Time has come for Virginia to shine
Best Round of 64 matchup: Kentucky-Davidson. Though Davidson was out of the at-large conversation after starting the season 5-7, Bob McKillop’s team turned it around late in the season and enters the NCAA tournament with 11 wins in its last 13 games, including the A-10 tournament championship. Kentucky, of course, also comes in off a conference tournament title and has a roster full of elite recruits. Still, John Calipari’s freshmen-reliant team has been inconsistent all season, and McKillop is good enough to give them some wrinkles. Everyone in Davidson’s rotation can shoot 3-pointers (39.3 percent as a team), which could give it a chance.
Potential upset: Georgia State over Cincinnati. Remember 2015 when coach Ron Hunter stunned Baylor? It could happen again, minus Hunter falling off a stool (which he no longer needs, as his torn Achilles has long since healed). Though the Panthers don’t have star R.J. Hunter anymore, they now rely on another elite guard in D’Marcus Simonds, a high-scoring slasher with tremendous athleticism. Cincinnati won the AAC regular season and tournament title behind the nation’s No. 2 defense per the Ken Pomeroy efficiency ratings, but they’re a slow-paced team offense that can hit lulls on occasion. If Georgia State can hang on the boards, they could make the Bearcats sweat.
The sleeper: With the best player in the country, a regular season and conference tournament title and a coach who’s made four Elite Eights, Arizona has all the ingredients for a deep run. But as the No. 4 seed with a brutal draw – potentially Kentucky in the second round, then Virginia in the Sweet 16 – most will overlook the Wildcats. Given all the distractions Arizona already has had to put aside just to get here from the FBI investigation, Allonzo Trier’s two-game suspension and the cloud around Sean Miller’s employment, don’t be surprised if they ride freshman Deandre Ayton all the way to San Antonio.
The winner: While fans of opposing teams like to take shots at Virginia for its plodding, visually unappealing style of play and some notable failures in the NCAA Tournament, this just seems like the Cavaliers’ year to finally break through. Though they were unranked in the preseason, Tony Bennett’s team left nothing to nitpick on the way to a 31-2 record. If not now, when?