Midwest Region (Indianapolis)
Lexington
1.) Tennessee vs. 16.) Central Connecticut State
8.) Maryland vs. 9.) West Virginia
Milwaukee
5.) Memphis vs. 12.) UC-San Diego
4.) Texas A&M vs. 13.) McNeese State
Wichita
6.) Pittsburgh vs. 11.) Creighton/Nebraska
3.) Kansas vs. 14.) Lipscomb
Cleveland
7.) Wisconsin vs. 10.) Saint Mary's
2.) Kentucky vs. 15.) UMass-Lowell
The No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region is also from the SEC and one of the four remaining undefeated teams in the country. The Tennessee Volunteers are 13-0 as they head into league play. The Volunteers are 3-0 in quad 1 games, and what raises their resume in that category are the true road wins at Baylor and Louisville. Even though Tennessee’s metrics are strong with a 4.3 average, the big thing that separates Auburn from Tennessee so far is the strength of schedule; Auburn ranks 5th while the Vols currently sit at 115th.
For me, the rest of the Midwest region has been a bit of Jeckyl and Hyde, especially at the top. No. 2 Kentucky has great wins over Duke and Gonzaga but also has a 20-point loss to Ohio State. Kansas has wins over Duke, Michigan State, and North Carolina but also head-scratching losses to Creighton and Missouri, albeit both on the road. The No. 4 seed Texas A&M has neutral-site wins over Oregon and Purdue but also an opening night loss to UCF. Lastly, the No. 5 seed Memphis was extremely impressive against Ole Miss and has wins over UConn and Michigan State. They also, however, lost to Arkansas State and had just a four-point win over San Francisco.
The team I want to look at is the No. 6 seed Pitt Panthers. The Panthers are 11-2 and 10th in the NET, entering the last Sunday in December. They are just 1-2 in quad 1 games so far with a 91-90 road win over Ohio State are a top-40 team in both offensive and defensive efficiencies and are 34th in effective field goal percentage. The Panthers have been led by the duo of Ishmael Leggett and Jaland Lowe who have scored 34 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.7 assists, and 3.5 steals per game.