Ok, it's the eve of the Thursday of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Wow, that was a long way of saying it's the fourth day of 4 Regions in 4 Days. I know, I could've just said the tournament starts tomorrow and that hypes me up a lot but I figured if I wrote two really long-winded versions of the same idea you would get the picture.
I have covered the
Midwest, the
West and the
East so far, which leaves the South as the last region that needs previewed. This is the region that brings us the biggest story of the tournament before it starts. A toe injury.
North Carolina is the top seed in the South and well all that really doesn't matter because all that is being talked about it Ty Lawson's right big toe. I wonder what Lawson is doing right now. My guess is that he is watching the NIT, eating some popcorn or something, drinking some water and icing his toe. If I were Roy Williams I would sit Lawson for the first game because they play Radford. The extra two days rest will help I suspect.
In the 8/9 game LSU plays Butler. I thought both of these teams deserved a higher seed. I know the SEC was down this year but LSU was strong in the conference. Butler was in the top 25 most of the season and only lost in the tournament championship by 3. I don't think they should've fallen all the way to a 9 seed but I think this will give them a chip on their shoulder. This should be a very interesting game and if Butler limits their turnovers this shoulder but a close one all the way down to the end.
Illinois is the 5 seed and they play Western Kentucky who won a game last year in the tournament. The fightin Illini are without their starting point guard for the rest of the tournament. This may only last one game as the Hilltoppers will be a very worthy opponent. I know I have given the 12 seed in each region a legitimate shot at winning but if I had to bet on one and really pick one, Western Kentucky would be it.
Gonzaga and Akron play in the 4/13 game and the Zags are hot. I don't know much about the Zips but I do know that no one is talking about them. The game is in Portland which give Gonzaga a distinct advantage and I don't think that this game will be within 10 for most of the second half. It will be interesting if Western Kentucky plays Gonzaga in the second round. I think that will be a good game with the winner getting the Heels. This could be a very fun section to watch.
James Harden and Arizona State come in as the 6 seed and A-10 tournament champions Temple are the 11 seed. I think the Sun Devils need to be on upset alert in this one. Outside of Harden, ASU really doesn't have a big time performer. I know Fran Dunphy will figure out a way to make everyone else beat them and I am not sure the other guys for ASU can do that. Dionte Christmas can score as much as Harden can and this one will be fun to watch.
Syracuse played like 5 or 6 games in the Big East tournament. Well really it wasn't that much but with as many overtimes as they played, it seemed like it. Outside of Durham, Johnny Flynn is my favorite player in college basketball right now. The kid is great! They play Stephen F. Austin. That's all I have to say about that.
In the 7/10 game Clemson plays Michigan. Michigan was one of the teams that I didn't think should've gotten in. They did and now some people have jumped on the bandwagon. Clemson was in the top 15 for most of the season but inconsistency killed them down the stretch. I think these teams are very even but I would take the ACC over the Big Ten any day of the year.
Blake Griffin and Oklahoma are the 2 seed in this region and are being overlooked big time. Since they have struggled a little bit down the stretch no one is giving these guys a chance. I had them as a 1 seed for almost the entire season. I still think they are one of the best four or five teams in the country. I still think they can make a run at the final four. They play Morgan State in the first round who beat Maryland earlier this season. They play Oklahoma, not Maryland and don't have a chance in this one.
This is going to be a fun region to watch but I think the best game to see is potentially Oklahoma/Syracuse and then if OU wins that OU and Carolina. To see Blake Griffin line up across from Tyler Hansbrough would be amazing.
I know I said I was going to give you my final four picks today at the end of this post but the GM and I did a podcast this afternoon revealing our picks so if you would like to see/hear them click
here and you can listen to both of our picks.
Man, I can't wait. Only a few more hours!
It's going to be great and I hope you all enjoy!
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