Thursday’s first-round games are
rapidly approaching.
If you want an appetizer before the
entrée is served, here’s a peek at each of those matchups:
All times
Eastern
ATLANTA REGION
At Greensboro
No. 8 George Washington (26-2) vs.
UNC-Wilmington (25-7), 7:10 p.m
Things to consider: A loss to
Temple in an Atlantic 10
quarterfinal couldn’t have impacted the Colonials’ tournament seed that much. Obviously, the selection
committee didn’t have a lot of respect for Coach Karl Hobbs’ team – or, at least, the
competition it faced, inside and outside of its conference. The Seahawks were
the best team in an underrated (Colonial Athletic Association) conference. Their
victory over No. 4 seed USC four years ago was a much bigger upset than a win in
this game would be.
Frank’s Spin: The committee didn’t give
the Colonials much respect but we will – one game’s worth, at
least.
No. 1 Duke (30-3) vs. No. 16 Southern
(19-12), 9:40 p.m.
Things to consider: J.J. Redick seems
to have gotten his jump shot back into shape, based on his performance in the
ACC Tournament. But the Blue Devils’ ability to get to
Indianapolis is still contingent on
the efforts the team gets from players not named Redick or Shelden Williams. Southern is turnover
prone. And that’s not a good thing to be when you hook up with
Duke.
Frank’s Spin: The Blue Devils will have
their first blowout in nearly a month.
At Jacksonville
No. 4 LSU (23-8) vs. No. 13
Iona (23-7), 7:10 p.m.
Things to consider: The Tigers have as
good a chance of any in this region of toppling Duke but that will only be done
with a healthy Tyrus Thomas, hobbled
for a few weeks with an ankle sprain. Iona, led by guard
Steve Burtt, will push the tempo and
shoot quickly. But that’s a style in which LSU will
flourish.
Frank’s Spin: The Tigers bag their
first tournament win in six years.
No. 5 Syracuse (23-11) vs. No. 12
Texas A&M (21-8), 9:40 p.m.
Things to consider:
Syracuse alumni across the world
owe a collective ``Thank you’’ to Gerry McNamara. Without him, they are preparing the Carrier Dome for an NIT game
right now. How does a Big 12 school get just as 12 seed with a 10-6 conference
finish? When it plays a non-conference schedule as unchallenging as did the
Aggies, that’s how.
Frank’s Spin: Here’s the second “12-5
upset” we’re going with on Day One. Joseph Jones will do damage on the
interior, while Acie Law will do
just enough against the perimeter of the
Orange zone to move the Aggies to
Round 2.
OAKLAND REGION
At Salt Lake City
No. 3 Gonzaga (27-3) vs. No. 14 Xavier
(21-10), 7:20 p.m.
Things to consider: The Bulldogs
struggled against teams over the past few weeks of the West Coast Conference
season that weren’t as good as the Musketeers. But Coach Mark Few’s club has had nine days to
get ready for its tourney opener and Adam Morrison isn’t going to allow the
Bulldogs to stumble in this one. After losing nine of its final 14
regular-season games, Xavier collected four consecutive Atlantic 10 tourney
victories to earn the right to try to play defense against Morrison.
Frank’s Spin: CBS will get to televise
at least one more of Morrison’s, eh, Gonzaga’s games.
No. 6 Indiana (18-11) vs. No. 11
San
Diego
State (24-8), 9:50 p.m.
Things to consider: The Hoosiers’ NCAA
Tournament hopes were nearly as non-existent as Mike Davis’ future as the program’s
coach – and then IU won five Big Ten games in a row. Marco Killingsworth is one of the four
or five toughest players to cope with, down low, and the Hoosiers have an
underrated corps of perimeter threats, led by Robert Vaden. Forward Marcus Slaughter and guard Brandon Heath are the two main reasons
the Aztecs have a reasonable chance of ending
Davis’
Bloomington stint in this
one.
Frank’s Spin: Going 9-7 in the Big Ten
took a lot more doing than going 13-3 in the Mountain West this season. The
Hoosiers move on to face Gonzaga Saturday.
At San Diego
No. 7 Marquette (20-10) vs. No. 10
Alabama (17-12), 2:40 p.m.
Things to consider: This could prove as
good a first-day game as will be played. The Crimson Tide will have to keep Steve Novak from getting free for a lot
of jumpers (he doesn’t miss a lot of them, folks) while the Golden Eagles can’t
let Jermareo Davidson and Richard Hendrix dominate them in the
paint. The battle of point guards, freshman Dominic James and sophomore Ronald Steele, should be a dandy to
watch.
Frank’s Spin: This is a toughie to call
but, when in doubt, go with Novak’s jump shot.
No. 2 UCLA (27-6) vs. No. 15
Belmont (20-10), 5:10 p.m
Things to consider: The team from
Nashville is making its school’s
first NCAA tourney appearance and also goes by the Bruins’ nickname. And the CBS
announcers are going to have a whole lot of air time to try to fill when this
thing gets out of hand fairly quickly. There is zero chance Ben Howland lets his Bruins look past
Belmont.
Frank’s Spin: If UCLA struggles in this
one, the overall quality of the Pac 10 will again be called into
question.
WASHINGTON, D.C. REGION
At Greensboro
No. 7 Wichita State (24-8) vs. No. 10 Seton Hall (18-11),
12:20 p.m.
Things to consider: The Pirates were
about as unpredictable as any team in the country, getting whacked by Duke and
Connecticut by a combined margin of 95 points but also scoring upsets on the
home floors of North Carolina State and Pittsburgh. The Shockers won the
Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title and lost a game at the buzzer to
Illinois on Nov. 25, which had to
impress the selection and seeding committee.
Frank’s Spin: All of those who think
the MVC is over-represented and that
Cincinnati got stiffed will pay
close attention to this one. The Shockers win one for their
conference.
No. 2 Tennessee (21-7) vs. No. 15
Winthrop (23-7), 2:50 p.m.
Things to consider: The Volunteers have
a glistening resume (including wins at
Texas,
Florida and
Kentucky) but struggled down the
stretch in the Southeastern Conference, losing four of its final six games.
Winthrop lost three times to SEC
schools (Auburn,
Alabama and South
Carolina) and to another
Tennessee opponent
(Memphis) as
well.
Frank’s Spin: If there’s going to be a
“15-2 upset”, this is where it happens. But it’s not going to
happen.
At San Diego
No. 4 Illinois (25-6) vs. No. 13 Air Force (24-6),
7:25
p.m.
Things to consider: There are those who
believe the Illini deserved something better than a No. 4 seed, and more than
that who think the Falcons shouldn’t have been awarded one of the final couple
of at-large bids. This game presents the perfect opportunity for opinions to be
swayed one way or another. If Dee Brown (a .367 shooter this season) isn’t knocking down jump shots, the
Falcons will have a more than decent opportunity to serve up some figurative
crow to those who scoffed at their invitation.
Frank’s Spin: The Illini swept a pair
of Big Ten games with Northwestern, which, like Air Force, runs a form of the
“Princeton offense”. That’s enough to believe that Coach
Bruce Weber’s club will prevail in
this one.
No. 5 Washington (24-6) vs. No. 12
Utah State (23-8), 9:55 p.m.
Things to consider: The Huskies have
one of the five best players in the country in Pac 10 Player of the Year Brandon Roy. He was the primary reason
Lorenzo Romar’s team finished just a
game out of first place in the conference. The Aggies came within just a couple
of close-in misses at the end of regulation to beating host
Nevada in the Western Athletic
Conference tourney final. They are fairly well equipped to keep the Huskies out
of the fast-paced transition attack in which they flourish.
Frank’s Spin: There is less inclination
to pick the Aggies in an upset than there was a couple of days ago but, after
publicly committing to Utah
State on Selection Sunday, there’s no
going back now.
MINNEAPOLIS REGION
At Jacksonville
No. 6 Oklahoma (20-8) vs. No. 11 Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(21-8), 12:25 p.m.
Things to consider: The Sooners were
4-3 in their final seven games but each of those victories was by a single point
and none came against teams in the NCAA Tournament. They haven’t beaten a team
in the tourney field since knocking off Texas A&M on Feb. 1. The Panthers
have four players who started during the team’s Sweet 16 run of last season, the
most notable of those being forward Joah Tucker.
Frank’s Spin: The Sooners have been
cutting it way too close to the edge of late. Go with the team that got to the
Sweet 16 last year.
No. 3 Florida (27-6) vs. No. 14 South Alabama (24-6), 2:55 p.m.
Things to consider: The Gators suffered
four of their six losses to SEC foes
Tennessee and
South Carolina. Billy Donovan has the best sophomore
class in the country, and each of the four starters in that group average at
least 11.5 points per game. Jaguars’ coach John Pelphrey played for Donovan when
he was an assistant at Kentucky
and was on the Gators’ staff before being hired by South
Alabama. So nothing much, scheme wise, presented by
Florida will surprise
him.
Frank’s Spin: In the (sort of) matchup
of mentor and protégé, go with the guy who has the much better team. In this
case, that’s Donovan.
At Salt Lake City
No. 4 Boston College (26-7) vs. No. 13 Pacific (24-7),
12:40 p.m.
Things to consider: The Tigers are
playing very good basketball, led by center Christian Maraker and point guard Johnny Gray. And this is a program that
knocked off Providence and
Pittsburgh in tournament first-round
games the past two seasons. But Boston
College is playing as well as any
team in the country right now, as evidenced by the Eagles’ play in the ACC
Tournament last weekend.
Frank’s Spin: The pick here is for
Boston
College to get to the Final Four, so
this is where the Tigers’ season ends.
No. 5 Nevada (27-5) vs. No. 12
Montana (23-6), 3:10 p.m.
Things to consider: The Wolf Pack have
one of the most skilled big men in the country in Nick Fazekas and a lot of other viable
weapons surrounding him. In the West, only UCLA has played better of late than
has Mark Fox’s team. The Grizzlies
closed fast and, based on the 12 seed they received (after being a 16
seed as the Big Sky’s representative a year ago), did a lot to impress the
selection committee.
Frank’s Spin:
Nevada picks up its fourth
tournament victory in three seasons.
Inducted into the USBWA Hall of
Fame last April, Frank Burlison is Scout.com’s national basketball expert and is
also a columnist for the Long Beach
(Calif.) Press-Telegram. He can be
reached at frank.burlison@presstelegram.com. Read more of Burlison’s pieces at
www.collegehoops.scout.com