Detailed NCAA Tourney Picks Analysis: Midwest Region

I've posted a set of five articles dissecting the whole tournament. If you like this one, make sure to check the others out!

Midwest Region


(1) Kansas vs. (16) Portland State

This matchup is part of the first set of games to tip off, at around 12:30 on Thursday, along with Xavier/Georgia and Michigan State/Temple. I imagine that most markets in the country won't be watching the KU game for long. There's no reason to suspect that the Big XII champs will get much of a test in this one.

The pick: Kansas


(8) UNLV vs. (9) Kent State

Real quick analysis since Kansas is going to handle the winner of this game: Lon Kruger took UNLV on their best run in a while last year, making it to the Sweet 16 out of nowhere. But his kid (see: I'm not even spending enough time on this game to look up his first name—I make no claims to be a true journalist) was the best player on that team, and he's gone.

Kent State built their season with one win, when they went out west and won at St. Mary's in the BracketBuster. Before this, no one had noticed them nationally. And that was with good reason; their only other win over a tournament team were early season wins over GMU and Coppin State. I'm incredibly underwhelmed by this matchup, and it's at the same time as the Oral Roberts game. My attention won't ever be directed towards the TV that's showing this game, and I have no good reason to pick either team over the other.

The pick: UNLV


(5) Clemson vs. (12) Villanova

Going by the seeds, Villanova was the last at-large team to sneak into this tournament. However, they come into this thing as arguably the best #12 seed. They won what amounted to a play-in game against Syracuse last week, and have had some impressive performances in the Big East. But Clemson has had a great year in the ACC, including their impressive win over Duke in the ACC tournament. This is definitely the best team Oliver Purnell has had at Clemson, despite the fact that they still can't shoot free throws. It's ridiculous that Clemson has been so terrible from the line for like five years in a row.
   

Both teams have come out of tough leagues to get where they are right now, but Clemson's season has been more impressive. They proved themselves as much in their losses to UNC as in any victories; twice taking them to overtime and losing a really close ACC final. And for the first time in a few years, the Tigers picked up some good non-conference wins, beating Mississippi State and Purdue.

This team has "gotten over the hump" so to speak. For the past few seasons, they have been capable of beating anybody on any given night. This year, they are winning games more consistently.   

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