The Top Four: It's difficult not to be impressed with Kansas' talent. They go deeper at all positions with guys who can score and defend than anyone in the country. The Morris twins are a matchup nightmare because of their strength inside and range shooting the 3. Also I think the memory of the second-round upset from a season ago will result in sharp focus from game 1 this season around. As for the rest of the high seeds, Notre Dame has been very good offensively all season but their inexperience in the tournament (I know that they have a bunch of seniors, but they've never made a deep tournament run) makes me wonder if they're really poised for a deep run. Purdue has been great this season and was once a candidate for a 1 seed, but they've recently lost to Iowa and were blown out by Michigan State. Louisville has been one of the best overachieving stories of the season, and their pressure defense is a great equalizer that means they could pull off the upset over Kansas should they get that far.
Legitimate Sleeper: Georgetown. If Chris Wright returns and is effective, the Hoyas are as good as anyone in the region except for Kansas, having won 9 games in a row in the brutal Big East at one point this season. Without Wright, however, they have yet to win a game.
Deeper Sleeper: Richmond. The Spiders are synonymous with upsets in the history of college basketball, and this year they have two legitimate NBA prospects as well as the confidence of having just won a difficult Atlantic 10 tournament. Plus they get Vanderbilt in the first round; the 'Dores have gone out in the first round as a 4 and 5 seed in each of the past two seasons.
Oltz's picks: Sweet 16 is all chalk, with Kansas, Louisville, Purdue, and Notre Dame. I did take Richmond over Vandy in the first round but don't see them getting past the Cardinals. Kansas over Purdue in the regional final. Love the Jayhawks' talent to get back to the Final Four following last season's dissappointment.
No comments:
Post a Comment