The Wisconsin Badgers will take on the Belmont Bruins in the Round of 64 to open the 2011 NCAA Tournament.  Tip is set for 7:30 EST on Thursday, March 17th, in a 4-13 match-up in the Southeast Region.  Many NCAA expert bracket picks show Belmont being a popular choice to pull off the upset.  Taking a look at the NCAA tournament odds, I still see a line of Wisconsin -4.5 over Belmont, so it would be a decent upset if the Bruins were to pull it off.  I’ll preview both teams below and give my prediction as well.

Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers are solid in all facets and will be a tough out in this year’s tourney because of it.  They weren’t expected to make much noise this season with little talent returning, but head coach Bo Ryan continues to put a quality team on the floor. 

He led Wisconsin to a 23-8 season highlighted by a 71-67 home victory over Ohio State to hand the Buckeyes their first loss of the year.  The only real problem I see with the Badgers is their inability to win consistently on the road, as all of their big victories came at the Kohl Center.  Wisconsin actually had a losing 5-6 record away from home.

Ryan implements a “swing offense” which sees the Badgers moving the ball from side to side.  They spread out the opposition and sometimes invert their sets, with post players out on the perimeter and guards posting up their defenders inside.  This offense works well to find mismatches and exploit them.  Wisconsin also likes to run high ball screens for junior point guard Jordan Taylor (18.1 ppg, 4.7 apg) who is their best player.  He is great at finding senior forwards Jon Leuer (18.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Keaton Nankivil (10.0 ppg) who each stretch the floor with their ability to knock down the 3-pointer.  The 240-pound Nankivil is hitting 46.6 percent from distance this season.

Belmont Bruins

This is certainly a sleeper in the NCAA Tournament field.  The Bruins posted a 30-4 record this season and gave teams like Tennessee and Vanderbilt a run for their money on the road.  Belmont rips up the nets for 80.0 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting.  Not only can they score in bunches, they also know how to defend.  The Bruins yield just 61.9 points per game and 40.7 percent shooting.  This combination of offensive firepower coupled with stingy defense has the Bruins entering the Big Dance with a 30-4 record.

Belmont likes to spread teams out with their four-out, one-in sets on offense.  They have two big men inside in Mick Hedgepeth (10.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and Scott Saunders (10.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg) to make teams pay attention to them in the paint.  That opens things up for Ian Clark (12.4 ppg) and five other players who all average at least 5.3 ppg.  Their depth is their biggest strength along with their ability to shoot the 3-ball (38.1 percent).  Their ability to share the ball and beat you in a variety of ways makes the Bruins a very difficult match-up.

My Prediction: Belmont Wins 

I really like the depth that the Bruins have and I think it will give the Wisconsin Badgers fits.  The Badgers rely too heavily on Taylor and Leuer to carry the load, and don’t have a complete team like Belmont does.  The Bruins will be able to bring out Wisconsin’s big men to spread the floor because of their ability to knock down the 3-point shot at an incredible clip.  Belmont has three players hitting 44 percent or better from distance.  Oh yeah, they can also defend as well if not better than Wisconsin.

I hope you do well with your NCAA Tournament bracket contests and are able to utilize some of the information I have provided on this game to win with your NCAA Tournament picks.