kentucky. It was a competitive game all the way though but the Wildcats prevailed 65-62. In the Sweet Sixteen they met another College Basketball powerhouse school in UCLA. This game was supposed to be great and to be honest it wasn't even close. Lonzo Ball played like trash and just didn't try. Kentucky won 86-75. So that sets the stage for our South Region Elite Eight matchup in Memphis at 5:05 pm on CBS!
