First-Round Viewing Guide (In The Philly Market) – Friday

 The BSB crew, along with some friends, will be holing up in Sea Isle City, NJ for the duration of the first and second rounds.  Expect some updates if we happen to find an internet connection when we get there. Enjoy the games!

First “Batch” of Games:

Well, here’s some more fodder for the “They Hate the Little Guy” argument.  Not only do they make them play each other, but then they make them all play at the same time. In this batch, we have Gonzaga vs. Davidson, Drake vs. W. Kentucky, and St. Mary’s vs. Miami.  As much as I would like to see Drake play, the Gonzaga-Davidson game is the one to watch here.  Gonzaga has been so good for so long, that it’s hard to even call them a “Little Guy” anymore.  This year is no exception.  They are deep, experienced, and easily as talented as most “Big Guys” out there.  For Davidson, it’s all about Stephen Curry, maybe the best pure-shooter in the game.  But don’t get too excited for any of these games, I’m sure CBS will just show us Tennesse blowing out American.

Second “Batch” of Games:

The best game here is the one that probably has the least chance of getting onto CBS: Butler vs. South Alabama.  I don’t know much about South Alabama, but they dominated the Sun Belt Conference this year and they get a virtual home-game here, with this game being played in Birmingham.  Butler is a bonafide mid-major powerhouse.  A.J. Graves has gotten most of the publicity for them over the last couple of seasons, but the main player to watch here is Philly-native Mike Green.  Green led the Bulldogs in points (14.9/game), assists (5.1/game), and rebounds (6.6/game) despite being only 6’1″.  How a player this good got out of Philly and ended up at a small school in Indiana is a mystery to me, but I’m sure Butler fans aren’t asking any questions.  The other games in this batch are Georgetown-UMBC, Texas-Austin Peay, and UConn-San Diego, which could be interesting, as San Diego just knocked off St. Mary’s and Gonzaga en route to the WCC tourney title.

Third “Batch” of Games:

The first-round will end just how it started in the Philly market, with local teams taking up the airwaves.  In this batch, Vanderbilt-Siena and Mississippi St.-Oregon are potentially interesting, but I think the St. Joe’s-Oklahoma game is probably the best of the bunch.  This game is all about the front-courts, as St. Joe’s is led by Pat Calathes and Ahmad Nivins, while Oklahoma will counter with Blake Griffin and Longar Longar. 

Calathes and Griffin are both star forwards, but have taken different paths and play very different styles.  Calathes was not highly-touted out of high school but has slowly developed into a big-time player, earning First-Team All-Conference honors in the A-10 this year as a senior.  Also, unlike Griffin, he can step outside and hit 3-pointers, shooting over 40% on the season.  Griffin, on the other hand, is a freshman and the reigning Oklahoma Mr. Basketball, who decided to stay home and play alongside his older brother, Taylor.  Griffin is a bruiser and plays an aggressive style.  He is big and strong, but with surprising quickness and an array of moves he can use to get the ball in the bucket.  He will probably be checked by Nivins in this game, and Nivins will have his hands full. 

Fourth “Batch” of Games:

Lucky for us, the best game here, by default I’d say, is again the local game: Villanova vs. Clemson, although Indiana-Arkansas could be decent.  These 5-12 games produce a lot of upsets, usually because the 5-seeds are often teams that had great years but faded down the stretch and the 12-seeds are often teams that got hot at the end of the season and snuck into the field.  This game is kind of the opposite of that. 

There’s debate about whether or not Nova deserves to be in the tournament.  They had a stretch in January and February where they lost 6 out of 7 games.  They rallied to secure the berth with wins over UConn and West Virginia in late-February, and a win over Syracuse in the first-round of the Big East tournament before getting crushed by Georgetown in the quarterfinals.  Meanwhile, Clemson is playing their best ball of the season after beating Duke in the ACC tournament and then giving North Carolina a run for their money in the finals, before losing by 5 points.

The most important player in this game is definitely Nova point guard Scottie Reynolds.  He’s a streaky scorer and if he gets hot, he’s very capable of dropping 30+ points, even against tough competition.  If Reynolds isn’t hitting his jump shots and getting his points, Nova could struggle to keep pace.  Clemson has a much more balanced offensive-attack and won’t be nearly as vulnerable to an off-day from one, or even two, players.