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-#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.
NCAA Tournament: Thursday, March 19th
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-All four games of the first round were highly entertaining with Hampton beating Manhattan in an up-tempo, albeit sloppy, game. Ole Miss came from 17 down to beat BYU and move on to face Xavier, North Florida and Robert Morris went back and forth, and Dayton overcame a late deficit to come back and beat Boise State. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come.
-#14 NORTHEASTERN VS #3 NOTRE DAME (Midwest). If this were an out of conference game, it would be one of Notre Dame’s tougher ones. Northeastern is a team that looked good early, but then appeared to struggle in conference a little more than expected. The Irish have one of their best teams in several years and are looking to go deep.
-#14 UAB VS #3 IOWA STATE (South). Iowa State appears to be playing their best basketball right now. UAB was a very strong team at home this year, but not so much on the road. They’ve got a very young team and should be strong next year, but they appear to be way overmatched today.
-#14 GEORGIA STATE VS #3 BAYLOR (West). Georgia State had a good year, but we were expecting them to be even better. Although they finished first and won the conference tournament, we thought they’d be good enough to actually land inside the bubble. Baylor, is certainly battle tested and looked good down the stretch as well, and they appear to be way too much for Georgia State.
-TEXAS SOUTHERN VS ARIZONA (West). Texas Southern surprised us a little bit out of conference, but this is a huge mismatch against an Arizona team that looks almost as good as anyone right now.
-#11 TEXAS VS #6 BUTLER (Midwest). Texas played a very strong schedule this year, but ended up losing most of the games, hence the #11 seed. I actually think Butler is better than a #6 seed, especially when you look at their profile. It should be a good one today.
-#11 UCLA VS #6 SMU (South). This is a match up between a UCLA team that almost no one thinks should be in the field, and an SMU team that many here at Hoops HD feel is overseeded. So, not exactly the best build up for a game.
-OLE MISS VS XAVIER (West). Xavier looked really impressive in the Big East Tournament beating two ranked teams away from home and drastically improving their profile, but they’ve been inconsistent throughout the year. So has Ole Miss. Both teams have shown they can play with good teams and lose to weaker ones, so this is anybody’s guess.
-OHIO STATE VS VCU (West). VCU has struggled with injuries, but still looked good all throughout their conference tournament. Ohio State hasn’t looked all that good away from home at any point, and it’ll be interesting to see how they handle VCU’s pressure.
-#16 LAFAYETTE VS #1 VILLANOVA (East). Nova is good enough to win this whole tournament. Today is kind of a tune up against a Lafayette team that finished in the middle of the Patriot League.
-#9 PURDUE VS #8 CINCINNATI (Midwest). Cincinnati was inconsistent this year, but they did manage some pretty impressive wins. Purdue was really playing well down the stretch so they have some momentum coming into this game. The winner will most likely get Kentucky, which is interesting because Cincinnati and Kentucky are roughly eighty miles apart, but they rarely play.
-#13 HARVARD VS #4 NORTH CAROLINA (West). Harvard was a team we were expecting a lot out of, and although they won the Ivy League in exciting fashion, they still didn’t run away with it like we were expecting. They do have a lot of talent on their roster, though. North Carolina was really playing well down the stretch and could be a very dangerous team in this tournament.
-#12 SFA VS #5 UTAH(South). SFA has a bloated record against a very weak schedule, but that was also the case a year ago and they managed a big win in the round of 64. Utah’s profile isn’t all that strong, but their team is pretty good and they could potentially go pretty far.
-#9 LSU VS #8 NC STATE (East). LSU seems to beat the good teams and struggle against the poor ones, so one never knows who is going to show up. NC State is fairly solid, although they didn’t look it in their last game against Duke. This one is pretty evenly matched and should be fun to watch.
-#16 HAMPTON VS #1 KENTUCKY (Midwest). Kentucky hasn’t lost all year and I don’t expect them to lose today. It could get ugly.
-#12 WOFFORD VS #5 ARKANSAS (West). I really like this Wofford team and certainly think they’re good enough to pull off a win in the round of 64, but Arkansas isn’t the best match up for them. Arkansas looked great this year whenever they weren’t playing Kentucky.
-#13 EASTERN WASHINGTON VS #4 GEORGETOWN (South). Eastern Washington is a tough team that managed a win at Indiana earlier this year, and beat a Montana team on the road to win the conference tournament, so they are potentially dangerous. Georgetown is strong, but they’ve gone out early in the tournament before and I wouldn’t be entirely shocked if it happened again today.