Boston College at North Carolina

This would look like a slam dunk for NC, but hold on. Boston College barely squeaked past Miami and had to come from behind to win it in OT. You would think that they would be tired, and not able to compete here. Everyone shows up against NC. It is just a matter of what they bring to the table. We expect a HUGE effort by BC. North Carolina has probably the deepest young talent in the country, but the key word here is "young." The last thing a team develops, with experience and age, is sound team defense. The lack of that for Carolina is how this one stays close. NC has failed to demonstrate a high level of team defense on the road. They have dropped four of their last six away from Chapel Hill, and it is because of the porous defense. They average 68-points per game allowed, but let's look at these road games. They gave up just 58 to Florida State which was expected. The five prior games away from home: 83, 73, 72, 89, 84! That is 80-ppg, which does not jive well with laying double digits to a very good team. The other teams they played that can score: Tenn 87, Gonzaga 82, and Ohio State 89. The bottom line here is this Carolina team is very talented, but at the same time very vulnerable to giving up a lot of points. We will take a good BC team and the double digit points here.