T.M. Selection: Houston/Villanova UNDER.

I am on the under in the Houston vs Villanova game on Saturday. Houston has looked really good with their defensive effort in their games lately. They were putting up a ton of points in their games before this tournament started but a lot of those games that they were scoring 80+ points in were games that they were also blowing out the other team in. I don't think that is going to happen here and I expect this game to be much closer in score. Houston has really buckled down on defense in their 2 most recent games and I expect them to continue playing with that style since it has been working for them lately. They held Illinois to 53 points in the round of 32 and then they held Arizona to 60 points in the sweet 16. That is really impressive since Arizona was a number 1 seed and they have a very strong offense that is averages 80+ points per game so to hold them to just 60 points is very impressive, especially in a game that means so much. I think Houston is going to give another great effort on defense in this game and I expect them to shut down Villanova here. Villanova has also looked really good on defense in their games lately and they play a very defensive style of basketball in their games too. They haven't given up more than 61 points in any of their NCAA tournament games this year and I think this is going to be another game where they give a great defensive effort since Houston does have a strong offense that can put up points. Villanova's shooting was also terrible in their most recent game and if they continue to shoot like that here, they won't be able to score many points on Houston here. I think this is going to be a close defensive battle that both teams try to grind out to a win with a hard effort here. I expect this to be a low scoring game like many of the games both teams have been involved in lately. I am on the under here.

T.M. Prediction: 62-57 Houston.