Ken
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tBBC March Madness 2016: West Region
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Tuesday and Wednesday we’ll be giving you our insight into each NCAA Tournament Region, looking for the stories that you may not have read elsewhere.
The West Region is a good, solid Region. It’s not going to produce the national champion. The Region has one AP Top-10 team, six Top-25 teams, and no Big Ten Teams. The ranked teams are: Oregon (#8), Oklahoma (#16), Texas A&M (#17), Duke (#19), Baylor (#22) and Texas (#23).
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 Cinderella 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: Oklahoma is my choice to win this Region. Their challenge will be fellow Big-12 foe, Texas. The Sooners have enough offense to win their rubber match. They also have potential college PoY Buddy Hield.
Cinderella: The West Glass Slipper will be worn by Mike Cronin’s Cincinnati Bearcats (22-10). They are a decent offensive team, but their defense and rebounding will be too much for St. Joe’s and Oregon. They may get past Baylor into the Elite Eight.
Most likely upset: Cincinnati over Oregon. Statistically, these teams are comparable. Bearcats take a little bit better control of the ball and are slightly better rebounders.
Unheralded Player: I’ll go with Cal-Bakersfield’s Kevin Mays, a 6’4″ 220 lb forward. For Buckeye fans, think Jae’Sean Tate. Kevin Averages 12.8 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Elite Eight Teams: One of the two teams I see coming out of this Region for Elite Eight will be Oklahoma. The other team will be Baylor. Player of the Year Candidate Buddy Hield will lead the Sooners, maybe not to the Promised Land, but out of the Sweet Sixteen. The Bears will be lead by a Prince (Taurean) to the same level. They are the #2 and #5 Regional seeds, respectively.
* Statistics courtesy of TeamRankings.com
There, that should clarify things for you in the Midwest Region.
The post tBBC March Madness 2016: West Region appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Tuesday and Wednesday we’ll be giving you our insight into each NCAA Tournament Region, looking for the stories that you may not have read elsewhere.
The West Region is a good, solid Region. It’s not going to produce the national champion. The Region has one AP Top-10 team, six Top-25 teams, and no Big Ten Teams. The ranked teams are: Oregon (#8), Oklahoma (#16), Texas A&M (#17), Duke (#19), Baylor (#22) and Texas (#23).
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 Cinderella 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: Oklahoma is my choice to win this Region. Their challenge will be fellow Big-12 foe, Texas. The Sooners have enough offense to win their rubber match. They also have potential college PoY Buddy Hield.
Cinderella: The West Glass Slipper will be worn by Mike Cronin’s Cincinnati Bearcats (22-10). They are a decent offensive team, but their defense and rebounding will be too much for St. Joe’s and Oregon. They may get past Baylor into the Elite Eight.
Most likely upset: Cincinnati over Oregon. Statistically, these teams are comparable. Bearcats take a little bit better control of the ball and are slightly better rebounders.
Unheralded Player: I’ll go with Cal-Bakersfield’s Kevin Mays, a 6’4″ 220 lb forward. For Buckeye fans, think Jae’Sean Tate. Kevin Averages 12.8 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Elite Eight Teams: One of the two teams I see coming out of this Region for Elite Eight will be Oklahoma. The other team will be Baylor. Player of the Year Candidate Buddy Hield will lead the Sooners, maybe not to the Promised Land, but out of the Sweet Sixteen. The Bears will be lead by a Prince (Taurean) to the same level. They are the #2 and #5 Regional seeds, respectively.
* Statistics courtesy of TeamRankings.com
There, that should clarify things for you in the Midwest Region.
The post tBBC March Madness 2016: West Region appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...