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South Bracket Discussion

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HailToMichigan;782688; said:
Someone needs to answer me this question, cause I'm getting a little offended. Why is Albany a trendy pick to beat UVA among the experts who think they know something? I can certainly see if nobody thinks we'll beat Tennessee. But Albany?

I see the following reasons get thrown around a lot:

- Albany's got Jamar Wilson, who is outstanding
- Albany led Connecticut by 12 last year
- Virginia's got no big men inside
- Virginia's erratic - lost some bad games

Granted, we're erratic and inconsistent. But take a look at the other ones.

Yeah, Albany's got a great guard. We've got two. What, is Wilson going to cancel out both Singletary and Reynolds all at once?
Yeah, Albany led UConn by 12 last year. That only means they choked it away in the span of 11 minutes. In case anyone hasn't noticed, UVA is never out of a game - take a look at what happened against Clemson, Arizona, Duke, Georgia Tech.....big comeback wins, all.
Yeah, we've got no big force inside. But has anyone taken a look at the stiffs Albany runs out there? I expect our bigs to control the paint, given that they're bigger than Albany's - and put up better numbers in the ACC than Albany's did in America East.

People are getting carried away with UVA's flaws.
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Albany's good game against UConn last year probably means more against UVA than it would have meant against another team because UVA's coach was a long time assistant under Jim Calhoun at UConn, and runs that offense. That being said, Albany lost a lot of size to graduation (i.e. a 7-footer).

I think Singletary carries UVA to victory. Singletary is that good. Ohio State did recruit him, after all (we got Butler, so it worked out well for both teams). But UVA is liable to lose to anyone--they lost to Appalachian State this season for crying out loud. And if you attended UVA, you should know that they are notorious for getting the fans' collective hopes up just to let them down.
 
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A day before the tournament here are my final thoughts on the south region. I like Ohio State to make it to the Elite 8 and I think we have a great chance to make it to the final four. This region is tougher than people think. Memphis has been hidden away in CUSA all season long but are a legit high major basketball team. They replace 2 first round draft picks and their starting point guard off of last years elite 8 team and still played at a high level.

Acie Law is one of the few players in the country that is capable of putting a team on his back and carrying them to the final four a la Marquette with D Wade. If they can get by a young Louisville team in Lexington they'll be a tough out in San Antonio.

CCSU and the Xavier/BYU winner we can clean up in the paint against. We'll play UTK or UVA in the sweet sixteen depending on which team has the hotter back court. We can dominate either inside but if their guards are on fire Oden can get 20 and 10 and it'll still be a tough game.

Xavier with former McDonalds All American from Brookhaven Drew Lavender and the Matta/Xavier connection would make for NCAA dramatic matchup. I think we could win the game easily but CBS would eat up the back story.

Louisville vs. A&M in Lexington will be one of the best games of any round in the region.

Lofton for UTK and Singletary and Reynolds for UVA can carry a team deep in the tourny. Matta's last Xavier team rode Lionel Chalmers and Romain Sato to the elite 8. Saint Joe's that year with 2 first round picks in their back court in Nelson and West carried the Hawks to the number seed and elite 8. Lofton and the Cav's back court can really light it up and carry their teams.

Nevada is an underseeded mid major with a gaudy record against weaker competition. They're playing in their 4 straight tourny and have a first team All American in Fazekas and a tourny tested team.

Creighton is another team that's been in the NCAA's 7 of the last 9 years and has to first team all MVC Guys in Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver and a 3rd senior who's a double figure scorer in Nick Porter. Dana Altman is one of the best coaches in America.

Nevada and Creighton are two of the best non-BCS teams in the country.

Louisville plays close to home and has had to deal with a slow start and injuries to pick it up in the second half of the season. Jerry Smith and Edgar Sosa the Louisville back court are both freshman and troubled freshman Derrick Caracter has been suspended several times this season but came on towards the end of the season. Terrance Williams has raised his game and the small forward spot and 3 year starter Juan Palacios returns from injury for tourny. Pitino has underachieved to an extent at Louisville but the Cards playing in Kentucky the first two rounds aren't to be taken lightly.

I think this region breaks down like this. The bottom of the region is the toughest. I think we roll into the elite 8. The lower half of the bracket is tougher than the top part. I think we roll CCSU and Xavier in the first two rounds. How much we beat UVA or UTK is based on how well our guard plays. The Buckeyes are on we score a 10 point win over either team. We'll play Memphis or A&M for the right to go to the final four. Both are good teams but we if we play our game and Oden dominates we can win. Nothing is guaranteed in this and it'll take a good game to knock either team out. San Antonio is far enough from a Ohio to be a true neutral court setting for our games there.
 
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Dispatch

IN THE SECOND ROUND
Xavier could face Matta, but BYU stands in way
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Before Ohio State fans jump ahead to a Saturday matchup against Xavier, with all its enticing story lines, there are three letters they might want to remember: BYU.

Cont'd....
 
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Dispatch

Chance to down Ohio State would understandably stoke Xavier faithful
Thursday, March 15, 2007
TODD JONES


LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Enough talk about Ohio State?s basketball game tonight against ? uh ? that would be ? uh ? Oh yeah, Central Connecticut State. Mysteries are more appealing than mismatches, and one of life?s great questions is this: Whatever happened to those Thad Matta bobblehead dolls, the ones depicting him as Xavier coach?

Cont'd...
 
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desert_buckeye;779802; said:
About the only thing I can come up with would be the regular season head-to-head. The other #1 seeds (Florida, NC) ahead of us both beat us early in the season. I really think that blowout loss to Florida hurt, and left some lasting impressions (i'm talking about the basketball blowout :biggrin: ) on the commitee, but 17 straight should count for something!

:oh:
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I thought it was Kansas and Florida ahead of us and UNC behind the Buckeyes...
 
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SanAntonioBuck;783225; said:
Stanford is getting their ass kicked! I guess they were overrated.:wink2:
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i didn't even have them in the tourney. it doesn't help that they're playing in louisville's backyard at 9:30 in the morning. of course, the cardinals are good, too. i have them facing the bucks in the elite eight.
 
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OSU_Buckguy;783228; said:
i didn't even have them in the tourney. it doesn't help that they're playing in louisville's backyard at 9:30 in the morning. of course, the cardinals are good, too. i have them facing the bucks in the elite eight.
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I also thought Stanford was lucky to get in. If Louisville plays this well on Saturday, we won't have to worry about tOSU playing aTm in San Antonio.

46-20 Louisville at the half.
 
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