The Huskies and Aztecs will meet in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night with Connecticut looking good to move on to the Elite 8.
Get up to £100 in free bets when opening a new account at Paddy Power using bonus code MAXIMUMBONUS
The Connecticut Huskies, the three seed in the West Region, and the San Diego Aztecs, the two seed, will meet on Thursday night as the Sweet 16 in the NCAA basketball national championship tournament kicks off.
Connecticut enter the regional semifinal with incredible momentum as they have surged through the post-season whether in the Big East tournament, where they won five games, or in the national championship draw where they have posted back-to-back double digit victories.
San Diego State are in the midst of an historic season as the Aztecs enter the Sweet 16 with a 34-2 record, having won their conference tournament with a win over BYU.
They may have lapsed a little bit in the second round however as they almost fell to the Temple Owls before persevering in overtime.
Although San Diego State have a fantastic record there has rarely been a time this season where they played against strong competition. The BYU Cougars were as tough as it got for the Aztecs before the Final Four tournament and the Cougars, in three efforts, defeated San Diego State twice.
The Aztecs look like an over-rated team that have an impressive record because they faced weak competition.
They won't find Air Force, Colorado State, Occidental, or IUPUI at this point in the season and the Big East champions, the UCONN Huskies, have to be the team with the confidence.
The Huskies have the experience against the tough competition, they have key players like Kemba Walker who have been to the Final Four before, and they have a head coach in Jim Calhoun who has won in the round of 16 on numerous occasions and who twice has he taken the whole March Madness tournament down.
The winner between UCONN and San Diego State will likely face the Duke Blue Devils, a team who face the Arizona Wildcats from Anaheim in Thursday's later game.
Game time on Thursday night for UCONN versus San Diego State in Anaheim is 4:15pm PT (7:15pm ET) and CBS have the television coverage. Look for Connecticut to prove, once again, that 28-9 as a Big East conference team is far better than 34-2 in whatever conference the Aztecs play in.
Recommendation: UCONN straight up at -110 with
Paddy Power.
