South loaded with former champions
There’s a whole lot of history in the South Region of the NCAA men’s tournament, which features six teams with NCAA championship banners hanging in their home arenas and two more with recent Final Four visits.
The schools seeded second through fifth are all past champs, although it’s been a while winning the whole thing for Marquette (1977) and even longer for Wisconsin (1941). Kentucky and Duke have more than a dozen titles between them and incidentally have staged epic head-to-head showdowns in this event. Then there’s Florida, the last program to go back-to-back.
Then all the way down at No. 11, where past champs rarely hide, we find one of this year’s most unlikely bid thieves. We take a look at potential intrigue in this historically significant regional on the road to Dallas.
Best first-round matchup: Wisconsin vs. James Madison
That 5-12 pairing between Wisconsin and James Madison is the easy choice here. The Badgers did well to make a run to the Big Ten championship game, including an overtime triumph against Purdue. But they’ll be at something of a disadvantage in terms of recovery time, and the Dukes won’t in any way be intimidated by taking on a power conference program. JMU made one of the season’s early splashes with an upset at Michigan State. They went on to win 31 games. Fortunately for the Dukes given how tight things turned out to be on the bubble, they secured the automatic berth as the Sun Belt champs. JMU can score a bit, to the tune of 84.4 points per game. Wisconsin is historically known for defense, although this year’s version of the Badgers has surrendered some high point totals. Suffice to say there will be a lot of shot makers on the floor in this one, usually a formula for entertaining basketball in March.
Potential upset in first round: Vermont defeats Duke
Vermont is no stranger to the Big Dance. The Catamounts are making their 10th NCAA appearance in all and third in a row. Thus far, their 2005 upset of Syracuse has been their only victory in the round of 64. Its draw against fourth-seeded Duke might not look favorable to springing another March surprise. The Catamounts will be at a considerable size disadvantage, though the Blue Devils’ bigs don’t always play at the rim. Vermont takes excellent care of the ball, committing just 9.1 turnovers per game. Duke has made its share of Final Four trips but has been bitten by the upset bug a time or two, even when Coach K was in charge (Lehigh, anyone?). Will it happen? Perhaps not, but it’s one to keep an eye on.
The sleeper: North Carolina State
As we all know, North Carolina State had to win five games in five days in the ACC tournament just to get here, a feat previously accomplished by UConn in the 2011 Big East tourney. Hmmm … anyone remember how that UConn team fared in the Big Dance? Oh yeah, thanks to a dude named Kemba Walker, those Huskies just kept rolling all the way to the title. The Wolfpack face long odds of making a similar run. Their opening contest against Texas Tech will be challenging enough. But with the team’s leading DJ’s, D.J. Horne and D.J. Burns, a little belief can go a long way.
The winner: Houston
One at least has to consider Kentucky in the No. 3 position. When their many talented scorers get going, the Wildcats are capable of beating anyone. But in the end we can’t go against top-seeded Houston. Despite the Cougars getting outmuscled in the Big 12 finale, they’ve been remarkably consistent all season in the nation’s deepest conference, and their defense-first approach should serve them well in the pressure-packed environment of March Madness.