Maybe I am snowed simply by the fact it says North Carolina on the uniforms, but I absolutely believe the Heels can win this game. I do tend to underrate Baylor but without LJ Cryer and "Everyday Jon" this feels almost like a toss-up to me. Armando Bacot will dominate in the post for UNC. Hey, gives me a reason to care about the lone early game.

The excellent Baylor defense will make UNC look a lot different than the Heels looked when they ran a layup drill against a mediocre Marquette team in Round 1. I was wrong thinking MU would slow UNC down, but Baylor has the better personnel and pedigree to do so even without LJ Cryer.

I was ready to take the points against Baylor but this line is far too small. The defending champs looked good against Norfolk and I do not think UNC is going to be able to handle the dual-sided threat the Bears bring to every game. The Bears have the pedigree and the experience to get this done. They've also covered in 6 of 7 road or neutral games in which they were the favorite this season. I have this game projected to be a 7 point margin of victory for Baylor. At this time of year that's still actionable, especially with how good the Big 12 has looked. Lay it.