NCAA Tournament 2023: Ranking all 16 Second Round matchups
By Joey Loose
14. 1 Alabama vs. 8 Maryland
Maryland finished their regular season with two road losses and didn’t look convincing in the Big Ten Tournament, but held on for a 67-65 win over West Virginia early Thursday to open up the NCAA Tournament. There’s no doubt that these Terrapins have a ton of talent, but they can also be quite Jekyll and Hyde on offense, with some extremely impressive performances this season and also some terrible ones as well.
That’s not good news against an Alabama team that got the number one overall seed for good reason. Brandon Miller’s strong freshman season gave him a well-deserved All-American and this offense causes nightmares for their opponents. The Crimson Tide dispatched Texas A&M Corpus Christi with a 96-75 victory and will look to keep flexing their offensive muscle, less than a week removed from a dominant performance to win the SEC Tournament.
13. 5 San Diego State vs. 13 Furman
After a mind-boggling pass by Virginia’s Kihei Clark and a clutch 3-pointer by JP Pegues, Furman finds their way into the second round after a 68-67 win over the Cavaliers. This Furman team is pretty talented on the offensive end and has a pair of stars in Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson. Their defense has had a string of good fortune, albeit not against the strongest opponents in the world during SoCon play and their conference tournament.
They’ll cherish that amazing March Madness moment but face a significant challenge in San Diego State. The Aztecs play elite defense and are a few days removed from a 63-57 win over a Charleston team that won 30 games this season. San Diego State has been winning games recently with that strong defense; if their offense can open up again, then this game might be over early. You can’t let Matt Bradley get going on offense; but this whole rotation is deep with talent and experience.