“I’m familiar with Green Bay”, Warlick said. In each of the other five times, he’s never won more than one game. “Now, it’s just this is it. This is my last try”. The Jayhawks are seeking their first national title since 2008. Yes, they blew a huge lead against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament, but they built that lead in the first place.
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They were able to handle Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament in the semis. Everyone remembers Final Four. The Huskies are in the Bridgeport Regional. UConn has already beaten the Gamecocks and Irish this season. There’s a few teams that everyone should be afraid to face.
Good wins: None – except for four straight in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Williams and the rest of the team plan on drawing from moments during last year’s tournament to help advance this year. But long shots don’t win the men’s basketball championship.
There is a team that is a number one seed who you should be afraid to see in this tourney. The Colonials won the NEC championship.
Given coach Tom Izzo’s track record of deep runs into the tournament it is no shock that within the Midwest Region the No. 2 Michigan State Spartans (+750) are getting better odds than the No. 1-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (+1100). Wayne Selden Jr. also posted some notable numbers, registering 13.3 points on 47.4 percent shooting, as did Frank Mason III, who chipped in 13.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists a night.
“Is it where we usually are?”
“It motivates us a lot”, said senior Perry Ellis. In the South, they could have to play Maryland and Villanova before a Final Four meeting against Oklahoma. Gonzaga is a double-digit seed for just the third time since 2001. This year, they’re hoping to stick around for a while.
IOWA’S FADE: Iowa (21-10) has slid from a top-10 ranking to a No. 7 seed with six losses in eight games. No, but I think we’ve turned it around…. As the season was coming to a close, they were really the one team that everyone pointed to as possibly being “elite”, even though we were all pretty sure that this type of team didn’t exist this season. Saint Joseph’s comes in off an A-10 tournament title and features the league’s best player in DeAndre’ Bembry. Syracuse was ineligible for the postseason a year ago due to NCAA violations, and barely snuck in this season. I’d love to pick the ‘little engine that could, ‘ but I believe the top-ranked team will move on.
Although his team is the overwhelming favorite, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said he isn’t overlooking the first weekend of South region play.
Penn is a 10-seed and will face Washington in the opening round.
If it does beat Tennessee, it still might have to play No. 2 seed Arizona State in a second-round game. Other newcomers include Buffalo, Central Arkansas, Iona and Jacksonville.
North Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the East Region.
So what will this year’s NCAA tournament bring? Monmouth, which went out of its way to toughen its schedule, per the NCAA’s mandate, and St. Bonaventure, which was rated 25 in the RPI but had bad strength of schedule, were among those that did not. “Each team had their own merits”.
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“I feel like if we keep that mentality, we’ll be fine”.
