On Tuesday, March 15th the UAB Blazers are set to take on the Clemson Tigers in the opening round of the East Region.  This is a play-in game and the winner will advance to face the West Virginia Mountaineers as a 12 seed.  Tip is set for 9:00 EST Tuesday night.  I will preview each team below while also giving my prediction on how this game plays out.  According to the NCAA Tournament odds, I found the line of Clemson -4.5 over UAB.

Clemson Tigers—Clemson finished 21-11 this season under first year head coach Brad Brownell.  He did a tremendous job getting the Tigers into the NCAA Tournament field in his first season on the job.  Certainly there are arguments against why the Tigers shouldn’t have made it, including their 0-5 record against the RPI Top 50, but nonetheless they did enough to earn a bid.

The Tigers are one of the best defensive teams in the land.  They allowed an ACC low 60.4 points per game on 39.8 percent shooting while forcing more than 15 turnovers per game.  Brownell’s system utilizes the talents of Demontez Stitt and Andre Young on the perimeter and Jerai Grant inside offensively.  Stitt is the team’s leading scorer (14.1 ppg) followed by Grant (12.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and Young (10.8 ppg).  Clemson’s biggest weakness is their lack of depth and their three-point shooting (34.9 percent).

UAB Blazers—The Blazers are the one team that everyone is talking about.  That’s because most feel that several teams should have received an invite into the Big Dance before UAB, including the likes of Colorado and Virginia Tech.  It’s a fair argument after the Blazers went just 1-4 against the RPI Top 50 this season.  Still, this team managed a 22-8 record and their 9-5 road mark is more than impressive.  There is a lot to like about this team despite arguments to the contrary.

The Blazers’ top three scorers can rival just about any other team in the country.  The backcourt of Jamarr Sanders (17.8 ppg) and Aaron Johnson (11.1 ppg, 7.7 apg) is the one of the most underrated in the land.  Johnson leads the country in assists, and loves finding junior forward Cameron Moore (14.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg).  This is a very scary trio and one that certainly should strike fear into opponents.  What UAB must do is get to the free throw line more often because they shoot 72.5 percent from the charity stripe, but for whatever reason they only get there fewer than 12 times per game.

My Prediction: Clemson Wins—This is a very close call, but in the end I like the fact that Clemson has been tested in the ACC while UAB really has played a very soft schedule overall.  I believe the Tigers suffocating defense will be able to limit the stud trio the Blazers have to offer in Sanders, Johnson and Moore.  Both squads like to play games in the 60's, but I think that favors the better defensive team in Clemson.

I hope you enjoyed my NCAA Tournament picks on this game and good luck with your NCAA Tournament bracket this season.