The size difference is just too much as Illinois should be able to just outmuscle the Hilltoppers.
Arizona State is hard to figure out. On one hand, they beat BYU on a neutral court and swept UCLA and Arizona. On the other hand, they were swept by Washington in the regular season, as well as Washington State.
To the Sun Devils' credit, they avenged their losses against the Huskies in the conference tournament.
When the Sun Devils are on their game, they are a well balanced team. They defend it well but struggle at times against quality defense.
Sun Devils star G James Harden is one of the best players in the country when he wants to be. He’s too unselfish at times.
Temple is an inconsistent team which can put up a good fight when everyone besides G Dionte Christmas shows up. They gave Clemson all they could handle on a neutral court and beat Tennessee at home rather easily.
When they go cold, it doesn’t end well. They were blown out at Villanova and lost by 12 at Kansas.
This is an interesting matchup which either team could win. When push comes to shove, good defense has typically won out against the Owls, so I’ll take Arizona State.
Michigan is a team with a litany of focus issues. This team split with Duke, losing on a neutral court and beating them at home. They beat UCLA, lost by just five at Maryland, and lost by just eight at UConn.
They also needed overtime to beat arguably the two worst teams on its schedule: Savannah State and Indiana.
The fact that they actually try against good teams and falter against bad ones is a lack of focus, which their numbers reflect. They are horrible shooting the ball and defending it but can stop the three point shot and don’t turn the ball over. They can beat a lot of teams when they put it all together, but that doesn’t happen very often.
Clemson once again got off to a smoking start but has since stumbled all over the place.
They beat Temple on a neutral court and won at Illinois. They slaughtered Duke but lost the next game to FSU at home. They were swept by Wake Forest and had an inexcusable loss at Virginia.
The interesting thing about Clemson is that it seems they play better away from home at times, as they took care of their business on the road all year with the exception of Virginia. They’re not as good as FSU, Wake Forest, and North Carolina, but took care of teams like Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Maryland on the road.
They did lose in the conference tournament to Georgia Tech, and even though it was effectually a road game, it’s a pretty bad loss. There’s a reason they’re a seven seed.
With both teams unsure as to who will want to play in this game, I’m going with the team that can afford a bad game from one of its key pieces: Clemson.
First round winners: (1) North Carolina, (8) LSU, (5) Illinois, (4) Gonzaga, (6) Arizona State, (3) Syracuse, (7) Clemson, (2) Oklahoma
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