After meeting just once since the turn of the century in a 2009 NCAA tournament regional final showdown, the top-seeded Michigan State Spartans will once again meet up with the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals, this time aiming to exact a little revenge on that 1959 88-81 loss, in Thursday’s West Regional semifinals in the Valley of the Sun.
There seems to be no real compelling storyline for the Wisconsin Badgers right now. All they have done to this point is what they are supposed to: crushing a small conference foe and playing a competitive game against Vanderbilt.
Sweet 16
#4 Wisconsin Badgers (26-9) vs #1 Syracuse Orange (33-2)
Thursday March 22
East Region – Boston, MA
7:15PM
Moneyline: No money line currently listed
Spread: 120.5
O/U: Syracuse -3.5
Wisconsin
In my mind this is a very dangerous team because they very rarely beat themselves. The Orange are no slouches but if they can win they might face off with Ohio State in the Elite Eight.
That would be fun.
With the focus on Kendall Marshall’s wrist injury many are forgetting the best point guard around might just play for the Badgers. He doesn’t have the gaudy assist number, and is forced to lead the team in scoring, but there are none in the college game better at controlling a game than Jordan Taylor.
It will be interesting to see how Wisconsin attacks that zone, especially with their bigs, who shoot the ball so well from the outside.
Syracuse
Well no Fab Melo – no problem…so far. They had one close game and one, not the only problem was they came in the reverse order with UNC Asheville giving the Orange a serious scare from #16 seed line. Against a shorthanded Kansas State squad they had a much easier time. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Over the two games no single player has stood out.
A great show of depth but usually teams have that one player that steps forward this time of year.
When you play Syracuse you know what you are going to get.
I think this might be a game where they might want to force tempo a little more and be more aggressive offensively and defensively. They have a huge advantage in terms of depth even with Melo out.
Looking forward to getting a nice look at guard Dion Waiters on the grand stage.
He has quietly become their best player.
Spread Pick: Wisconsin +3.5
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Syracuse 69 – Wisconsin 67
I thought the Cincinnati Bearcats might squander an opportunity and lose to Texas in the first round – they didn’t.
#6 Cincinnati Bearcats (25-10) vs #3 Florida State Seminoles (25-9)
Sunday March 18
East Region – Nashville, TN
9:40PM
Moneyline: No money line currently listed
Spread: Florida State -2
O/U: 127
Cincinnati
Now they have an even bigger opportunity to make it to the Sweet Sixteen, something nobody could have predicted a few months ago.
As you can tell by the small line they have a legit shot too.
Florida is one of the most unpredictable teams of recent memory.
Against the Longhorns center Yancy Gates dominated (15 points, 10 boards and 3 blocks). It was to be expected as Texas had no one who could really look him in the eye. Florida does so they are going to have to get production from him and other sources to pull off the upset.
Sean Kilpatrick is the Bearcats leading scorer but he had a poor game with just 8 points. If he has another these guys are history. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Florida State
Other than that one route against North Carolina it seems that the Seminoles never do things the easy way. They escaped against Atlantic 10 champ St. Bonaventure by tightening things up in the second half – winning by three and leaving ATS bettors with losing tickets.
They really put the clamps on A10 player of the year Andrew Nicholson who didn’t miss in the first half and that made the difference.
On offense they seem to have finally figured out that they should just keep feeding Bernard James in the post. He shot 8 for 11 and scored a season high 19 points with 9 rebounds.
Cincy, with Gates, has better size to matchup but they should still work the offense through James.
I feel confident in writing that they can not afford another poor performance by Michael Snaer in this tournament. He was 0 for 7 for the game .
Spread Pick: Florida State -2
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Florida State 69 – Cincinnati 62
Who would have guessed that the Round of 32 matchup would be Lehigh vs. Xavier? If you had this matchup in your bracket then you have to be one in a million.
The Michigan State Spartans survived the upset bug that bit two No. 2 seeds and advanced to the third round of the West Regional’s on Saturday where they will face a St. Louis Billikens squad which rode its stingy defense to a 61-54 victory upset over Memphis on Friday night.
New Mexico comes into this third round matchup aiming to win its first ever back-to-back game set in the NCCA tournament, but it won’t be an easy task against a Louisville Cardinals team who have posted five straight wins after beating 13th-seeded Davidson in the opening round on Thursday.
While it wasn’t considered a banner season by their extremely high standards, the Duke Blue Devils are once again a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament will be on display Saturday night in Louisville. Kentucky will have a virtual home game against the upstart Iowa State Cyclones.
Shaka Smart and the VCU Rams are at it once again. After starting in the First Four they went to the Final Four last season.
The Vanderbilt Commodores breathed a sigh of relief after beating Harvard in the round of 64.
If you read my regional preview than you already know that I am thrilled with how Gonzaga looked on Thursday night in clobbering West Virginia.
The Kansas State Wildcats advance to the round of 32 where they find the East’s # 1 seed Syracuse waiting for them.
The No. 6 Murray Racers overcame any tournament tension they may have had, and just two years after they let slip their chances at a long run in the NCAA tournament, cruised to a 58-41 victory over Colorado State on Thursday.
The Florida State Seminoles excite with their wins even if they are not a very exciting team to watch. They took down Duke and North Carolina in the regular season and did so again in the ACC tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid.
The Cincinnati Bearcats are a study in contrasts this year. After the brawl with Xavier they regrouped and played very good basketball, so good they surprised Syracuse in the Big East Tournament.
A pair of teams with two drastically different styles will face off in this one, as the seventh-seed Florida Gators take on the No. 10 Virginia Cavaliers in a second-round West Regional game in Omaha on Friday afternoon.
