{"id":284,"date":"2009-03-26T10:54:24","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T15:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=284"},"modified":"2009-03-26T10:54:24","modified_gmt":"2009-03-26T15:54:24","slug":"the-sweet-sixteen-day-one-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=284","title":{"rendered":"The Sweet Sixteen – Day One"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sweet 16 round of the tournament is probably where\u00a0we all get to see the best basketball of the year, in my opinion.\u00a0 The stage is\u00a0not yet “too big” for anyone,\u00a0yet\u00a0almost all of the games are big enough for that big stage.\u00a0 It is going to be fantastic!\u00a0 So, without further ado, here is a quick BSB preview of tonight’s first half of the Sweet 16 round.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

7:07 on Thursday in Glendale, AZ
\n#1 Connecticut vs. #5 Purdue
\n<\/strong>The most impressive team in the first two rounds was undoubtably the Connecticut Huskies, as they dismantled both Chattanooga and Texas A&M.\u00a0 Now UConn gets a tough, cohesive, impressive Purdue team who, before watching the Huskies play the first two rounds, I thought would probably beat UConn.\u00a0 Now, after seeing just how good A.J. Price is playing, I have changed my tune a bit.\u00a0 I expect a great game and would not be shocked to see the Boilermakers pull off the upset, but in the end, I have to go with UConn<\/strong> to move on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

7:27 on Thursday in Boston, MA
\n#1 Pittsburgh vs. #4 Xavier<\/strong>\u00a0
\nBorn in 1979, I had nothing else in my life other than family and sports in the early 90’s.\u00a0 So, when I think Sean Miller, I think scrappy, smart, solid point guard for the Pittsburgh Panthers of the early 90’s.\u00a0 However, Miller has been so good as the Xavier head coach, that my mental image of his is changing a bit.\u00a0 Now, the ex-Panther and lifelong Pittsburgh native gets a shot at the top-seeded Panthers, who have struggled in both their tournament games so far.\u00a0 The biggest advantages that Pitt usually has on other teams are DeJuan Blair and LaVance Fields.\u00a0 Blair may be neutralized because of Xavier’s incredibly athletic and deep frontcourt, so this game will come down to Fields against a pair of relatively weak point guards for the Musketeers.\u00a0 I really want to pick X in this one, but I\u00a0have been saying all year that\u00a0LaVance Fields is the best college point guard in the country\u00a0this year, so I will stick with that and reluctantly pick Pittsburgh.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

9:37 on Thursday in Glendale, AZ
\n#2 Memphis vs. #3 Missouri<\/strong>\u00a0
\nA lot of people say that one of the reasons they love the NCAA tournament is because you get a lot of games between teams with very different styles of play.\u00a0 I, on the other hand, LOVE the games that pit two teams with incredibly similar styles of play.\u00a0 That is why I am very excited for tonight’s late game in Glendale.\u00a0 Both teams combine intense, pressing styles of defense with a slower offense that is based around efficient possessions and limited turnovers.\u00a0 Memphis gives up the fewest points per defensive possession in the country, while Missouri is second in the nation at assist-to-turnover ratio.\u00a0 There is just one thing that Memphis has and Missouri does not–experience.\u00a0 The experience of the players and, more importantly, the coach, should be the difference and should be why Memphis<\/strong> edges Missouri in a great game tonight.<\/p>\n

9:57 on Thursday in Boston, MA
\n#2 Duke vs. #3 Villanova<\/strong>
\nJust like in the other late game, this matches two teams with very similar strengths, weaknesses, and styles of play.\u00a0 I LOVE that!\u00a0 This game is chock full of swingmen and great perimeter play–I also love that.\u00a0 I just think that Villanova is a better all-around team because they actually get a LOT more production out of their 1- and 5-spots.\u00a0 Scottie Reynolds is almost a forgotten player on this team, and he is a bonafied superstar.\u00a0 Oh, and how awesome is it that senior Greg Paulus only played 2 minutes against Texas in a tournament game?\u00a0 The answer:\u00a0 VERY awesome.\u00a0 The only thing Duke has going for it is that they probably have the best two players on the floor in Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler, but after that they are outmatched at every spot.\u00a0 Because of this, I like Villanova <\/strong>to beat The Dukies tonight in Boston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sweet 16 round of the tournament is probably where\u00a0we all get to see the best basketball of the year, in my opinion.\u00a0 The stage is\u00a0not yet “too big” for anyone,\u00a0yet\u00a0almost all of the games are big enough for that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[560,109,41,561,275,402,243,120],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","tag-connecticut","tag-duke","tag-memphis","tag-missouri","tag-pittsburgh","tag-purdue","tag-villanova","tag-xavier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}