NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: Thursday, March 26th

Posted on March 26, 2015 by David Griggs

-#5 WEST VIRGINIA VS #1 KENTUCKY.  Okay, I’m not going to go so far to say that it would surprise me if Kentucky won, but if I had to pick up a straight up winner, I think I’d go with West Virginia.  The reason??  They look a lot like the kinds of teams Kentucky has struggled against.  They’re not an Arkansas type team that Kentucky would put away, but rather a tough defensive half court team that can actually shoot the ball.  They’re better than Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M and the like that Kentucky has struggled against.  Kentucky may win.  They may win by a lot.  But, this is one of their toughest match ups of the season.

-#7 WICHITA STATE VS #3 NOTRE DAME.  Both teams got here by beating teams they rarely play, but that they should always play.  Notre Dame won an overtime thriller against a very good Butler team to get to a stage of the tournament they’re not used to getting to under Mike Brey.  Wichita State absolutely blew Kansas’s doors off in the second half in what had to be one of the most feel good wins in their program’s history.  I’m excited for this match up and think it’s a toss up.  Notre Dame won the ACC Tournament and has beaten some great teams this year, whereas Wichita State is probably a little undervalued.

-#4 NORTH CAROLINA VS #1 WISCONSIN.  I love how Wisconsin has been playing lately.  UNC has looked really good as well, and is coming off a big win against a pretty good Arkansas team, but as good as they are I just think Wisky is too tough.  They knocked off Arizona in the Elite Eight last year in one of the tournament’s most exciting games, and we could be headed for a rematch this year.

-#6 XAVIER VS #2 ARIZONA.  One of the storylines here is that Sean Miller used to be Xavier’s head coach and Chris Mack was his assistant.  Xavier has looked really good at times this year, and has played well since the start of the Big East Tournament, but Arizona has looked absolutely sensational.  Like I said, an Arizona v Wisky rematch would be exciting

 

OTHER BASKETBALL TIDBITS

-NJIT, our adopted team, and the Team of the People, has advanced to the CIT Quarterfinals with an exciting win over Cleveland State and will be playing at home, again, this Saturday night.

-The Big East, in its current format, has yet to win an NCAA Tournament game against a team seeded better than #10th.

-#1 seeds outside the Power Five are 0-3 in the Round of 32 the last three years.

-The NIT semifinals are set.  Old Dominion will face Stanford and Miami FL will face Temple.

-UCLA is in the Sweet Sixteen despite everyone saying they did not belong.  This does not change the fact that everyone was right.  They could win it all and it still does not justify their inclusion any more than a third place team in baseball being allowed to play in and win the World Series would justify their inclusion.  If anything, it makes it even more unfair because they’ve taken advantage of an opportunity they didn’t deserve in the first place.

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CIT Game of the Day – Thursday, March 26, 2015: Evansville at Louisiana-Lafayette

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Chad

Evansville at Louisiana-Lafayette, 8:30 PM Eastern, watchcollegeinsider.com

Three spots remain to be claimed in the CIT Final Four after UT-Martin knocked off Eastern Kentucky thanks to a three pointer with 3.3 seconds left last night.  The second of those spots goes to tonight’s winner of the contest between the Evansvile Purple Aces (21-12 on the season) and the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (22-13).  Evansville reached the quarterfinals thank to wins over Fort Wayne and Eastern Illinois, while Louisiana won at Incarnate Word and at Sam Houston State.  Tonight, the Ragin’ Cajuns get a home game against Evansville with a berth in the semifinals at stake.

Evansville was one of our picks to be a surprise contender in the Missouri Valley Conference heading into the season.  After going 14-19 last season, head coach Marty Simmons has done a great job reloading the program as they look for their 22nd win tonight.  The Purple Aces have look great so far in the CIT, blowing out their first two opponents.  However, tonight’s road test will be their toughest of the tournament so far.

The Ragin’ Cajuns have not been as dominant, having barely sneaked past Sam Houston State by one point last time out.  However, the Sun Belt Conference has certainly proven itself in the postseason so far this year.  Not only is Louisiana in the quarterfinals of the CIT, but the conference champions, Georgia State, made headlines with their win over Baylor in the round of 64 in the NCAA tournament followed by a hard-fought loss to Xavier.  Louisiana-Monroe has also had a great postseason so far, as the Warhawks are in the best-of-three CBI championship series against Loyola-Chicago, starting Monday night.  The Ragin’ Cajuns will look to ride their home court advantage this evening to the next round of the CIT.  With Eastern Kentucky now gone from the field, tonight’s winner will likely be the team to beat as the tournament advances.

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CIT Game of the Day – Wednesday, March 25, 2015: Tennessee-Martin at Eastern Kentucky

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Chad

Tennessee-Martin at Eastern Kentucky, 7:00 PM Eastern, watchcollegeinsider.com

The quarterfinal round of the CIT gets under way today as the Eastern Kentucky Colonels host the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks in a matchup of Ohio Valley Conference rivals.  Though both teams play in the OVC, they only faced each other once during the season, with EKU prevailing in Martin, TN by a 66-58 score back on January 8.  UT-Martin has advanced to the CIT quarterfinal round with wins over Northwestern State and South Carolina-Upstate, both on the road.  EKU, on the other hand, has ridden their home court into the quarterfinals, knocking off Norfolk State and High Point.

The Skyhawks will be looking for another strong effort from Deville Smith tonight.  Smith put up an amazing triple-double in his team’s first round win over Northwestern State, scoring 21 points while pulling down 12 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists.  If he performs anywhere close to that level tonight, Eastern Kentucky will be in trouble.  EKU is led by Corey Walden, who also had a very strong stat line in his team’s first round win over Norfolk State, scoring 22 points while pulling down 5 rebounds and handing out 8 assists.  Eric Stutz will also be a major factor for the Colonels after scoring 16 points and pulling down 10 rebounds last time out.  Whichever team prevails will advance to the CIT Final Four next Tuesday night with a shot at being one of only four teams that will end its season by cutting down the nets in celebration of a championship.

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CIT Game of the Day – Monday, March 23, 2015: Cleveland State at NJIT

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Chad

Cleveland State at NJIT, 7:00 PM Eastern, watchcollegeinsider.com

Three games tonight will conclude the second round of the CIT, but anyone that has followed HOOPD HD this year will have no doubts as to which one is our choice for the CIT Game of the Day.  Our adopted team continues its season at home tonight as they host the Cleveland State Vikings in what may be their toughest home game yet this season.  The winner of tonight’s game advances to the quarterfinal round and will be only three wins away from cutting down the nets as 2015 CIT champions.

Cleveland State enters tonight’s game at 19-14 overall after a first round CIT win at Western Michigan.  The Vikings came within just a few points of winning the Horizon league regular season title, losing their final game of the season at home to Valparaiso by 3 points, thus giving home court in the Horizon League tournament to the Crusaders.  The two teams met again in the Horizon league semifinals, and Valpo used its home court advantage to pull out a 5 point win en route to the league’s NCAA tournament berth.

NJIT, the nation’s lone independent, enters tonight’s home game at 19-11 overall including a huge home court win last week over New Hampshire in the first round of the CIT.  Tonight’s game will be only the second of the season at home against a top-100 opponent for NJIT.  The other was a win back in January over Yale, though the Bulldogs were without their top player, Justin Sears, for most of that game.  The Highlanders will need to play one of their best games of the season if they want to defeat Cleveland State tonight.  However, they definitely have the ability to win this game as the Fleisher Center should be rocking loud tonight.  The magical story of the Team of the People could definitely continue beyond tonight — but it will not be easy.  And it certainly will be the game of the night in the CIT.

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NCAA Tournament Round of 32: Sunday, March 22nd

Posted on March 22, 2015 by David Griggs

-#7 MICHIGAN STATE – 60 VS #2 VIRGINIA – 54.  This was a slow down game between to really good defensive teams.  Michigan State has been playing out of their minds lately, including a strong finish to the regular season, a very good showing in the Big Ten Tournament, and now an upset win today.  They move on to the Sweet Sixteen and as hot as they’ve been they may not be done.

-#8 SAN DIEGO STATE VS #1 DUKE.  Duke is one of the best teams in the country, and at the time I’m writing this, they’re up big on San Diego State.  They haven’t been tested yet and may not be tested in the next round either.

-#7 WICHITA STATE VS #2 KANSAS.  This is a match up that us hoops fans have been waiting for a long time to see.  It’s a long list of games where teams should regularly play, but don’t.  Kansas is the better seed, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Wichita pulled the upset and won the bragging rights for being the best team in Kansas.

-#11 DAYTON VS #3 OKLAHOMA.  I’m to the point to where I need to stop doubting Dayton.  I don’t know how they’re doing it.  They have no front court and a very small rotation, yet they keep winning and keep beating good teams.  Oklahoma should win.  It makes no sense if they don’t, but they may not.  The winner gets Michigan State.

-#7 IOWA VS #2 GONZAGA.  Iowa has looked really good at times this year, and Gonzaga has looked really good at almost all points this year.  I still think the Zags are a Final Four caliber team and expect them to march on.

-#8 OREGON VS #1 WISCONSIN.  Oregon has played well down the stretch, but I think they’re done today.  Wisconsin is just better and I wouldn’t be surprised if this game ended up not being all that close.

-#5 WEST VIRGINIA VS #4 MARYLAND.  Another match up in this tournament that features two teams that should regularly play, but don’t.  both are very strong, and I think this one is a toss up.  The winner gets Kentucky, and whoever it is, I can see either one having a good shot at pulling the upset in the Sweet Sixteen.

-#5 NORTHERN IOWA VS #4 LOUISVILLE.  Northern Iowa is the lower seed, but I also think they are the far better team.  Their resume didn’t have a lot of quality wins, but that’s a reflection of their schedule and conference not affording them the opportunities and not the strength of their team.  Just by watching how the two teams have played down the stretch I think UNI gets this one.

 

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NCAA Tournament Round of 32: Saturday, March 21st

Posted on March 21, 2015 by David Griggs

FOR OUR NEW CHAT ROOM THAT WILL BE OPEN ALL DAY, CLICK HERE

For Chad Sherwood’s CIT Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

 

-#14 UAB VS #11 UCLA.  It’s the match up in the round of 32 we were all hoping for and expecting, especially a week ago before it was even Selection Sunday!!  I know UCLA won, and that it is a very winnable game for them today, but they could win it all and I still wouldn’t agree with the selection.  UAB played their best game in about five years against Iowa State on Thursday.  If they can rebound the ball and pass the ball today like they did in that game, it could be them that moves on.

-#8 CINCINNATI VS #1 KENTUCKY.  These teams are about eighty miles apart, but they almost never play.  It appears to be a mismatch, but Kentucky doesn’t do as well against half court teams as they do against teams that like to run.  The other problem for Cincinnati is that they don’t shoot the ball very well, and they’ll have to heat up if they want any chance at all of pulling the upset of the tournament so far.

-#10 OHIO STATE VS #2 ARIZONA.  It seems like Sean Miller and Thad Matta often square off, and that Matta’s team seems to win on a last second shot.  Today, Ohio State just seems to be way overmatched.  The winner will get either Xavier or Georgia State, and either match up will be interesting.

-#14 GEORGIA STATE VS #6 XAVIER.  If Georgia State manages to win this game, I hope Ron Hunter doesn’t decapitate himself.  He always seems to suffer an injury after any sort of big conference tournament or NCAA Tournament win.  Xavier has looked really good down the stretch of the season, and they certainly looked good winning decisively against Ole Miss on Thursday.  If they win they get a shot at either Arizona or Ohio State, both of whom they’d love a shot at.

-#8 NC STATE VS #1 VILLANOVA.  NC State is pretty good, but Nova appears to be exceptionally good.  NC State could play really well and still not be within reach once the game is over.

-#5 UTAH VS #4 GEORGETOWN.  I’m looking forward to this one.  Utah hasn’t won a game as impressive as beating a team like Georgetown on a neutral floor would be, but I think they’re better than what they’ve shown and wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled off the win today.  Having said that, I thought Georgetown was more impressive in their Round o 64 game than were the Utes.

-#5 ARKANSAS VS #4 NORTH CAROLINA.  Both these teams had to survive big scares with Arkansas edging out a very good Wofford team that we’ve been big on all year, and UNC holding off Harvard who, while good, didn’t play as well during most of the season as they did yesterday.  If they had, the Crimson would have earned a better seed and would have likely had much beter chance of advancing.  This should be an entertaining up and down match up, and it’s really a game that either team could win.

-#6 BUTLER VS #3 NOTRE DAME.  A very good game between two good teams who are regional opponents.  I think both have been much better than anyone was expecting when things got started back in November, but both had to sweat a little bit in the Round of 64 to get here.  This one should really a fun way to close things out tonight.

 

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