Two of the most storied programs in all of college basketball, Kentucky and North Carolina will vye for a national semifinal appearance this afternoon as they square off in the East Region final at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Today's game is scheduled to get underway at 5:05pm ET on CBS. The latest College Basketball Lines have the Wildcats listed as a -1.5 against the spread NCAA basketball picks favorite and the Over/Under set at 146.
Kentucky, which fell at North Carolina 73-75 on December 4th, continued its torrid postseason run on Friday with a 62-60 
upset of the top seeded Ohio State Buckeyes. The Wildcats, who won six straight games prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament, including a 3-0 run to the SEC Tournament Championship, prevailed on late bucket by freshman guard Brandon Knight.
Knight, who lifted Kentucky past Princeton last week with a last second layup, drove from the wing and pulled up at about the 15 foot mark with five seconds left on the clock and drained a jumper. The Buckeyes did not panic, though, and even had enough time to get a good look at a potential game winning three pointer, but William Buford's shot fell just short of glory, sending the Wildcats to their fourth regional final since 2003.
North Carolina, which has won 12 of its last 13 games, needed no heroics to get past Marquette as the Tar Heels led wire to wire in the 81-63 Sweet Sixteen route. UNC only got five points from its bench in the easy victory, but the efforts of John Henson, Tyler Zeller, and Harrison Barnes made up for the lack of secondary scoring production.
Henson and Zeller both finished with double doubles, the former going for 14 points and 12 rebounds while the latter produced 27 points and 12 boards, and Barnes tallied 20 points and nine rebounds.
The same trio proved big in the Tar Heels December win over the Wildcats as they combined for 52 of UNC's 75 points and 27 of their 40 rebounds. If Roy Williams' squad is to advance to its third Final Four in the last six years they will need to show well again. Here's predicting that they will.
Kentucky vs North Carolina 2011 NCAA Bracket Predictions:
Kentucky Wildcats -1.5 (-110), Over 146 (-110), -110 (Moneyline)
North Carolina Tar Heels +1.5 (-110), Under 146 (-110), +105 (Moneyline)
