A Look At the Big Dance’s Best First Round Matchups

Finally, March Madness officially begins. It’s time to fill out your brackets and hope to win whatever pool or pools you’re entering. What I’m going to do right now is pick out the most intriguing first round matchups in each region. First though, a complaint. How did West Virginia, who tournament chairman Dan Guerro (UCLA A.D.) said was the first second seed, land in Kentucky’s bracket? Kentucky was said to be the number two team in the country behind Kansas, which means the Mountaineers should have landed in number four #1 seed Syracuse’s portion of the draw. But since the two schools are both in the Big East, why wasn’t West Virginia moved to Duke’s region?

This was a gift to the Blue Devils. Guerro lamely explained that West Virginia was kept close to home. What??? So, unfairness to the #1-seed schools be damned. The NCAA thinks keeping lower seeds closer to their home crowd at the expense of the teams that earned number one seeds is a good practice?

No way Dan, you, sir, are being completely disingenuous. This seeding placement was derived to aid Duke as much as possible while at the same time subtly punishing John Calipari.

It’s not like it wouldn’t be the first time either happened.

Onto the matchups.

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MIDWEST REGION
Overall number one seed Kansas resides in the Midwest portion of the draw but the Jayhawks didn’t get any favors being kept close to home. Though KU gets a patsy in Lehigh in the first round, there are some great first round matchups here.

#5 Michigan State – #12 New Mexico State. The Aggies went out and beat Utah St. 69-63 on their home court to claim the WAC championship. The NMSU likes to get up and down the floor they toughed it out against the “other” Aggies. On the other hand, this Spartans team is not one of Tom Izzos best. Though they play hard they just don’t have the overall talent of many of his other teams. The Aggies, though, give up 78 points a game. The Spartans should win but don’t be surprised if this game stays close late.

#8 UNLV – #9 Northern Iowa. Most #8-#9 matchups are tough games in the Big Dance and the nine seed wins about half the time. UNLV lost the Mountain West tourney final game to San Diego State 55-45 but this team is tough. However Northern Iowa became the first Missouri Valley Conference team to win its tourney championship back-to-back as a #1 seed. The Panthers are one of the toughest defensive teams in the nation and limited their MVC tournament opponents to a three-game total of 132 points, shattering the previous record of 147 set by Southern Illinois in 2006. But the Panthers are playing another team in the Rebels that loves to play defense. This will be a grinder but look for the #9 to come away with a win.

#4 Maryland – #12 Houston. Though this Tom Penders-coached Cougars team was an inconsistent 19-15 during the regular season and had to pull off a serious upset of heavily-favored UTEP to win the Conference USA tourney chip, the Terrapins need to take them seriously. Houston is athletic and have shooters, led by Aubrey Coleman, the nation’s leading scorer. They play a wide-open style on offense and can get after their opponents on defense. The Terps are led by mercurial point guard Grevais Vasquez. On paper Maryland should win easily but watch out. The Terps can be maddeningly inconsistent within the 40 minutes of a game and if the Cougars can gain some momentum during one of Maryland’s walkabout periods during the game, they can pull off the upset. But look for Maryland will win this one.

#6 Tennessee – #11 San Diego State. SDSU is the best #11-seed in the tournament and are playing a Tennessee team that got stomped by Kentucky in the SEC semifinals. Bruce Pearl is known as a great motivational coach but he will have to do the job of his life to get this Vols team back off the carpet before they play the Aztecs. This is an upset waiting to happen. Look for the Aztecs to send Tennessee back to Knoxville.

#7 Oklahoma State – #10 Georgia Tech. OK St. will, most often, feature a four-guard offense, spread the floor, drive and kick with multiple ball handlers and knock down threes and mid-range jumpers. Their opponents, the Yellowjackets, will feature two potential lottery picks in forwards Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors. The problem for Tech is, can their point guard trio realize exactly how potent the two big men are, feed the post, and play the game from inside out? If they don’t the Cowboys will burn them.

EAST REGION
#8 Texas #9 Wake Forest. The Longhorns were once 17-0 and #1 in the country before finishing their season 24-9. Injures to guards have made life difficult for Rick Barnes and the point guards the Longhorns have don’t seem to understand they have potent post scoring men in swingman Damion James and Dexter Pittman. The Demon Deacons finished their ACC season poorly and them got blown out by Miami in the tournament, 83-62. This game is a battle of confidence. Will Texas upperclassmen James and Pitman be able to carry the day or will the young Wake players relax an play to their abilities? Texas should win motivated by the fact that they would play Kentucky in the second round. And Texas actually has the talent to upset the hyper-talented but young Wildcats.

#5 Temple – #12 Cornell. This is the trendy upset pick. temple is the A10 champion, while Cornell took care of the Ivy League. The Big Red like to play slow, slow, slow and shoot more than their share of threes. Temple can play different tempos within their Princeton-style offense, but also like to be deliberate. The Owls, though, can play lock down defense, which should separate them enough from Cornell to avoid the upset.

#6 Marquette – #11 Washington. This game will be an interesting contrast in styles. Washington was a preseason nationally-ranked team and went downhill from there. The Golden Eagles, on the other hand, are one of the hardest-playing teams in the Big Dance. This game is about which team can impose its style n the other. The Huskies like to play up-tempo and score points while Marquette wants to get in your face on defense and will look for the best shot not the first shot on offense. Look for the Golden Eagles to grind out a tough game.

(Next the South and West Regions)