NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
March 16, 2009 by David Im
Midwest
Region MVP: Terrence Williams
All-Regional Team: Earl Clark, Devin Ebanks, Kalin Lucas, Goran Suton, Terrence Williams
Get to know: Devin Ebanks
Potential Cinderella: 6 West Virginia
Upset Special: 12 Arizona over 5 Utah
Forecast: Although Louisville is the No. 1 overall seed, they were put in the toughest region. Fortunately for them, their road to the Elite Eight is pretty smooth with a potential Wake Forest match-up in the Sweet 16 being their only challenge. The tougher teams are definitely on the other side of the bracket, making a 2 vs. 3 game in the Elite Eight unlikely. West Virginia showed they cannot be taken lightly with their 14-point dismantling over Pittsburgh in the Big East Tournament. Look for Bob Huggins’s squad to take down defending champion Kansas in the second round. After taking care of Robert Morris, Michigan State can’t be looking forward to playing against Tyrese Rice. The Spartans should hope USC upsets Boston College because the Trojans would be a much easier opponent. In the end it’ll be Louisville vs. MSU in the Elite Eight and the Cardinals will win in a brawl, advancing to the Final Four for the second time in five years.
West
Region MVP: Hasheem Thabeet
All-Regional Team: Robert Dozier, Tyreke Evans, AJ Price, Hasheem Thabeet, Gary Wilkinson
Get to know: Tyreke Evans
Potential Cinderella: 11 Utah State
Upset Special: 11 Utah State over 6 Marquette
Forecast: The All-Overrated Region. Missouri. Overrated. Washington. Overrated. Purdue. Overrated. And Marquette is not nearly as dangerous without Dominic James in the lineup. This is the one region that could see a ton of upsets in the first two days of the tournament. As a matter of fact, I could see the 9-14 teams all winning their first-round games. The most likely? Utah State over Marquette. After starting the season 24-1, the Aggies lost some steam at the end of the season, only winning three of their next six, but rebounded nicely to win their conference tournament. They can make it to the Sweet 16 and even the Elite Eight. With all that said, a showdown between Connecticut and Memphis is looming in the Elite Eight. But it won’t be as exciting as we all think because Memphis is a bit overrated as well. 19-0 in conference play (3-0 in the conference tournament) is nothing to sneeze at but they play in basically a mid-major conference. A handful of teams from the power conferences could have done that in Conference USA. UConn, the weakest No. 1 seed, lucked out mightily by being put in this bracket and should have ZERO problems getting to the Final Four.
East
Region MVP: Toney Douglas
All-Regional Team: DeJuan Blair, Toney Douglas, Gerald Henderson, Eric Maynor, Larry Sanders
Get to know: Eric Maynor
Potential Cinderella: 5 Florida State/11 VCU
Upset Special: 11 VCU over 6 UCLA
Forecast: The East is the easiest region in the tournament. Duke, Villanova, and Xavier are all vulnerable teams and potential upset victims in the second round. Xavier will be eliminated by Florida State and Douglas, the runner-up for ACC Player of the Year. He’s already made himself known to ACC fans, averaging 21.1 ppg during the season and 26.7 ppg during the conference tournament. Now, he’ll make himself known to fans across the country as he will lead the Seminoles to the biggest upset of the Tournament, beating Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16. DeJuan Blair’s foul troubles will haunt the Panthers and they will find themselves making an early trip back home. On the other side of the region, I like VCU. They have a lead guard in Maynor (a legitimate first-round NBA prospect and the school’s all-time leading scorer) who could absolutely dominate games and has NCAA (upset) experience. As a sophomore, he led his school to the second week after hitting the game-winning jumper against Duke. A rematch can, and will happen in the Sweet 16 with VCU again, getting the best of the Blue Devils. This will set up an exciting (but unsexy to fans) match-up between two of the best guards in the entire field. Douglas will get the better of Maynor and the Seminoles will head to Detroit.
South
Region MVP: Ty Lawson
All-Regional Team: Jonny Flynn, Blake Griffin, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Jeremy Pargo
Get to know: Jonny Flynn
Potential Cinderella: 12 Western Kentucky
Upset Special: 11 Temple over 6 Arizona State
Forecast: The South may have the most NBA prospects out of any region. Ten of the region’s 16 teams have legitimate prospects and it features the possible top two picks in the upcoming draft in Oklahoma’s Griffin and Arizona State’s James Harden. Harden, however, will only have a small taste of March Madness as the nation will be introduced to Temple’s Dionte Christmas. The senior from Philadelphia has legitimate NBA-range and he’ll shoot the Owls to an upset over ASU. Temple’s tournament will end when they run into the most exciting player in the region (and possibly nation), Flynn, and his Syracuse Orange. We all saw their amazing six-OT victory over UConn in the Big East Tournament and they’ll be rested enough by Friday to start a new run. Unfortunately for the Orange, Griffin stands between them and the Elite Eight and OU’s manchild will be too much for Syracuse. Griffin could out-rebound the entire Orange team by himself and he’ll dominate the paint for the Sooners. This will set up the showdown of the tournament as the last two National Players of the Year, Griffin and Tyler Hansbrough, will go up against each other. Griffin may get the better of Psycho T but (a healthy) Ty Lawson and the rest of the Tar Heels will run past Oklahoma on their way to the Final Four.
Final Four
Louisville, Connecticut, Florida State, North Carolina
Finals: Connecticut vs. North Carolina
National Champion: North Carolina
Most Outstanding Player: Ty Lawson
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