There are some tremendous matchups in the Sweet 16 tonight and tomorrow night. Great teams, great individual players and some outstanding coaches. I wanted to get everybody set for the games tonight and will preview tomorrow night’s games tomorrow morning. Here’s a look at the matchups and predictions on the outcomes for tonight’s four games.
Tonight (Thursday)
SouthEastern Regional-New Orleans; Two games
No.2 (seeded) Florida (26-7) vs No.3 Brigham Young (32-4); 6:27 P.M. CT, WTBS
Florida Key Players:
Erving Walker: 14.7 ppg; 75-191 3 pt fg (39%): 78% Free Throws; 116 assists-82 turnovers; 39 steals.
Kenny Boynton: 14 ppg; 75-226 3pters (33%); 82% free throws.
Chandler Parsons: 11.4 ppg; 7.7 rbg; 39-104 3-pters (37%); 49% from field; 55 percent free throws.
Vernon Macklin: 11.3 ppg; 5.4 rbg; 45% FT.
Alex Tyus: 8.6 ppg; 5.7 rbg.
Patric Young: 3.5 ppg; 3.8 rbg.
Team Free Throw %: 67%
Brigham Young:
Jimmer Fredette: 28.8 ppg; 45% field; 121-298 3’s (41%); 89% FT (245-275). 155 assists to 125 turnovers.
Emery Jackson: 12.6 ppg; 148-346 field (42%); 89-248 3’s (36%).
Noah Hartsock: 8.6 ppg; 5.9 rbg; 25-56 3’s (44%); 82% free throws
Team FT shooting: 76%
Analysis: A great way to start off the Sweet 16 with two teams that play outstanding offensive ball and pretty solid defense. Both teams can shoot trifecta though Jimmer shoots it consistently the best. If BYU had Kyle Davies, their kid whom they had to suspend, I would give the Cougars a good chance at pulling off the upset. But Florida can shoot with BYU. When Walker, Boynton and Parsons are on they’re tough to beat. Like the inside game of Florida to tilt the game in the Gators’ favor. Patric Young is a man at 6″9″, 250 and the five star frosh really came on at the end of the season and in this tourney. Macklin and Tyus are pretty good, too, and Parsons does everything. Look for Jimmer to get 30 or more, but he doesn’t have enough help. He can almost do it single handedly,and if it comes down to the free throw line I like BYU, but I like Florida to prevail due to better talent all around.
Prediction: Gators, 80-76
#8 Butler (25-9) vs. No.4 Wisconsin (25-8); 8:57 P.M. TBS
Butler Key players:
Matt Howard: 16.7 ppg; 7.7 rbg; 49% field; 152-194 3’s (43%); 78% free throws.
Shelvin Mack: 15.6 ppg; 4.4 rbg;124 assists; 74-211 3’s; 80% FT.
Andrew Smith: 8.9 ppg; 5.4 rbg; 61% field.
Shawn Vanzant: 8.1 ppg; 3.1 rbg; 36-76 3’s (47%).
Ronald Nored: 5.5 ppg; 84 assists.
Wisconsin:
Jon Leuer: 18.7 ppg; 7.3 rbg;53-140 3’s (37%); 48% field; 84% FT.
Jordan Taylor: 18.0 ppg; 159 assists; 72-165 3’s (43%); 85% FT.
Analysis: These are both two very good teams. Butler has come on late in the season and had two huge victories in the first two rounds including a wild one against Pitt. Matt Howard is such an incredible competitor and Shelvin Mack can light it up from three. Taylor and Leuer are very good shooters so it ought to be an exciting game to watch if the shooters are on. Just can’t go against Butler. I did some last year and they proved me wrong. Not going to do it this year. They are as good as they were last year and hot at the right time.
Prediction: Butler 68-64
Tonight: West Regional: Anaheim; Two games
No.3 UConn (26-9) vs. No.2 San Diego State (34-2); 6:15 CBS.
UConn Key players:
Kemba Walker: 23.6 ppg; 5.4 rbg; 69-203 3’s (34%); 167 assists; 82% FT
Jeremy Lamb: 10.5 ppg; 4.4 rbg.
Amex Oriakhi: 9.8 ppg; 8.7 rbg
FT shooting team: 76%
San Diego State
Kawli Leonard: 15.6 ppg; 10.6 rbg; 44%field.
Malcolm Thomas: 11.4 ppg; 8.1 rbg.
James Rahon: 52-120 3’s (43%).
FT line team: 70%
Analysis: I’ve got UConn in my Final Four so I have to pick them. San Diego State is very athletic, but can’t shoot that well. I’m going with Kemba. He’s carried his team in the Big East tournament really winning it single handedly for the Huskies and has kept it going in this tourney. He’s the ultimate warrior. Lamb and Oriahki feed off Kemba and can really board and bang with the Aztecs’ bigs. Like UConn to move on.
Prediction: UConn 72-66
No.1 Duke (32-4) vs. No.5 Arizona (29-7); 8;45 P.M. CBS
Duke Key Players:
Nolan Smith: 21 ppg; 57-160 3’s (35%); 46% field; 81 FT.
Kyle Singler: 16.9 ppg; 6.8 rbg; 60-190 3’s (31%); 80% FT.
Kyrie Irving: 16.4 ppg; 16-35 3’s 46%.
Seth Curry: 9.2 ppg; 64-116 3’s (44%); 78% FT.
Mason Plumlee: 7.1 ppg; 8.4 rbg.
Team FT%: 75%
Arizona:
Derrick Williams: 19.,1 ppg; 8.2 rbg; 35-62 3’s (58%).
Lamont Jones: 9.5 ppg.
Team FT: 64%.
Analysis: Duke just has too much fire power for ‘Zona. There are just too many shooters with Smith, Curry, Irving and Singler. Arizona’s best hope is if Williams just dominates in the paint over the Plumlee brothers (Mason and Miles) and Ryan Kelly. I just don’t see that happening. With the return of Irving from a season long injury, this team is a real threat to win it all. I don’t see ‘Zona getting in their way.
Prediction: Duke 76-68
Thoughts on Mike Anderson:
Well he’s going to another program; this time to a place where was an assistant coach for 17 years: Arkansas. I know this is probably a good fit for him, but is this guy going to ever be loyal to anyone? Missouri was good to him and was going to offer him 2m a year to stay. Arkansas must have upped the ante. Haven’t seen any details on his deal, but we’ll probably find out soon.
Loyalty works both ways, and if Anderson keeps showing that he’s going to take a job he thinks that can advance his career, who can trust him? If he struggles at Arkansas for a couple of years, I would fire him. He is just not a guy you can trust. He may be looking at an even bigger job if Arkansas is not fulfilling. And it takes a lot to fulfill this guy. Money and winning a national title are his keys. Nothing wrong with that, but at some point, you’re going to have to settle down and stay with a program. Will he ever do that? Maybe this is the place he will. It makes sense with his previous stint there and it’s a program capable of winning national titles. But the guy needs to stay longer than four or five years at one place. You just can’t trust him. He needs to make a big splash at Arkansas. He seems to be a good coach, but he’s headed against some pretty good coaches in the SEC, so we’ll see how he does. He has a good place to make it work at Arkansas. They support basketball if they’re winning and Nolan Richardson, Anderson’s mentor, won a national championship in 1994 at Arkansas. So the ability to win big is probably there. John Pelphrey recruited a top flight recruiting class, so Anderson’s first job is to keep them with the ‘Hogs. I think the guy’s a good coach, but I’m getting tired of all this moving around. He needs to settle down and just coach and quit looking for what he thinks are better opportunities.
(Chandler Parsons of Florida and Jimmer Fredetter of BYU go at it tonight for the right to play in the Elite Eight.)