Two of the highest-scoring teams in college basketball will meet in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament when the 4-seed Alabama Crimson Tide faces the 1-seed North Carolina Tar Heels in the West Region of the tournament in Los Angeles, California, at the Cryptocom Arena. The tip-off is scheduled for 9:39 PM ET on Thursday evening and will air on CBS.

Alabama has faced two double-digit seeds in the 2024 NCAA Tournament after facing the 13-seed Charleston Cougars in the 1^st round and the 12-seed Grand Canyon Antelopes in the 2^nd round of the tournament and trailed at one point in both games. However, they defeated both teams by double-digits following a 109-96 win against the Cougars and a 72-61 win against the Antelopes. 

The Crimson Tide will be an underdog for the first time in the tournament when they face the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night. Alabama has advanced to the Sweet 16 in three of the last four NCAA Tournaments and is in the Sweet 16 for the 2^nd consecutive season. However, they lost the previous two appearances in the Sweet 16 with losses against the San Diego State Aztecs last season by scoring 64-71 and the UCLA Bruins in the 2021 NCAA Tournament by 78-88 overtime. The Crimson Tide have only advanced to the Elite Eight once in program history, which came in the 2004 NCAA Tournament but lost in the Elite Eight against the UConn Huskies by a score of 71-87. 

The Alabama Crimson Tide will look to advance to their 2^nd Elite Eight appearance in school history when they face the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Sweet 16.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have won their two 2024 NCAA Tournament games by an average margin of 22 points per game. However, despite winning by 16 points against the Michigan State Spartans, North Carolina had a sluggish start against Michigan State and trailed the Spartans by 11 points with 8:08 left to go in the 1^st half before going on a 15-0 run to take a 34-28 lead with 2:40 left to go in the 1^st half and would not trail the Michigan State Spartans for the rest of the game. The Tar Heels have a history of excellence in the NCAA Tournament and have played in the Sweet 16 36 times while having compiled a record of 29-7 in the Sweet 16. 

North Carolina last advanced to the Elite Eight in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and made it to the championship game before losing to the Kansas Jayhawks by scoring 69-72. The North Carolina Tar Heels will look to advance to their 30^th Elite Eight round in school history when they face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

JustBet has the North Carolina Tar Heels listed as 4.5-point favorites against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The teams have only faced each other twice before the meeting on Thursday night, with the teams splitting the contests. The most recent meeting resulted in a 103-101 win for the Alabama Crimson Tide last season. 

Both teams rank in the top 20 nationally in scoring, with Alabama averaging the most points per game this season with an average of 91.3 points per game and North Carolina averaging 81.81 points per game, which ranks 19^th. Even though the Crimson Tide played well defensively in the game against Grand Canyon, they are still one of the worst defensive teams this season, and I look for the Tar Heels to take advantage of that in this meeting. As a result, I am buying the .5 point and laying the points with the North Carolina Tar Heels when they face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.