I think all of our collective hearts were close to bursting, but it was well worth it. We get to play the #1 seed that lost in the first round of their conference tournament, the weakest # 2 seed that was heavily questioned during the Selection show, a #3 seed who kicked their leading rebounder off the team, and a #4 seed that we've beaten already. Having to play Florida in their home state will be tough
If our M.O. is outperforming in March...
Virginia Tech's is having their bubbles burst. Is there a program in the country that is screwed over more? This year, they will surely be a #1 seed in the NIT (meaning they just barely missed the NCAA) with a 21-11 record. Last year, they were also a #1 seed with a record of 23-8. In 2008, they were also a #1 seed with a record of 19-13.
You get to play in Cleveland, but....
George Mason? Kentucky? North Carolina? Good luck Ohio State. You'd think having your AD chair the selection committee would give you an advantage. If there was any team that could run that gauntlet, however, it's OSU. Columbus has a decent number of Kentucky fans because it's only 3 hours from Lexington. That will be the most exciting matchup of the Sweet 16, in my opinion.
Southeast = Upset Central?...
For our sake, hopefully it is. Is everyone going to pick Old Dominion, Belmont, and Utah State in upsets? I felt smart about those picks until I heard Seth Davis (?) announce those as his upsets. I said it before - this will be Pitt's best chance to make the Final Four that they've ever had. In previous tournaments, Pitt has lost when they've faced a star guard.
2010 - Jordan Crawford - 27 points - Drafted 27th overall
2009 - Scottie Reynolds - 15 points - 1st Team All American
2008 - Drew Neitzel - 21 points - Second Team All American
2007 - Aaron Afflalo - 17 points - Drafted 27th overall
Darren Collison - 12 points - Drafted 21st overall
2006 - Patrick O'Bryant - 28 points - Drafted 9th overall (ok, he's a center, but still...)
2005 - David Doubley - 17 points - Big West Player of the Year (now that's a stretch...)
2004 - Tony Allen - 23 points - Drafted 25th overall
2003 - Dwayne Wade - 22 points - Drafted 5th overall
2002 - Antonio Gates - 22 points - Really good football player
From my standpoint, the only potential All Americans in our bracket are Jimmer and Jacob Pullen from Kansas State, so that bodes well for them.
I was very anxious to learn more about our potential opponents, so I did some research. Below are the rankings in the most important stat categories for the top teams in our region.
FT %
Wisconsin 1st (.824)
BYU 15th (.759)
St. John's 108th (.711)
Michigan State 147th (.699)
UCLA 199th (.683)
Pitt 234th (.672)
Florida 238th (.670)
Kansas State 300th (.647)
FG %
Pitt 20th (.474)
Florida 45th (.464)
UCLA 74th (.456)
St. John's 77th (.455)
BYU 92nd (.452)
Kansas State 159th (.438)
Wisconsin 124th (.445)
Michigan State 191st (.432)
3PT FG %
Pitt 18th (.390)
Kansas State 44th (.375)
Wisconsin 50th (.371)
BYU 83rd (.362)
Florida 110th (.356)
Michigan State 128th (.353)
St. John's 234th (.330)
UCLA 243rd (.329)
Rebounds Per Game
Pitt 8th (39.8)
BYU 16th (38.7)
Kansas State 35th (38)
Florida 48th (37.6)
UCLA 61st (37.3)
Michigan State 73rd (37)
St. John's 281st (32.8)
Wisconsin 299th (32.1)
Turnovers Per Game
Wisconsin 1st (7.4)
BYU 19th (11)
Pitt 35th (11.7)
Florida 81st (12.4)
St John's 81st (12.4)
Michigan State 144th (13.3)
UCLA 270th (14.9)
Kansas State 277th (15)
Takeaways
While free throws aren't our region's forte (outside of Wisconsin), rebounding is. I am nervous to see that we have by far the worst field goal percentage. It is very encouraging to see that UCLA turns the ball over even more than we do and they can't shoot 3's. That bodes well for our chances of winning the first round. This year, Wisconsin is very typical Bo Ryan team in the sense that they don't give away any games. They protect the basketball (they average two fewer turnovers per game than the 2nd best in the country!!!) and make their free throws. Their achilles heal, obviously, is that they don't make a high percentage of their shots and they're horrible at rebounding. That second stat is very surprising to me, because Wisconsin is usually very tall and talented at rebounding.
1 comment:
My Southeast Region is BLOWED UP. I still don't know what I want to do with it. I might just keep it destroyed and say fuck it.
The more I read and hear about UCLA, the more they feel like us- wildly inconsistent all year. I don't know, it's definitely going to be a dogfight. I think we win if we can get UCLA out in transition and if we keep them honest with some decent outside shooting (cough cough Durrell Summers cough cough). Game prediction: Even at 56 late, MSU goes on a 5-0 run with less than four minutes left (Summers put-back and an Appling three) to go up 5, and they ice it with some free throws. Final score: MSU 64, UCLA 61.
The more I look at this tournament bracket, the more I don't understand how the selection committee seeded these teams. Seriously, thank you for putting MSU in the field, but my god, they did a terrible job this eyar.
Post a Comment