University of North Carolina Athletics
Know Your Opponents: South Region
March 22, 2017 | Men's Basketball
Butler
Location: Indianapolis, Ind.
Rankings: No. 24 KenPom, No. 21 AP
Record: 25-8, 12-6 Big East
Bid: At-large (Lost to Xavier 62-57 in Big East quarterfinals)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Butler leads 3-2 (Butler 74, UNC 66, Nov. 26, 2014, Nassau, Bahamas)
Chris Holtmann's Bulldogs started the season 11-1 with some of the most impressive non-conference wins in all of college basketball. They swept Vanderbilt and Arizona in Las Vegas, won at Utah and beat Northwestern, Cincinnati and Vermont at home. Only a 1-point loss at Indiana State kept Butler from entering Big East play undefeated.
So naturally the Bulldogs lost their conference opener at lowly St. John's. But as Carolina's run to the ACC regular season title proved, losing on the road early to an inferior opponent doesn't really mean a whole lot. Butler finished in solo second in the Big East and dealt Villanova two of its three conference losses, including a 74-66 Bulldog win on Feb. 22 that snapped the Wildcats' 48-game winning streak at The Pavilion.
Holtmann's club is solid across the board statistically, ranking No. 21 in adjusted offense and No. 43 in adjusted defense according to KenPom.com. The Bulldogs create plenty of offense despite a lack of offensive rebounds due to their exceptional ability to protect the ball and outstanding shooting inside the 3-point arc.
Junior Kelan Martin is Butler's leading scorer at 16.0 points per contest despite coming off the bench. Otherwise it's an incredibly balanced lineup, one that features seven players averaging between 5.4 and 11.1 points per contest. Avery Woodson (a transfer from Memphis) is Butler's top outside threat, while Tyler Lewis (formerly of NC State) and Kamar Baldwin share point guard duties. Up front, 6-7 Andrew Chrabascz (pronounced SHRAB-iss) and 6-8 Tyler Wideman lead the interior attack.
Kentucky
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Rankings: No. 5 KenPom, No. 5 AP
Record: 31-5, 16-2 SEC
Bid: Automatic (Beat Arkansas 82-65 in SEC final)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 23-15 (UK 103, UNC 100, Dec. 17, 2016, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas)
You know the bar for a program is high when winning 19 of 21 games against conference opponents in a given season is considered something of a letdown. But such is life at Kentucky, where the Wildcats were led to a No. 2 seed by the star-studded freshman trio of Bam Adebayo, De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. You may remember Monk from such transcendent performances as his 47 points on 28 shots vs. UNC in Las Vegas or his 30-point second half vs. Florida in late February.
While much of what was written about the Wildcats here back in December still rings true, some key changes have occurred. One is that Monk, Fox and Isaiah Briscoe have joined Adebayo's parade to the foul line, making Kentucky the top team left in the NCAA field in free throw rate. Another is that 6-9 senior (really!) Derek Willis has joined the starting lineup and is giving the Wildcats a second outside threat to complement Monk.
UCLA
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Rankings: No. 14 KenPom, No. 8 AP
Record: 31-4, 15-3 Pac 12
Bid: At-large (Lost to Arizona 86-75 in Pac 12 semifinals)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 8-3 (UNC 89, UCLA 76, Barclays Center, Brooklyn)
UCLA rounds out a South Region foursome that ranked in the top 12 among power conference teams during the regular season in John Gasaway's Shot Volume Index. And much like Butler, the Bruins generate all these offensive chances by taking care of the ball. What makes UCLA extra special is that on top of never turning the ball over, Steve Alford's club is also stocked with elite shooters all over the floor.
Lonzo Ball is the headline-grabbing freshman star, and with good reason. Ball makes 42 percent of his 3s to go with 73 percent of his 2s. But the fact that Ball is an elite distributor (49th nationally in assist rate) and three of his teammates are also 40+ shooters from deep is what makes UCLA so scary. The Bruins have traditional outside threats like Bryce Alford and Aaron Holiday plus Ball and stretch-4 T.J. Leaf.
If the Bruins have flaws they are these - UCLA doesn't get to the line (341st overall in free throw rate) and it doesn't rebound at a particularly high level. Junior 7-footer Thomas Welsh is the Bruins' best man on the glass, and his top-50 defensive rebounding percentage is crucial for a team that has been known to give up second chance opportunities. Nonetheless, Friday's rematch of UCLA's 97-92 win at Rupp Arena figures to be one of the signature games of the 2017 tournament.
