March Madness Mulligan: redoing picks for Sweet Sixteen
By Ryan Darcy
WEST REGION
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Who I Picked: 1-seed Arizona Wildcats, 4-seed San Diego State Aztecs, 3-seed Creighton Bluejays, 7-seed Oregon Ducks. The Wildcats are one of the best in the nation, the Aztecs are defensive wizards, Doug McDermott (enough said), and a fast-paced, break-neck offensive pace should benefit the Ducks.
Who Is Actually Left: The top half features the Wildcats and Aztecs in a West Coast rematch of a game played in early November in San Diego won by Arizona, 69-60. After watching the Cats annihilate the 8-seed Gonzaga Bulldogs last night, they’re as much of a threat to take home the title as Florida despite only a 9-point win over 16-seed Weber State in the second round. The Aztecs are fortunate Xavier Thames has stepped up in a huge way otherwise they probably would have been bounced in the second round. Thames has scored 53 points to go along with 10 assists in the two wins against 13-seed New Mexico State and 12-seed North Dakota State.
The bottom half pits the 7-seed Baylor Bears against the 2-seeded Wisconsin Badgers. The Bears actually just finished their scoring against an overmatched Creighton team following their second round win over 11-seed Nebraska. Despite losing the Big 12 title game, they’ve apparently carried over plenty of momentum into the NCAA Tournament. Bo Ryan‘s Badgers looked unimpressive in the first half of their second round game with 15-seed American before putting the clamps on and holding the Eagles to just 13 second half points in a 75-35 win. Against 7-seed Oregon, they erased a 12-point halftime deficit and scored the games final six points after the Ducks snuck to within two.
Who I picked to reach Elite Eight: Arizona, Oregon
Mulligan pick to reach Elite Eight: Arizona, Wisconsin