March Madness 2015: Predictions for Saturday's 3rd-Round Bracket

Expect the undefeated and first-seeded Kentucky Wildcats to be among the first teams to punch a ticket to the the Sweet 16. The Wildcats play a gritty Cincinnati Bearcats squad on Saturday in one of the day's earliest matchups.

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Cincinnati inched past the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday despite seeing their leading scorer, Octavius Ellis, ejected. Ellis elbowed the Boilermakers' A.J. Hammonds and was tossed out of the game and now faces a likely suspension for the Bearcats' next contest. 

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Even with Ellis, the Bearcats would be hard-pressed to upset Kentucky. The Wildcats crushed the Hampton Pirates on Thursday with a stifling defense that held the No. 16 seed to 29 percent shooting from the field.

With or without Ellis, Cincinnati will get trampled by the Wildcats. Here are my predictions for the entire slate of third-round games on Saturday.

Matchup	Prediction
No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 8 Cincinnati	Kentucky
No. 6 Butler vs. No. 3 Notre Dame	Notre Dame
No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 8 N.C. State	Villanova
No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 5 Arkansas	Arkansas
No. 6 Xavier vs. No. 14 Georgia State	Xavier
No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 10 Ohio State	Arizona
No. 11 UCLA vs. No. 14 UAB	UCLA
No. 5 Utah vs. No. 4 Georgetown	Utah

Most Intriguing Saturday Game

Villanova Wildcats vs. N.C. State Wolfpack

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

The Villanova Wildcats had little trouble dispatching the Lafayette Leopards 93-52 in the second round on Thursday. On Saturday, things will be much tougher.

The Wolfpack have an excellent roster that somewhat underachieved during the regular season. In its second-round game, N.C. State trailed the LSU Tigers by 16 points before rallying for the win.

They won't be able to afford a slow start against a good defensive team like Villanova. The close call has planted a seed of doubt in the heads of those who might have picked the Wolfpack to beat Villanova. Logan Booker of Classic City Today tweeted:

Trevor Lacey leads an athletic group that can really do damage if it can push the tempo. Lacey is the leading scorer (15.6), second-leading rebounder (4.5) and is second in assists (3.5).

As he goes, so go the Wolfpack.

Nova is similarly balanced with lethal outside shooter Darrun Hilliard spearheading the offensive attack. His willingness and ability to take and make big shots has been a major reason why the Wildcats ascended to a No. 1 seed.

Ultimately, this game will come down to two things: defending consistently and rebounding.

The team that does both of those things will advance to the Sweet 16. I see that as being the Wildcats. While N.C. State had a slight edge as it pertains to rebounding in the regular season (37.8 to 34.4), Nova has the type of team that will rise to the occasion.

Defensively, the Wildcats buckle down. During the season, they held teams to just 60.4 points per game.

Lastly, from a mental-toughness standpoint, Villanova is more mature. It has nine upperclassmen compared to six for the Wolfpack. Experience and discipline will lead the Wildcats to the Sweet 16.

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