Sweet 16

Here is a quick breakdown of the match ups over the next two days. If you are going to fill out a second chance bracket and have not done so yet, I encourage you to pick exactly the opposite of me (this is based off of my track record from the first two rounds)

Thursday:

Xavier vs. West Virginia (Phoenix, 7:10pm) Hooray for Duke not being in the Tournament anymore! I think the Drew Lavender/Joe Mazzula matchup with be the determining factor in this game. I know Mazzula has come off the bench for the Mountaineers in the first two games, but he has been the spark plug that has ignited them thus far. Unfortunately it will not be enough for WVU. My pick – Xavier by 7.

North Carolina vs. Washington St. (Charlotte, 7:27pm) UNC wants to get up and down the court to the tune of 90+ points. WSU would love to see a game in the low 60s, it will be interesting to see who gets control of the game first. WSU stomped Notre Dame and UNC has had a walk in their first to games. I am going to say this is close for awhile before UNC’s deep bench takes control late. My pick – UNC by 11.

UCLA vs. Western Kentucky (Phoenix, 9:40pm) Probably the most unlikely sweet 16 game. No one expected WKU to get past Drake more or less UConn in the second round, then a funny thing happened and San Diego took care of UConn and we got a 12/13 second round game. UCLA may (read: most definitely) had a little help from the refs in the last 20 seconds against A&M, but I don’t see a miracle upset here. My pick – UCLA by 19.

Tennessee vs. Louisville (Charlotte, 9:57pm) Tennessee has been less than impressive in their first two games. Louisville ran an overseeded Oklahoma out of the gym in the second round. A lot of things I have read think that UT is going to have no trouble with the Cardinals, but I am going to disagree. My pick – Louisville by 3.

Friday:

Wisconsin vs. Davidson (Detroit, 7:10pm) Davidson is not as surprising as WKU do to the fact that they have an NBA caliber guard (Stephen Curry) absolutely carrying them through the tourney. Wisconsin plays big tough bruising basketball and it will be interesting to see if they can knock Curry around and get him off his game. My pick – Davidson by 5. The dream continues.

Texas vs. Stanford (Houston, 7:27pm) This should be one of the best games of this round. Stanford snuck past Marquette and Texas handled Miami in the last round. It will be interesting to see if the guard play of Texas or the interior play of the Stanford twins can dominate the game early. My pick – Texas by 9.

Kansas vs. Villanova (Detroit, 9:40pm) This is an interesting game, Nova is no ordinary 12 seed, having knocked the #3 team in the ACC out in the first round. Kansas has not had any trouble yet, but I think Nova will give them a run for their money only to come up a little short at the end. My pick – Kansas by 14.

Memphis vs. Michigan State (Houston, 9:57pm) I think this is the best chance for a one seed to go down. MSU has been a up and down team all year long, right now though the are playing some of there best ball of the year. They are a physical Big Ten team that will not be afraid to send people to the line. That said Memphis is the second worst free throw shooting team in the country (out of 330 some odd teams). Eventually Memphis will end up in a close game that free throws will hurt them. This is that game. My pick – Michigan State by 1.

Update: Coverage Maps for Thursday (Awful Announcing)