Midwest Region

Alright I am back and I have perused the bracket a little bit and man am I scared, I really hate this thing, but there is nothing better than picking a Cinderella…

Let’s start with the Midwest region. This is an interesting region because firstly it has Florida, defending champ, and you automatically look for a team who might beat them before the Final Four. Teams that could do it:

1) Arizona- A team that can explode big time, they have three guys who score more than 15 points a game. The 80 point mark seems to be a big one for these guys, they went 12-1 when scoring more than 80. Chase Budinger might be one of those freshman everyone is talking about at the end of the tournament, especially if they beat Florida in the second round. They also have senior leadership at the point in Mustafa Shakur, a must have in this tournament if you are searching for an upset. However, the chronic inconsistency that this team has shone this year should make anyone picking them a little nervous…
2) Wisconsin- A team that will just beat you up. Alando Tucker is a stud and Kammron Taylor is clutch (see jumper on senior day last weekend against Mich. St). Those guys can carry the team, and they love to bang and play good tough defense. Obviously the Big Ten plays that way and one has to question whether they can open up and score with a Florida or an Oregon (who they could meet in the sweet 16), they have not scored more than 80 points since December 27 against Gardner Webb…
3) Notre Dame- Scores in bunches with five guys averaging 10+ points…They shoot 40% from 3 point land and score 81 points a game while allowing 67 a game. That is a pretty strong showing. Falls and Carter make this team run with their 3 point shooting, if there was a team that will live and die by the three this team is it…The question is will they die against Winthrop like so many people are predicting, Winthrop seems well coached and might be prepared to stop the shooters (the Winthrop coach was in ESPNU last night, man he knows his stuff).

No other team in that bracket stands out as a team who can beat Florida. Oregon is too inconsistent. They might get a few wins on the back of that awesome back court of Aaron Brooks and Tajaun Porter (31 points and 6 assists between them). They can score in bunches but their up-tempo pace and heavy guard play wont match up well with Florida.

This region strikes me as difficult because there are so many tough first round match-ups. Notre Dame and Winthrop is so tough, Winthrop gave Tennessee, and my bracket, a big scare last year. Their top seven scorers were on that team and are making their third straight tournament appearance. It also seems like they struggle against deeper more physical teams. They gave Wisconsin a good run only losing by three and also only lost to UNC by seven points. Their four losses on the year were all to ranked teams, pretty impressive and they will match up with two run and gun shoot first ask questions later teams in Notre Dame and then most likely Oregon.

Arizona v. Purdue is a weird one too. Arizona I already talked about, but Purdue had a nice run in the Big Ten tournament and have a big man in Carl Landry who scores 19 ppg. One thing I have noticed this tournament is heavy on is guards, young guards. I think some big men could play a key role in this tournament, as they seem to be very rare. Arizona has some big men of their own, could be a very good game…

Davidson v. Maryland- Don’t know much about Davidson except that they have a freshman point guard Stephen Curry who can shoot like his father, Dell. He scores 21 a game, he is the mid-major Kevin Durant. Davidson. They score 80+ points a game, but they have no seniors and need their opponents to run and gun with them in order to win. Maryland, even with (once again) two freshman point guards have some solid senior leadership from Mike Jones and D.J. Strawberry. This team hasn’t been in the tourney in 2 years, so we will see if they can handle Winthrop and the big stage.

ODU v. Butler – 12-5 match ups will be tackled later…

Sleeper team:
Georgia Tech. Tough ACC tested team, could knock off Wisconsin in second round.
Coming soon...West region review...