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-#15 NEW MEXICO STATE VS #2 KANSAS. New Mexico State ran away from the WAC this year, but that’s not really saying much. Kansas shouldn’t have too much trouble advancing.
-#10 GEORGIA VS #7 MICHIGAN STATE. Georgia had a very strong year, and should be even better next year. Michigan State looked very good the last couple weeks of the season, and they almost won the Big Ten Tournament. Given how they’re playing now they could go deep into the tournament.
-#12 WYOMING VS #5 NORTHERN IOWA. Wyoming looked strong in the Mountain West Tournament, and had some decent wins during the year. Northern Iowa had just three losses, and are probably much better than their seed indicates.
-#12 BUFFALO VS #5 WEST VIRGINIA. West Virginia is really strong, and I don’t expect them to have too much trouble, but Buffalo is tough and may make it a game for a while.
-#10 INDIANA VS #7 WICHITA STATE. I’m not a huge fan of Indiana’s profile, and although they appeared to be playing better down the stretch, I think they’re overmatched today against an underseeded Wichita State team.
-#15 BELMONT VS #2 VIRGINIA. Belmont won the OVC Tournament, but didn’t really do a whole lot to indicate they’re capable of pulling the upset. Virginia’s defense is very tough and I think they’re one of the teams that could end up winning it all.
-#13 UC IRVINE VS #4 LOUISVILLE. I’m not as big on Louisville as the committee was, and although I think they’ll win today against a pretty good UC Irvine team, I don’t see them going too much further. They don’t have a whole lot of big wins away from home.
-#13 VALPARAISO VS #4 MARYLAND. I like this Valpo team, and it wouldn’t shock me if they pulled off the upset, but this isn’t the best match up for them. Maryland is really good and should go far in the tournament.
-#9 OKLAHOMA STATE VS #8 OREGON. Oregon was playing their best basketball at the end of the season, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they carried that momentum into the tournament. Okie State is certainly battle tested, as most of their losses came against really strong teams.
-#16 ROBERT MORRIS VS #1 DUKE. Duke had a fantastic season, and beat several top ten teams in true road game. It’s been an exciting run for Robert Morris, but I don’t see them going any further.
-#10 DAVIDSON VS #7 IOWA. Davidson is a very good shooting team that’s very tough to beat when their shots are falling. Iowa has been somewhat inconsistent, but they’re capable of playing really well and it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up winning a couple games in the tournament.
-#14 ALBANY VS #3 OKLAHOMA. Albany pretty much dominated the America East, but I think they’re in over their heads today against a very good Oklahoma team.
-#16 COASTAL CAROLINA VS #1 WISCONSIN. Wisky has a very strong team that finished in first place in the Big Ten, and won the conference tournament. Coastal Carolina got to play their conference tournament on their home floor, and I think they’re probably in over their heads today.
-#9 SAINT JOHN’S VS #8 SAN DIEGO STATE. San Diego State is a very strong defensive team that will give Saint John’s a lot of trouble. The Jonnies were playing well down the stretch, but they’re not quite at full strength and it wouldn’t surprise me if they struggled today.
-#15 NORTH DAKOTA STATE VS #2 GONZAGA. North Dakota State has a very young and exciting team that should continue to improve in the coming years. Gonzaga is a Final Four caliber team and is probably just too much for them, though
-#11 DAYTON VS #6 PROVIDENCE. Dayton had a very exciting win against a pretty good Boise State team in the First Four. Providence has been somewhat inconsistent this year, but they really were playing well down the stretch and if they play like that in the tournament they have a chance to go pretty far.
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.