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Jay Bilas makes prediction for Florida-UConn second-round NCAA Tournament game
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Jay Bilas is going with Florida to end UConn’s 3-peat bid. The No. 1 seed Gators are taking on the Huskies in the first game of Sunday’s Round of 32 action to decide the final spots in the Sweet 16.
Sunday morning, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas made his prediction.
“I think the Gators are a better team,” Bilas said. “I think Florida wins the game. It’s not to say it’s not going to be a great game and UConn cannot win, because they can, but I think Florida’s really, really strong and I favor them.”
Earlier in the College GameDay segment, Bilas highlighted UConn’s key to a potential upset.
“I think UConn has to rebound – No. 1, end of story,” Bilas said. “They’ve got to hang on the glass with Florida, because Florida’s one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. They’ve got a core of big guys they rotate through there.
“These guys are very, very skilled. They’re some of the best passers that the Gators have. And they do a great job of sealing off help. When there’s a drive, they seal off the shot blockers and open a path. … I think for UConn when they see Florida, it’s going to be like looking in a mirror – a rearview mirror of what they had last year and the year before.”
UConn is the winner of the last 2 national championships but is just an 8-seed in this year’s tournament. The Huskies took care of business against 9-seed Oklahoma in the opening round, defeating the Sooners 67-59. Florida defeated 16-seed Norfolk State 95-69.
Tipoff is set for 12:10 p.m. ET, with the game airing on CBS.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
