It's day two of the Sweet 16 (#Sweet16) of the Tournament.
And it should be fun.
A recap of last night:
Marquette pounded Miami like the red-headed stepchild & won by "only" 10 (Vern Lundquist said that final score wasn't indicative of the game and it wasn't). They neutralized Shane Larkin, cut to the basket well, and Miami shot poorly.
It wasn't a particularly good game.
Neither was game 2 in that bracket: IU & Syracuse. IU never seemed prepared to attack the fabled 'Cuse 2-3 zone, turned it over a lot (11 in the 1st half), shot poorly, and just plain got beat. Good season, but ended with a thud. I said in y'day's blog that 'Cuse was playing well these last three weeks.
The second game out West wasn't any good, either, with Wichita State putting the shock on LaSalle. In the Big v. Small matchup, big won. They went inside a lot, shot well from outside, and ate them up on the boards. And, of course, LaSalle, like Miami and IU, shot poorly and turned it over too much. At one point Galloway was O fer 7 or 8...not the way to win that kind of game.
The best game was Ohio St-Arizona. Doug Gottlieb picked Arizona to go to Final Four on his show Wednesday night. KOD. Ohio St. milked the clock at the end of another tie game and buried the killer trey.
To tonight:
Duke-Michigan St. is a great matchup. 2 vs 3. I heard all morning that the one-on-ones match up well, but I don't think so. I think Plumley and Kelley are clearly better players than Nix and Paine. I'm not sure it'll show tonight, but I think that's the case. The question is can Duke's guards match up with MSU's? Will Curry get his points? Duke doesn't like physical games -- hasn't for a long time, if ever -- and it'll probably be a game like the Marquette one last night -- half court with lots of bodies bouncing.
If MSU can shoot a little, they win.
Louisville-Oregon. People keep saying Oregon shouldn't be a 12 seed. Then they should be a 6, like their regular season champ UCLA or Arizona? It still makes it a 1-6 game. I like Louisville. They are double-digit favorites. Biggest shock of the #Sweet16 if they lose.
In the other bracket, my bracket buster is Michigan-Kansas. A nice 1 v. 4 game. I've never been convinced Kansas was a 1 & I thought Michigan deserved better than a 4. I think Burke shows what quality guard play looks like, like he did against VCU, and Kansas has no answer on the perimeter. Withey might be the difference. I hope not.
Then there's the Florida championship game. The Gators went to Elite Eight last year and have most everyone back. I think whoever comes out of other side of this beats them Sunday, but I'd be mildly surprised to see Gulf Coast, double digit 'dogs, win again. They don't have the depth and it's not clear they can consistently run a half court offense. Jay Bilas thinks they have a better chance than Oregon of the upset.
And for Doug Gottlieb -- he says on last night's pre game show Miami is going to pound Marquette. He says Wednesday Arizona is going to win next two games. He's way wrong. And then he makes the "white guy" crack, which Charles Barkley is right about, it's just a dumb joke...but dumb seems to be Gottlieb's current mode. I'm sure it'd be wrong, but right now I hope he picks counter to everything in my bracket. He's got KOD going big-time. KOD.
Go Wolverines. Go Cardinals. See y'all tomorrah
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