Saturday, March 23, 2013

Kansas Outlasts Western Kentucky; Second Round Set

Friday night ended with a whimper (two blowouts and a comfortable win by San Diego State), despite Western Kentucky's attempt to be the first 16 seed to knock off a 1. Kansas held on late and are set with a date with North Carolina. Can Roy Williams finally beat the Jayhawks? That will be the game Sunday that everyone will hype, though there are plenty of other games that are just as interesting. VCU-Michigan to me seems like the best matchup this weekend.

VCU just shows the strength in the Atlantic 10. The conference had all five teams reach the second round; only the Big 10 has more (6). On the flip side, the Mountain West and Big East haven't impressed this tourney. Louisville should be able to uphold the honor of the league (even though the league can't claim them after this year), whereas only San Diego State has a good chance to reach the Sweet 16.

We know that one of Ole Miss and La Salle will reach the Sweet 16 as a double digit seed, but I'm particularly curious who which of the leftover double digit seeds (Oregon, Cal, Florida Gulf Coast, Iowa State, Minnesota, Harvard) can move on as well. I think the Pac-12 double digits have tough matchups, and the Cyclones will have a lot more trouble scoring. I actually like Minnesota since they are a little underseeded against Florida (tough conference, good rebounding team). Harvard also wouldn't shock me, but I do think Arizona is better offensively than New Mexico is capable of playing.

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