LSU vs. UCLA - Pre-game thoughts

LSU vs. UCLA:

It's gonna be dominated by defense. There's just no two ways about. On the offensive end, it's essentially going to come down to how well UCLA shoots the ball. I'm not sure they're going to be able to get a lot done inside against Davis and Thomas, so it's going to be up to Farmar, Afflalo, and Ced to get some scoring done on the outside. I'd love to see some plays set up for Michael Roll as well to extend that defense.

On the other end, I'm not sure how the Bruins are going to stop both Thomas and Davis. Fortunately, LSU doesn't shoot the ball particularly well from the perimeter, so UCLA is less likely to get burned on double teams in the post. However, if they double down on Davis, Thomas might just kill the Bruins on the offensive glass. Davis might be better off chucking the ball at the hoop as opposed to throwing it out to the perimeter. I would imagine they'd try to stick LRMAM on Thomas, and hopefully's with Luc's excellent nose for rebounding, he can keep Thomas at bay.

I like the Bruins to win this one because I think they're more complete and they're deeper, but there are still injury question marks with Hollins and Mata. I expect it to be ugly.