Moving into the second weekend of March Madness, and with four just teams left in each bracket, who will move on in the West region sweet 16?
West Region Sweet 16 Preview:
(2) Arizona vs (6) Xavier March 26, 10:17 pm (TBS) Los Angeles, California
Xavier is playing well, but they’ve played the worst two teams both rounds. BYU would have matched up better with them than Ole Miss, and Baylor most likely would have beaten Xavier in the Round of 32. However, that doesn’t matter. They beat Ole Miss and Georgia State fairly comfortably both games.
Arizona took for granted a Texas Southern team in the Round of 64, surrendering 72 points, even though they still put up 93 points. They played an Ohio State team in the round of 32 who beat a better VCU team by 3 points in overtime, and beat them by 15. Arizona stepped up their defensive play and only surrendered 58 points, 1 point below their season average.
Arizona and Xavier clash in the Sweet 16. Again, Arizona is the best rounded team in the tournament, aside from Kentucky. Xavier has been shooting the ball well, but they’ve also been oversized compared to the teams they’ve matched up with. They won’t have that advantage over Arizona. Xavier shoots a better percentage than Arizona, but that’s not going to be good enough. Jalen Reynolds for Xavier needs to play lights out, period. Nothing about this game can be up and down for Xavier, everything has to be up the full 40 minutes. Xavier shouldn’t be in this position, and that makes them dangerous. However, Arizona will continue to roll through this bracket. Arizona over Xavier.
(1) Wisconsin vs (4) North Carolina March 26, 7:47 pm (TBS) Los Angeles, California
Wisconsin has been solid through two rounds. They flat outplayed, as they should have, Coastal Carolina in the Round of 64. They beat Oregon in the Round of 32 72-65, but they had trouble containing Oregon’s speed and elusiveness at times. Oregon likes to run, while Wisconsin is a half court team. Oregon got Wisconsin to play their fast paced game too many times, and it was almost Wisconsin’s downfall. All in all, the Badgers haven’t been in a world of trouble, yet.
North Carolina had a rough time in the Round of 64 against Harvard. They ended up winning on the free throw line down the stretch 67-65. Harvard tried slowing the tempo down and was successful, but the Tar Heels just had too much talent. Arkansas and North Carolina play the exact same game, the Heels are just better at it than the Razorbacks. Even though Carolina’s big men were in foul trouble, and Kennedy Meeks sprained his knee late in the game, the Heels didn’t seem to have a problem with Arkansas. The Tar Heels won by a margin of 9 points, 87-78.
Same thing for Wisconsin, if the Tar Heels can speed the game up it will be a 4 seed upsetting a 1 seed. Wisconsin is a defensive team, one of the best in the nation giving up the 4th fewest points per game at 56.8. North Carolina loves to run and they are good at it. The Tar Heels average 77.9 points per game, the 17th highest mark in the country.
Two X-factors in this game are players from each team. A player to watch for North Carolina is PG Marcus Paige. He has been clutch all year for the Heels, leading the team in scoring at 14.1 ppg. He’s a threat from outside as well as off the dribble. The other X-factor is Frank Kaminsky. Kaminsky has been an absolute nightmare for defenses. At 7′, he’s able to play inside and outside, which is going to draw double teams every time he touches the ball.
With rumors of Kennedy Meeks being ruled out, suffering a sprained knee against Arkansas, it’s going to be an unusually difficult game to predict. However, UNC will get their offense going early and often, forcing turnovers for points to shock the Badgers. The Tar Heels en route to the Elite 8!
