Michael Smith
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tBBC 2016 March Madness Bracketology: South Region
Michael Smith via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Hello everyone and welcome as I help preview this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. I’ll be diving into the South Region and giving you all you need to know about the teams, upsets, and who I think will come out on top.
The South Region is a tough Region, not that any Region will be easy, but this one appears to be the toughest due to placement of several traditional powerhouse programs. Having top overall #1 seed Kansas, and teams such as UConn, Villinova, Maryland, and Arizona in this region, its been picked by many as the toughest region in the tournament.
Rather than go through game-by-game in the Region, I’ll focus on five (5) topics; 1) the team likely to win region, 2) the region’s Cinderalla team, 3) team most likely to be upset, 4) who is region’s unheralded player and 5) my Elite 8 picks. Envelopes, please…
Regional Favorite: Even with this being the toughest region the top overall #1 seed Kansas is the favorite to come out of this region. Kansas spent a lot of time at being #1 in the polls this season.Their record is 30-4, they won the regular season and tournament championships in the Big 12. Kansas has a high powered offense and it shows in the 81.6 points a game they score. They are led by power forward Perry Ellis and his 16.7 points a game. He also leads the team with 5.9 rebounds a game. Kansas is the clear favorite to make it to the Final Four.
Cinderella: The team who could pull of some upsets and make a run is a team that many people probably hasn’t seen this year. That is the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii. They finished with a great record of 27-5 and won the regular season and tournament championship of the Big West. They played the big boys tough this year also, losing only by 3 (84-81) to Oklahoma. Only 1 of their 5 losses this year was by more than 10 points. They are led by F Stefan Jankovic, who scores 15.7 points a game and 6.6 rebounds. Hawaii is also an excellent passing team who averages nearly 16 assists a game.
Most likely upset: Hawaii over Cal. Cal has been up and down all year. They have a ton of talent on their team, but they are also very young. Cal has lost to San Diego St and Richmond this year as well.Hawaii has the size and experience to pull off the upset as mentioned above. As a team, Cal only shoots 65% from the FT line. This is my big upset of the NCAA Tournament. Look for Hawaii to beat Cal in the 1st round.
Unheralded Player: There is a team you will only get to see once and only for a couple of hours in this region, but one player from that team you really need to watch. That is Chris Horton from Austin Peay. Chris Horton is a 6 foot 8 inch Senior center who averages 19 points and 12 rebounds a game for the Governors who made a miracle run through the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as an 8 seed. He also shoots 60% from the field. He scored 30 points and had 16 rebounds in Austin Peay’s win over Belmont and to top that had 37 points and 21 rebounds in their win over Tennessee Tech all in the Ohio Valley conference tournament.
Elite Eight Teams: The two teams who will meet to go to the Final Four in the South region will be Kansas and Miami (FL). Kansas is the favorite to get to the Final Four and I don’t see a team beating them in this region. Miami (FL) is a very good team who should make it to the Elite 8 as well only to lose to Kansas.
There, that should clarify things in the South Region. Till the next time, Chill!
The post tBBC 2016 March Madness Bracketology: South Region appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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Michael Smith via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Hello everyone and welcome as I help preview this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. I’ll be diving into the South Region and giving you all you need to know about the teams, upsets, and who I think will come out on top.
The South Region is a tough Region, not that any Region will be easy, but this one appears to be the toughest due to placement of several traditional powerhouse programs. Having top overall #1 seed Kansas, and teams such as UConn, Villinova, Maryland, and Arizona in this region, its been picked by many as the toughest region in the tournament.
Rather than go through game-by-game in the Region, I’ll focus on five (5) topics; 1) the team likely to win region, 2) the region’s Cinderalla team, 3) team most likely to be upset, 4) who is region’s unheralded player and 5) my Elite 8 picks. Envelopes, please…
Regional Favorite: Even with this being the toughest region the top overall #1 seed Kansas is the favorite to come out of this region. Kansas spent a lot of time at being #1 in the polls this season.Their record is 30-4, they won the regular season and tournament championships in the Big 12. Kansas has a high powered offense and it shows in the 81.6 points a game they score. They are led by power forward Perry Ellis and his 16.7 points a game. He also leads the team with 5.9 rebounds a game. Kansas is the clear favorite to make it to the Final Four.
Cinderella: The team who could pull of some upsets and make a run is a team that many people probably hasn’t seen this year. That is the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii. They finished with a great record of 27-5 and won the regular season and tournament championship of the Big West. They played the big boys tough this year also, losing only by 3 (84-81) to Oklahoma. Only 1 of their 5 losses this year was by more than 10 points. They are led by F Stefan Jankovic, who scores 15.7 points a game and 6.6 rebounds. Hawaii is also an excellent passing team who averages nearly 16 assists a game.
Most likely upset: Hawaii over Cal. Cal has been up and down all year. They have a ton of talent on their team, but they are also very young. Cal has lost to San Diego St and Richmond this year as well.Hawaii has the size and experience to pull off the upset as mentioned above. As a team, Cal only shoots 65% from the FT line. This is my big upset of the NCAA Tournament. Look for Hawaii to beat Cal in the 1st round.
Unheralded Player: There is a team you will only get to see once and only for a couple of hours in this region, but one player from that team you really need to watch. That is Chris Horton from Austin Peay. Chris Horton is a 6 foot 8 inch Senior center who averages 19 points and 12 rebounds a game for the Governors who made a miracle run through the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as an 8 seed. He also shoots 60% from the field. He scored 30 points and had 16 rebounds in Austin Peay’s win over Belmont and to top that had 37 points and 21 rebounds in their win over Tennessee Tech all in the Ohio Valley conference tournament.
Elite Eight Teams: The two teams who will meet to go to the Final Four in the South region will be Kansas and Miami (FL). Kansas is the favorite to get to the Final Four and I don’t see a team beating them in this region. Miami (FL) is a very good team who should make it to the Elite 8 as well only to lose to Kansas.
There, that should clarify things in the South Region. Till the next time, Chill!
The post tBBC 2016 March Madness Bracketology: South Region appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...