BY: SOME GUY NAMED STEVE
Folks!!! The wait is over! After a long year wait we finally have a March Madness Bracket again!
I felt like a little kid filling out my printed bracket as I was watching selection Sunday. The emotions were at an all-time high, and I am just elated to have a bracket to fill out this year finally! Over the course of this week, I will break down everything you need to know about the tournament, including picks, predictions, upsets, potential Cinderella stories, and who I think will cut down the nets when it’s all said and done! Today I am going to give a brief overview of The West and South region.
Let’s get started!
West Region
Gonzaga (26-0) was awarded the number one overall seed to no one’s surprise after being the only team in Division 1 to go undefeated. I would probably write them into the final four regardless, but Gonzaga got one of, if not the easiest road of all the one seeds.
The 2, 3, and 4 seeds in the West region are all teams that Gonzaga has beaten this season. Not only did Gonzaga beat these teams, but it destroyed them, winning by double digits in each contest. Gonzaga defeated 2 seed Iowa 99-88, 3 seed Kansas 102-90, and No. 4 seed Virginia 98-75. Gonzaga may be in even better shape for possible rematches as Kansas and Virginia are dealing with COVID-19 cases. Iowa recently suffered an injury to a key bench contributor, Jack Nunge.
Outside of the top four seeds, one team I am not sleeping on is the No. 6 seed USC Trojans. USC is lead by Freshman Evan Mobley, who is projected to be a top 5 NBA draft pick. Mobley is a seven-foot forward who averages 16.8ppg, 8.6rpg, and 3.0bpg. He is the driving force on a USC team that is great on both offense and defense. Balance is key to making a deep run in the tournament, and that is exactly the case with USC. The Trojans are one of only eight teams (Gonzaga, Michigan, Illinois, Houston, Purdue, Connecticut, Colorado) to rank in the top 30 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
If there was one high seed I think could pull an early round upset it would be 13 seed Ohio. Ohio has been on fire the past month and get a great first round match-up against Virginia. Normally, I would stay away from picking against Virginia but with the recent COVID-19 outbreak Virginia will be limping into the tournament. Virginia will have to be in self isolation for the next few days and will not be able to practice until Thursday.
Virginia’s opponents, the Ohio Bobcats, will be no pushover. Ohio has won 9 of its last 10 games and has an NBA-caliber point guard in Jason Preston. Preston has great size at 6-foot-4 and averages 16.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game. His game has been compared to that of Lamelo Ball, and Preston will be very difficult for Virginia’s undersized point guard 5-foot-9 Kihei Clark to slow down.
First Round Predictions: (subject to change)
No. 1 Gonzaga over No.16 Norfolk St/Appalachian St
No. 8 Oklahoma over No. 9 Missouri
No.5 Creighton over No. 12 UC Santa Barbara
No. 13 Ohio over No. 4 Virginia
No. 6 USC over No. 11 Wichita St/Drake
No. 3 Kansas over No. 14 Eastern Washington
No. 7 Oregon over No. 10 VCU
No. 2 Iowa over No. 15 Grand Canyon
South Region
In my opinion, the South Region is without question the weakest region of the NCAA tournament. However, that does not mean there aren’t elite teams in this region.
Starting with the one seed, the Baylor Bears (22-2) have a team capable of making a very deep run in the tournament. Baylor shoots the three-pointer at a better percentage than anybody in the country (41.8%) and forces its opponents into mistakes, forcing 17.3 turnovers (6th best). The Bears trio of elite guards (Davion Mitchell, MaCio Teague, Jared Butler) can do everything you need a guard to do. I think Baylor has a clear path to the final four and may not play competitive games until the elite eight.
Outside of Baylor, the other top seeds in this region are No. 2 seed Ohio State, No. 3 seed Arkansas, and No. 4 seed Purdue. All of these teams have the potential to get to the final four, but beating Baylor will be no easy task. Out of these three teams, I think Ohio State is the best but has the worst defense than the other two schools. While all three schools should get to the second round, do not sleep on the No. 15 seed Oral Roberts.
Oral Roberts leads the NCAA in two vital stats for the tournament. Oral Roberts is first in free throw percentage (82.6%) and three-pointers made per game (10.9). The good news for Oral Roberts is they are facing a 2 seed (Ohio State) that’s the biggest weakness is perimeter defense. Ohio State allows opponents to shoot 34.1% from beyond the arc (192nd) and make 7.6 a game (212th). It’s also worth noting that Oral Roberts has the highest-scoring player in college basketball, Max Abmas, who averages 24.2 points and 3.6 threes a game.
Oral Roberts has also proved they can hang with elite teams as it led Arkansas by 10 at half and played Oklahoma State within a few possessions the entire game. If this wasn’t the NCAA tournament I wouldn’t think twice about this game but in March anything can happen. Oral Roberts may not win but I love getting the +16.5 points and trusting the Golden Eagles to give the Buckeyes everything they got.
Another notable first-round match-up in this region will be between the 6 seed Texas Tech and the 11 seed Utah State. Both teams are elite on the defensive side of the ball and play at very slow paces. This game could be a “first to score 60 wins,” and the winner will most likely get a second-round match-up against Arkansas, who plays the exact opposite style of basketball. Don’t be shocked if either of these teams make a little bit of a run in the tournament.
First Round Predictions: (subject to change)
No. 1 Baylor over No. 16 Hartford
No. 9 Wisconsin over No. 8 North Carolina
No. 5 Villanova over No. 12 Winthrop
No. 4 Purdue over No. 13 North Texas
No. 11 Utah State over No. 6 Texas Tech
No. 3 Arkansas over No. 14 Colgate
No. 7 Florida over No. 10 Virginia Tech
No. 2 Ohio State over No. 15 Oral Roberts (very tempted to switch this)
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