2019 NCAA Tournament: Gonzaga, Virginia, and Duke under most pressure to win
By Connor Hope
6) St. John’s Red Storm
Chris Mullin did it! He actually coached St. John’s into the NCAA Tournament. However, his team may be one of the two most controversial inclusions in the tournament, along with Arizona St. With an easy nonconference schedule and a poor conference regular season finish, the Johnnies will be heavily scrutinized as a First Four team. NC State, TCU and UNC Greensboro fans all have strong cases for their resumes being better than St. John’s.
While tournament success does not validate a team’s bid, it certainly helps to silence the criticism. If St. John’s loses in Dayton to Arizona State, there will be even more people calling them overrated than if they hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament at all. Their expectations don’t need to be high, but they probably need to avoid a loss to Arizona and a blowout to Buffalo to maintain any sort of respect for the program.
5) Michigan State Spartans
If you were to ask me immediately after the Selection Show if Michigan State had any pressure to win, my answer would have been a resounding “No!” The team is not 100% healthy, they are a two seed in the overall number one seed’s bracket, and they already exceeded expectations based on their injuries. However, the complaints made by their fans and even Head Coach Tom Izzo about their tournament positions puts some undue pressure on the team.
If the Spartans aim to prove that they deserved a 1-seed, or a got screwed by the committee by being put in Duke’s bracket, they need to actually face Duke. A loss prior to the Elite Eight would hurt their argument against the committee’s decision to put them in the East. A Sweet 16 loss would normally be more than adequate for a team in Michigan State’s situation, but if the fans and coaches want to complain, the team needs to show why it should have been respected.