Welcome to the Sweet Sixteen Edition of the March Madness Predictions. It’s been a hectic year in the college basketball world, with many upsets and dramatic losses. In this article, I will go over each game in the Sweet Sixteen and give you my analysis and predicted winner. Thank you for joining me and let’s get started:
Loyola Chicago (8) vs. Oregon State(12):
Now we begin with the battle of the two cinderellas. Both of these two teams have pulled up some great upsets to get here. Loyola took down Illinois(1) to get to this point and Oregon State took down a strong Oklahoma State(4) team led by star Cade Cunningham. This game is an interesting one, as both teams have relied on star players and great defense, as both teams have kept opponents to an average of 65 points per game. Oregon State guard Ethan Thomas lit up Oklahoma state for 26 points last game, so look for him to show up next game. Loyola Chicago so far has survived off of great play by center Kurtwig, but 7 footer Roman Silva poses a big problem in the paint. Although Loyola has arguably the best defense in the tournament, I think Ethan Thompson will be too much for them to handle and Loyola will have a difficult time scoring in the paint.
PREDICTION: Oregon State
Villanova(5) vs. Baylor(1):
Next is the matchup Villanova(5) vs Baylor(1). Now, this is a difficult matchup for Villanova as Baylor boasts the most athletic-scoring guards in the tournament. Villanova has done well enough to get up to this point, as they are not a great defensive team but they held their opponents around the 60 point mark, which has been impressive. Star point guard Collin Gillespie tore his ACL earlier in the season and will be out for the remainder of the tournament. This proves to be a huge loss for this squad as they pride themselves in playing sound and fundamental basketball. This being said, they are coached by one of the best coaches in college basketball history and Jay Wright, and do not be surprised if Wright can get his players on some runs early. Baylor has had an extremely impressive season this far with Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell leading the charge. I do believe that this squad will have difficulty shooting from three this game as the Villanova squad is bigger but their athleticism will be unmatched and Villanova simply doesn't have the players to match the star power. Can Jay Wright pull the upset? Probably not.
PREDICTION: Baylor
Oral Roberts(15) vs. Arkansas(3):
Now to be honest it's been a miracle that Oral Roberts has reached this far in the tournament. After beating both Ohio State(2) and Florida(7) by 3 points each, the Golden Eagles find themselves against an extremely fast Arkansas squad. I predict this game to be an absolute dog fight. ORU has proven that it can stick around with the best in the country, but Arkansas will be the far superior team. Sophomore guard Max Abmas for ORU has proven to be one of the best guards in the tournament and averaged a whopping 24.5 points a game this year. Arkansas has an extremely deep team, with four players averaging more than 10 points a game, with Moses Moody leading the charge with 17. They are going to get a ton of steals and easy points this game and I think that is what’s going to kill ORU. Although Arkansas is an abysmal 3 point shooting team, ORU simply doesn’t have the defenders to guard them full court. All being said, I think this game will come down to a 1-5 point win by either team, as they will continue to trade punches late in the game.
PREDICTION: Arkansas
Syracuse(11) vs. Houston(2)
Now we have the classic matchup. The 3 point specialist team in Syracuse versus the gritty, defensive-minded Houston. I think this is a pretty easy pick. Houston is one of the greatest defensive teams in all of college basketball and by far the best defensive team left in the tournament. They are full of tall and long-armed wings that can easily guard the perimeter. Syracuse doesn’t have a noteworthy center that can dominate paint which would be the only way they could win this game. Although Houston is an abysmal shooting team, they are much much faster and they will get a ton of points in the paint against a Syracuse team with no paint presence. Houston is a team that gets lots of assists each game and Syracuse’s ball movement will be non-existent, leading to late shot clock heaves. Looks like Jim Boheim is getting kicked out early this year too.
PREDICTION: Houston
Gonzaga(1) vs. Creighton(5):
This is probably the easiest pick. Gonzaga is going to blow out Creighton. The only way a team can beat Gonzaga is by being fast, aggressive, and having great on-ball defense, all of which Creighton does not have. This is by far the best Gonzaga team Mark Few has ever coached and is definitely one of the best teams we have seen in the last 20 years. Led by NBA prospects Corey Kispert, Jaylen Suggs, and Drew Timme the Bulldogs will easily score in the paint against a Creighton team that has a weak paint presence. I love Marcus Zegarowski of Creighton, an absolute stud of a player that has carried Creighton this far, but I think you cannot beat this Gonzaga with only one star, especially if that star is a 6’1 point guard that is a liability on defense. Easy pick.
PREDICTION: Gonzaga
Florida State(4) vs. Michigan(1)
Now we have the most interesting matchup of the Sweet Sixteen, the Florida State Seminoles vs. the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan is definitely a March Madness team, known for its smart basketball and winning ways, so it is hard to bet against them. But once again, defense wins Championships, and Florida State has an absolute anchor of a center in 7-footer Koprivica. The Seminoles defense is a very built defense, as it is extremely hard to score in the paint against them and they force you to beat them on the three-point line. Once again this is a big, strong team that will simply out muscle you on the court. Their smallest starter is 6’6. They have a deep rotation with 9 players playing more than 13 minutes a game, which I normally dislike, but in this situation it allows players to press up on defense and play their heart outs for 6 minutes straight as they have a sub waiting for them. Now Michigan shot well against LSU, shooting 40% from three, but LSU is a much smaller team with two starters 6’4 and under. Michigan also lost their star shooter and who I think is their best player Isiah Livers earlier on in the year. They are going to greatly miss that perimeter shooting and the Senior veteran presence. New young guys will have to step up and traditionally they don't do well against athletic defenders. Michigan also has two 5’11 and 6’1 guards averaging more than 30 minutes played in a game in Eli Brooks and Mike Smith. Neither of them are great defenders, so those two are going to be huge mismatches and will lead to easy buckets for Florida State.
PREDICTION: Florida State
- Matteo Buoncristiano
Comments