The long road to Detroit and ultimately a national championship won’t be any easier this year. The tournament is loaded with teams which can blow up your bracket if they actually show up.

The selection committee actually did a great job overall for once. If Wisconsin was out and St. Mary’s was in, I’d have no major problems.

With that said it’s on to the bracket and bragging rights with your buddies.

First Round

Oklahoma State appears to be playing its best basketball of the season.

Despite that, the only good win they have outside of the state of Oklahoma is a nine point neutral court win against Siena. The only road wins they have in the Big XII are at Nebraska in OT, at Texas Tech, and at Colorado.

They lost to Oklahoma twice but were able to edge them out in the conference tournament. All three games were decided by 10 points or less. They played Missouri tough in the tournament but couldn’t pull out the win.

They have a formidable set of guards in Byron Eaton, James Anderson, and Obi Muonelo. They can all make plays. They also can’t defend very well.

Tennessee, to their credit, stacked their out of conference schedule.

Unfortunately, they didn’t do that great against it. They lost twice to Gonzaga, on a neutral court and then at home. They lost at Temple, at Kansas, and against Memphis by just two points.

They did beat Siena at Siena and Marquette in Nashville.

In the SEC, they were all over the place with their inconsistent play. They don’t shoot the three very well but relied on it too much. They are too complacent and settle too often when they have the talent and athleticism to get to the rack.

If the good Tennessee shows up, they can easily win this game. They are the bigger team and will destroy the Cowboys on the offensive glass. If players like F Wayne Chism and F Tyler Smith actually play aggressively inside, they should beat up Okie State.

The Cowboys, because of their size, are a bad rebounding team. This game is a long way from Oklahoma.

While Tennessee isn’t a great road team either, at least they’ve left state lines a few times. The Vols just have a bit more potential, and in this tight matchup, that’s what I’m going with.

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