Florida (27-7) will have the edge in terms of fan support considering its campus is barely more than 90 miles from Tampa. The Gators had one of the more impressive performances of the second round, crushing UC Santa Barbara 79-51 on Thursday. Chandler Parsons led the way with nearly his first triple-double, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. Florida raced out to a 43-19 halftime lead, shooting 58 percent in that half, and the game was never in doubt after that. It was UF’s first NCAA tournament win since beating Ohio State in the 2007 championship game.

UCLA (23-10) dominated Michigan State for most of its game on Thursday night but nearly coughed it away, winning 78-76. Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee scored 16 points apiece to lead the Bruins. UCLA won despite missing 17 free throws, nine of them in the final 3:40. The Bruins were 30 of 47 from the foul line and only made two field goals over the final eight minutes. That obviously won’t cut it against the SEC regular-season champion Gators. Still, UCLA is now 21-0 when taking a 10-point lead in a game this year and never trailed in the game against MSU.

If this matchup looks familiar it’s because Florida beat the Bruins in the 2006 national championship game and again in the 2007 Final Four. UCLA went 2-2 against ranked opponents and now is 5-7 vs. the tournament field. The Gators are 14-3 against tournament teams.

Madness would be not betting on this game at Bodog!