Fans of the Kansas Jayhawks must be happy with what has taken place in the Southwest Region. There have been upsets galore, and aside from the top-seeded Jayhawks, favorites are going down in a hurry. The other three teams left in this region are double-digit seeds, including their opponent, No. 12 Richmond. 

These teams will meet in the Sweet 16 on Friday, March 25th with the tip set for 7:27 EST. San Antonio, Texas is the location and Kansas will certainly have a nice home-court advantage in this one. College basketball odds have been set with a line of Kansas -10.5 over Richmond. I am going to preview both teams below, while also providing my NCAA basketball picks on this game.

Kansas - The Jayhawks have been playing like a No. 1 seed through the first two rounds of this tournament. They have clearly been hungry ever since getting upset by Northern Iowa in the Big Dance last year. Kansas topped Boston University 72-53 in the Round of 64, and then knocked out Illinois 73-59 in the Round of 32.

Head coach Bill Self beat his former team with relative ease. The Fighting Illini had no answer for the Morris twins, as few teams have all season. Marcus Morris put up a team-best 24 points and 12 rebounds against Illinois, and brother Markieff totaled 17 points and 12 boards for the Jayhawks. The Morris twins have now combined for 72 points and 41 rebounds in two games in the NCAA tournament.

Richmond - The Spiders have been a big surprise in this year‘s tournament. They topped No. 5 seed Vanderbilt 69-66 in the second round. Richmond then put together a complete team effort in a 65-48 victory over Morehead State in the third round, who had previously beaten No. 4 seed Louisville. This will be a much more difficult test for the Spiders Friday.

Future NBA star Justin Harper has been a beast for Richmond. Harper can beat you inside and out, and he has combined to score 32 points while grabbing a total of 10 rebounds in their two games. He led the way with 19 points against Morehead State. But Richmond goes as senior team leader and point guard Kevin Anderson goes. Anderson has scored 39 points in two games, including a game-high 25 against Vanderbilt.

My Pick: Kansas Wins - While the Spiders have two studs in Anderson and Harper, they don’t have an inside presence that can match up with the Morris Twins. Richmond’s biggest weakness is their post play and it will really hurt them in this game.  The Jayhawks are going to get plenty of easy points inside, including offensive rebounds and second-chance points. Harper and Anderson might be able to keep the Spiders in it early, but over 40 minutes I like the Jayhawks to be able to pull away with relative ease.