Tipoff: Thursday, March 28 after the conclusion of Clemson vs. Arizona (7:09 pm ET) on CBS

Moneyline: North Carolina (-185)

The big question going into the NCAA tournament for Alabama was whether it could string together wins against top-tier opponents after going 4-10 in Quad 1 games while suffering multiple lopsided losses along the way.

No disrespect to No. 13 seed Charleston and a really good No. 12 seed Grand Canyon, but that question still remains.

The Crimson Tide allowed big offensive games to Zach Edey (35 points, 7 rebounds), Ryan Kalkbrenner (19 points, 8 rebounds), Oumar Ballo (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Jonas Aidoo (19 points, 4 rebounds) in losses to Purdue, Creighton, Arizona and Tennessee, so slowing down Armando Bacot inside could prove difficult.

Alabama also likes to run, but that's not going to be an advantage against an equally athletic North Carolina squad. The X-factor will be Mark Sears, who is capable of taking over a game when he's at his best, and that's what it might take.