March Madness: Breakdown of the 2018 NCAA Tournament’s Midwest region
By Bryan Mauro
Round of 64 Predictions:
(16) Penn Quakers
(1) Kansas Jayhawks
This has been talked about as potentially the first 16 seed to ever beat a 1 seed in the tournament. It isn’t going to happen. Penn may keep it close for a while if they can knock down a couple of threes.
Kansas- 80 Penn- 60
(9) NC State Wolfpack
(8) Seton Hall Pirates
The Pirates have been a big disappointment this year with all of the talent they have returning. NC State has been a huge surprise, as this is Kevin Keatts first year at the helm. The Pirates have more talent than the Wolfpack but that doesn’t always matter in the tournament.
NC State-75 Seton Hall- 72
(12) New Mexico State Aggies
(5) Clemson Tigers
New Mexico State may be the team in this tournament who is the most underseeded. The Aggies are really good and play suffocating defense. The upset is strong with this matchup as the Aggies present a bad matchup for Clemson.
NMSU – 63 Clemson – 59
(13) College of Charleston Cougars
(4) Auburn Tigers
Auburn had an uninspiring end to the season, and come into the tournament limping. The Tigers still have the more talented team and may overwhelm the Cougars of Charleston. The Cougars are not going to go down without a fight, and this is another game to keep an eye on for a potential upset.
Auburn – 80 Charleston – 77
(11) Syracuse Orangemen
(6) TCU Horned Frogs
As mentioned earlier TCU is not flashy, but they are a very solid team who is in the tournament for the first time in a long time. TCU is going to have to fight through the Syracuse zone to move on to the round of 32. The Orange are going to want to keep this game low scoring and muddy it up. If that happens advantage Horned Frogs
TCU – 62 Syracuse – 55
(14) Bucknell Bison
(3) Michigan State Spartans
The Spartans have been a fickle squad this year. They have the ability to blow everyone in the country away, and they also have the ability to keep any team in the country in a game. With that, Tom Izzo has lost a little more hair this year. The Bison are not going to go away lightly, if they can hit threes they may be able to stay in this game longer than before. The Spartans have been known to lay a few eggs in the tournament before. This game will not be one of them.
Michigan State – 85 Bucknell – 70
(10) Oklahoma Sooners
(7) Rhode Island Rams
This may be the most uninspiring game in the entire tournament. Oklahoma is the team in the tournament who many didn’t think should even be in the tournament. They have lost 11-15 games coming into the tournament and they have looked terrible doing so. Rhode Island is a team who started out the season really hot and secured their tournament big a long time ago. They are also moving in the wrong direction and are really struggling.
Rhode Island – 70 Oklahoma – 65
Next: Top 100 impact players of the 2018 NCAA Tournament
(15) Iona Gaels
(2) Duke Blue Devils
Tim Cluess and Iona are back in the NCAA tournament again and this time they get the team who is probably going to win the NCAA tournament. Iona is well coached and has all the experience necessary to pull off the upset, but they were given the best 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and this one may get Ugly
Duke – 90 Iona – 60