Only 16 teams remain in the quest for College Basketball’s greatest prize. The South Region Sweet 16 goes off on Friday, and here is your inside scoop on the players to watch in these two exciting matchups.
2015 NCAA Tournament: South Region Sweet 16 Preview
(5) Utah vs (1) Duke March 27, 9:45 pm (CBS) Houston, Texas
Tempo tempo tempo. Tempo is the key to this game. Duke has been cruising through this tournament, beat their opponents easily by 20+ points. Utah, however, is a defensive based team, and one of the best in the nation, so their games have been a bit closer. Giving up a mere 56.9 points per game, and using tenacious on-ball defense to frustrate opponents, Utah is going to have a tough time with Duke. As explosive as this offense is, scoring 80.6 points per game, they are up-tempo and explosive, getting out in transition fast and finishing even faster. Jahlil Okafor is one of the best players in the country, and he’s playing some of the best basketball of the season at the right time. Utah’s 7 foot Freshman center Jakob Poeltl is going to have his hand full. And when the Utes collapse to the interior, Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones should be open on the perimeter. One of the most dangerous backcourts in the nation. Duke is just to explosive and talented to lose this game, Duke will pull away in the 2nd half of this one and move on to the Elite 8.
(11) UCLA vs (2) Gonzaga March 27, 7:15 pm (CBS) Houston, Texas
Gonzaga is good. They’re good and big, however, UCLA is being given a chance in the Sweet 16 to go even further in the tournament than most of the country thought. Whether they are the current tournament Cinderella story or not, their tournament run ends with the Gonzaga Bulldogs. These two teams met on December 13, 2014 which the Bulldogs was victorious 87-74 at UCLA. That game really shouldn’t be considered in this game, but just a nice piece of information to have. Gonzaga plays 10 players per game with 3 bigs. UCLA plays 8 players per game with only 1 true big. Gonzaga is just too big for UCLA to handle. Plus these two teams play at the same tempo, the Zags are just flat out better at that pace than the Bruins are. Don’t expect an upset because there’s a very slim chance of that happening. Gonzaga will move on and have a date with the Duke Blue Devils in the South Region’s Elite 8.
