We're about 2 hours from the Sweet 16 tipping off and we have some good games on our hands tonight. I feel like an average college hoops fan isn't too impressed with this round's slate. On paper we don't have the monster vs monster matchups. This stems from all of the Cinderella stories that advanced to play in this round. Everyone roots for Northern Iowa to knock off Kansas because it is such a good story and everyone loves a good upset. But then five days pass and they realize they have to watch NIU play Michigan State instead of Kansas playing MSU, and now people are like, "kinda wish Kansas pulled that one out". But they didn't, and here we are. Deal with it, these games are gonna be money. Trust me, I'm batting like .150 on tourney predictions this year.
We tip off with tonight with #5 Butler against #1 Syracuse. This could be interesting. Stress "could". Butler will have to shoot like 60% from three to have any shot against the Orange Zone. 'Cuse has looked so good so far that I can't see them blowing this one. Most likely the Orange come out and just roll the Bulldogs en route to another 30+ point blowout. But, let's say Butler comes out shooting fire and they're hitting their threes, 'Cuse will have to extend the zone and then things can get interesting. I'll still take 'Cuse in a cakewalk, but just saying look out for a possible Butler shoot the lights out deal. Orange 81, Butler 64.
Possibly my favorite game of the night starts up shortly after the 'Cuse-Butler matchup. #11 Washington takes on #2 West Virginia. I just love the way these two teams matchup. WVU is long and lanky and it seems like everyone on their team is a 6'7" small forward who can handle, shoot, pass and D up. Washington has a bunch of little quick guards who shoot the three and play smart for coach Lorenzo Romar. Their main man so far in the tourney has been Quincy Pondexter. I'd love to see him put the squad on his back one more time and pick off this Mountaineer squad. He definitely has the talent, I just worry Bob Huggins is too good of a coach to let that happen. I think he'll swarm Pondexter and make him give up the rock which will force other Huskies to make plays, and that's not really their strong suit (you read that right). Washington did get some good news though yesterday when it was announced WVU's starting point guard will have to sit the rest of the tournament out with an ankle injury. You hate to hear that and always want to beat a team at full strength, but when you're an eleven seed wearing slippers, you'll take all the help you can get. OH man, this one's so tough to call. You know what? I'm doing it. Gimme Washington in a track meet, 87-82.
So after hopefully two triple overtime games that end with buzzer beaters, #2 Kansas State will get it on with #6 Xavier. This one is going to a battle. A slugfest. A brawl. You get it, right? Two very physical teams that have defensive minded coaches are going to square up and tried to out-slug the other guy. I'm feeling pretty good about Xavier here. They're the only team who I've had a good feel for since last week so I'm gonna keep riding them. Jordan Crawford is going to have to step up for the Musketeers like Q does for Washington. And similarly, KSU is coached by Bob Huggins' protege, Frank Martin. Just like Huggins will gameplan for Q, you better believe Frank's gonna have something drawn up for JC (Crawford, not Jesus). I think we're going low scoring, grind it out, close game here. Perhaps last team with the ball wins. Give me Xavier 61-58. I'll also take over 3.5 on total bodies Frank Martin and Bob Huggins have in their trunks right now.
Poor scheduling has us closing out the evening with the game that's least likely to be close. #1 Kentucky takes on the pesky #12 Cornell Big Red. Cornell has looked great so far, but they are no match for Kentucky. Just too fast, too athletic, too everything. Only thing Cornell has going for them here is their IQ - seriously. If you saw Kentucky in their SEC championship game against Mississippi State, they hit a bucket at the buzzer to tie it up and started going nuts. The whole team was piled on top of each other because THEY THOUGHT THEY WON THE GAME. But they only tied the game. Do the math and you see that this freshman-led squad has the capacity to make some serious mental mistakes on the big stage and if any team is smart enough to take advantage of said mistakes, it's the Ivy League kids with no scholarships, no NBA futures, and most likely no girlfriends. They're playing for memories, not draft position. Not to be wishy-washy here, I'm just trying to give you both sides of the story and tell you if the underdog wins, this is how they're going to win. With that said, gimme Kentucky. In a romp. Like, starters on the bench to start the second half romp. Final score, let's say 93-50 Wildcats. Ashley Judd's boyfriend is gonna be one happy dude tonight.
Only four games tonight is pretty disappointing, having eight to sixteen games on per day for four straight days last week is just too good, but we'll take what we got here and hopefully the upsets continue, because real college hoops fans know that it's not the name of the school that matters, its the kids fighting tooth and nail to make One Shining Moment and slip Cinderella the tongue. Let's get it on!
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