The last really great flurry of college hoops games comes with the 8 games in two days for the Sweet 16. Below are brief previews of each game, and a note on the implications for the 15 entries in BSB’s NCAA Pool.
#2 San Diego St. vs. #3 Connecticut
Both of these teams come in riding 7-game winning streaks and each will be led by a soon-to-be NBA 1st Round pick with a cool name: Kemba Walker and Kawhi Leonard. SDSU’s only two losses on the season were at the hands of The Jimmer and BYU, so there has to be concern with facing Walker, who’s been the East Coast version of Fredette. UConn center Alex Oriakhi will have to hold his own against the big and talented Aztec frontcourt. Playing in Anaheim, SDSU should have plenty of fan support.
Pool Implications: The field is split on this game. 6 entries (Justin, Maureen, Ian, Jon, Jared, and Shawn) have UConn, 8 have San Diego St., and only Walsh has already lost here, with Missouri. A potentially big game for the two current favorites, with Justin and Bry on opposite sides here, and Justin putting a Final Four pick on the line.
#2 Florida vs. #3 BYU
With this game starting 12 minutes after the above one, Kemba and Jimmer will be competing for viewers’ attention and trying to one-up each other. Both of these teams won their regular-season conference titles and then stumbled in their conference championship games. BYU beat Florida in overtime in the 1st Round of last year’s tournament, with Jimmer dropping 37. Bad news for Florida: the man most likely to guard Jimmer, Kenny Boynton, missed practice this week with an ankle sprain. Bad news for BYU: the Gators have numerous athletic big men that can exploit the absence of dismissed BYU center Brandon Davies.
Pool Implications: 11 of the 15 entries have the favored Gators winning this one. Maureen and Doogan are the only two with BYU, so it’s a decent shot for them to gain some points and possibly move into the top two spots in the standings, at least temporarily. Ben (with Gonzaga) and Jon (with Michigan St.) have already lost here.
#1 Duke vs. #5 Arizona
Kyrie Irving now has two games under his belt and is probably knocking more rust off of his game with each day. That makes the Dukies very much a threat to repeat as national champs. Coach K and his staff will have to come up with a creative plan for knocking Zona star Derrick Williams off of his game. With this game being played in Anaheim, Duke can’t count on having a ton of fan support compared to Arizona.
Pool Implications: 9 entries have the Blue Devils, while Walsh is the only one to go with Arizona. The other 5 entries (Doogan, Ian, Weirauch, Ryan, and Greg) had Texas.
#4 Wisconsin vs. #8 Butler
Everyone probably looks at this game and thinks it will be real boring basketball, but don’t be fooled. Yes, it will probably be low-scoring and pretty slow and both teams are better defensively than offensively, but Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer and Butler’s Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack will all be on NBA rosters in a year or two, so there’s plenty of elite talent, and two teams that always play smart basketball from start to finish.
Pool Implications: Not much. Ben is the only one with a shot to get points, with Wisconsin. 12 others had Pitt, and J and Jared had K-State.
#2 North Carolina vs. #11 Marquette
Marquette coach Buzz Williams has started to get some “buzz” (couldn’t help myself) for possibly a higher-profile job, and that buzz will get exponentially louder if he can knock off the Tar Heels in the Sweet 16. He probably has enough talent to keep pace with them for a good while, but they’ll have to find a way to slow down the hot Carolina frontcourt of Zeller, Barnes, and Henson.
Pool Implications: There wasn’t much confidence in Carolina, with only 4 entries (Justin, Maureen, Doogan, and Weirauch) picking the favored Heels to make the Elite 8. 8 entries went with Syracuse, 2 (Talia and Walsh) took Washington, and Ian had Xavier. Bry will really be rooting for Marquette, as he’s the only one in the top four of the standings that doesn’t have the Heels.
#1 Kansas vs. #12 Richmond
Expectations were high coming into the season for Richmond, with almost everyone coming back from a team that earned a 7-seed in last year’s tournament. They were disappointing early on though, with losses to Iona, Bucknell, and Georgia Tech. But since the start of February they’ve won 13 of 14 games, including the A-10 tournament, with their only loss at Temple. Granted, they didn’t have to beat Temple or Xavier to win the A-10 tourney, and they’ve only beaten Vanderbilt and Morehead St. to reach this Sweet 16, but they’re still a dangerous team with two stars, Kevin Anderson and Justin Harper. Kansas, on the other hand, is 34-2. Not much struggles for the Jayhawks this season, despite a bunch of roster changes and other distractions.
Pool Implications: 13 entries have the Jayhawks and the other two (Maureen and Greg) had Louisville.
#1 Ohio St. vs. #4 Kentucky
This could end up being the best game of the round, but only if the Kentucky Kids aren’t intimidated by facing the top team in the country on such a big stage. Ohio St., on the other hand, has veteran leadership and Jared Sullinger, who could have his way down low in this one. Watch for another freshman, Aaron Craft, checking Brandon Knight when he’s in the game, and maybe taking Kentucky’s leading scorer out of the game.
Pool Implications: 11 entries have Ohio St., while Jon, Weirauch, and J could hit the nice upset pick with Kentucky. Our leader, Justin, stubbed his toe a bit here, going with Nova. He will be a Kentucky fan in this one.
#10 Florida St. vs. #11 VCU
Maybe not the game everyone would want to see here, but still an interesting one. VCU rolled into the Sweet 16 with three straight relatively easy wins over quality major-conference schools. I’d say that makes them the favorite in this game, but FSU just picked up two nice wins of its own, and did it with minimal contribution from their best player, Chris Singleton, who’s working his way back in after an injury. With four more days of rest for Singleton, he could really be a factor here. He’s maybe the best defensive player in the nation when healthy.
Pool Implications: Zilch. Everyone had either Purdue or Notre Dame.
