March Madness Sleepers, Best Games, and More

I'll have my picks tomorrow, but here are some jumbled thoughts and lists for the Tourney.

Best Games, Round 1
- Notre Dame vs. Winthrop - Two teams that both get up and down the floor and shoot a lot of 3s. This game could be played in the 90s (scoring-wise).
- Nevada vs. Creighton - Two great mid-majors who are talented and tough offensively and defensively.
- Tennessee vs. Long Beach St. - Much like Notre Dame/Winthrop, this will feature a lot of 3s, and this will be played at breakneck speed, and will have a lot of points scored.
- UNLV vs. Georgia Tech - I must admit that I have absolutely no idea how to pick this game.
- Maryland vs. Davidson - Davidson is a really good team... I don't really like this draw for them, but they can definitely hang with the Terps.

Best Potential Games, Round 2
- Notre Dame/Winthrop vs. Oregon - I think whoever Oregon plays (presuming they win) this will be a great matchup. Lots of 3s, lots of points, lots of excitement.
- Duke vs. Pittsburgh - Look, Duke is not as bad as you think. They're very good defensively, and they are improving offensively. If they get by VCU in round 1, I actually like them to knock off Pitt.
- Nevada vs. Memphis - Very dangerous game for the 2nd seeded Tigers.

Best Potential Games, Sweet 16
- UCLA vs. Pittsburgh - Just for all of the Ben Howland against Pittsburgh/Jamie Dixon storylines.
- North Carolina vs. Texas - Honestly, do I even have to explain?
- Ohio St. vs. Tennessee - You heard it here first, The Vols would be able to give the Buckeyes fits. Wayne Chism could pull Oden out from under the basket, opening up the lane. The Buckeyes couldn't play zone either, because the Vols just have too many good shooters. This would be a very intriguing matchup.

Middle Seeds with Potential for a deep run
- Notre Dame - I really like this team. They shoot the 3 ball as well as anyone, they have some solid big men, and Tory Jackson is quickly establishing himself as one of the best freshman PGs in the country.
- Winthrop - I include them with Notre Dame so much because I think the winner of that game has a real shot to get to the Elite 8. Like George Mason last year, Winthrop has quality big men, which is rare for mid-majors.
- Tennessee - I already talked about them above. They pose a lot of matchup problems.
- Texas - They sort of count as a middle seed. I wouldn't be shocked to see them cutting down the nets. Kevin Durant is that good.

13 seeds and lower than can pull an upset
- Oral Roberts - This is sort of the trendy pick, because Oral Roberts has shown they're not scared to face the big boys, and Washington St. is making their first Tourney experience in a while. I don't think this upset will happen, but it certainly wouldn't be a shock if it did.
- Davidson - They control the ball, and they have a star in frosh Stephen Curry. Just a very good mid-major.
- Wright St. - They beat Butler in the Horizon Championship to earn the auto bid, so you know they're good. Also, despite Pitt getting to the Big East title game, they are not playing very well lately. Aaron Gray needs to show up.
- Albany - I like Albany, but this has more to do with my feelings for Virginia than Albany.
Teams that were overseeded
- Virginia - Virginia getting a 4 seed is just baffling.
- Arkansas - Just them being in the Tourney makes them overseeded.
- USC - They're a good team, but other than 2 wins against Oregon and 1 against Washington St., what did they do to deserve a 5 seed?
- Butler - Has the committee watched them play lately?
Ranking the easiness of 1 seeds path to Atlanta
1) Florida - Are you kidding me? Who's going to beat them in that bracket?
2) Ohio St. - Tennessee could be a tough game, and I'm not sure they'd make it out of an Elite 8 meeting with Texas A&M, but other than that things look good for the Buckeyes.
3) Kansas - Potential Elite 8 meeting against UCLA in San Jose. The committee did Kansas no favors there.
4) North Carolina - Could potentially have to get by Texas and Georgetown, who are playing as well as anyone in the country right now.

Who are your sleepers?

Early Bracket Thoughts

I'll have a lot more stuff on the bracket in the next few days, but here are my initial impressions:

- I am shocked - SHOCKED - that Arkansas, Stanford, and Illinois are in the pool about Syracuse and Drexel. It just makes absolutely no sense to me. The Razorbacks were 7-9 in the very mediocre SEC West, and I believe they have something like 2 road wins on the year. Meanwhile, Drexel has 13 road wins (including Syracuse, Villanova, and Creighton), and Syracuse was 10-6 in the Big East (which is deeper and better than the SEC), and has wins over Georgetown (trendy champion pick), Villanova, and Marquette. An absolutely perplexing decision to put Arkansas in the field either any of those two. Or over Kansas St. or Missouri St.

- I like what Bob Huggins said... how important is the conference tourney draw? If Ole Miss loses to Florida in the SEC final instead of semifinal, are they in the Tourney instead of Arkansas? If you can't tell, the inclusion of Arkansas just baffles me.

- Upon first look, Florida looks like it has an absolute cakewalk to the Final Four. I really think Wisconsin is a weak 2 seed, and the top half of the bracket shouldn't pose too many problems. A hot shooting Notre Dame or Oregon team might be able to beat them in the Elite 8, but other than that I'm hard-pressed to see anyone else beating them before Atlanta.

- On a similar token, Georgetown doesn't look to have any trouble whatsoever getting to the Elite Eight.

- When I saw UCLA wasn't a 1 seed, I was praying they wouldn't be in Florida or Kansas' bracket... I didn't get exactly what I hoped for, but the Bruins could be playing with virtual homecourt advantage, as the first 2 games are in Sacramento and the next two would be in San Jose.

- I'll get into the best games of the Tourney in a post later in the next couple days, but there are two first round matchups that stick out to me as just being some fascinating games - Notre Dame/Wintrhop and Nevada/Creighton.

- Oral Roberts is a strong 14 and Washington St. is a weak 3 seed... very interesting matchup there.

- Have I mentioned that Arkansas and Stanford getting in over Syracuse and Drexel makes absolutely no sense to me?

- Offhand, teams that seem like they can win a Championship in my mind: Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Georgetown, Ohio St., Texas A&M, Kansas, and UCLA.

Much more coming up this week... for other stuff check out WBRS' case for Drexel, or the JCMJ Thoughts.

What stuck out to you?

Georgetown/Notre Dame

Sort of in a hurry, but I wanted to say something about the Georgetown/Notre Dame game, because I found it to be so entertaining.

I could talk about Jeff Green, because he was absolutely fantastic for the Hoyas, but he was the Big East Player of the Year so everyone knows about him. I want to focus on two guys that are more considered role players but just played fantastic.

For the Irish, it was the freshman Tory Jackson. How good was he? He was all over the place, and scored every big basket for the Irish down the stretch. With the score 76-69 late in the 2nd half, Georgetown looked to be on the way to the Big East title game... then Jackson decided to go on a 7-0 run, with a killer crossover, spin moves, and a little bit of everything else. I felt like I was watching a star in the making. He finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and only 2 turnovers. He controlled the game and was utterly fantastic throughout.

For Georgetown, got to love the performance of Patrick Ewing Jr., who is a lot more athletic than I thought he was. With Roy Hibbert not doing a whole lot due to foul trouble and the Notre Dame zone, Ewing's more varied offensive game was huge. He finished with force down low, and showed off a nice 18-footer. He finished with 15 points in 28 minutes and was instrumental for the Hoyas.

Just a great game, and what Championship Week is all about! Hoyas take on Pittsburgh for the Big East title game Saturday night.