Heads keep rolling after two rounds officially in the books, as it’s down to the best teams grinding it out for a place in college hoops immortality. And the question remains: Who can stop the machine that is the North Carolina Tar Heels? Well next up is a worthy opponent, the Washington State Cougars (26-8). East Regional action continues Thursday, March 27th 2008 at 7:27 pm ET. This game will be played in Charlotte Bobcats Arena (Charlotte, NC), which will be filled to capacity with the same home-state crowd that rejoiced in UNC’s 2008 ACC championship title earlier this month. 

 This year’s UNC team looks extremely impressive, and it can be inferred it’s just as good as the 2005 Tar Heel national champions squad. They are coming off a second-round 31 pt crushing of Arkansas (108-77). This laugher registered UNC’s 13th consecutive win so far this season. As for their first round… Well they only torched Mt. St. Mary’s by 39 pts (113-74). Their strengths evidently lie in their ability to out rebound the opposition (No. 1 nationwide on the boards), they score in bunches (2nd on the nation in scoring 90+ ppg), and most of their points come from point blank range (Hansbrough avg. 23 ppg). However, by no stretch of the imagination expect the Cougars to just lay down tonight. SBGglobal.com has UNC -8 1/2 point favorite over Washington St. O/U at 141 1/2 pts in NCAA basketabll. 

Led by Tony Bennett (minus olive-oil voice) the Washington St. Cougars must focus on UNC’s weaknesses (if any) to have any chance to keep up with the Tar Heels. Bennett must preach defense, rebounding, but most important controlling and dictating the tempo of the game. The heels are good at pressuring the ball to force mistakes, but in doing so give up plenty of points. Crashing the boards hard is the second key for the cougars, as the Heels will take plenty of shots and early in the shot clock. But the No. 1 key for us to witness the biggest upset in the 2008 NCAA tourney will be to control and dictate the tempo of the game… for the duration of the game. Bennett and his staff need to come up with a half-court, pound the post offensive mindset as they go against Goliath. Thinking that anyone can run with this UNC team is ludicrous. To control tempo they must slow down their offense, use shot clock, and give it to their bigs once they have established good inside position.

PLAY: UNC -8 1/2

PLAY: OVER 141 1/2    

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