Dave's NCAA Tourney Picks, Mar. 21: (5) Purdue Against (4) Washington

(5) Purdue against (4) Washington

Line: Washington -2

Purdue overcame a first round scare with a narrow 61-56 defeat of Northern Iowa on Thursday.

Northern Iowa came out and banged with Purdue—the Panthers used their size to make it hard on the Boilermakers down low. However, good free throw shooting by Purdue helped hold off the Panthers, who were within two points with 17 seconds left in the game.

E’Twaun Moore led the scoring for Purdue with 17 points, and Robbie Hummel chipped in nine points and 10 rebounds.

Washington had no troubles with Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA tourney.

Quincy Pondexter scored 23 points and pulled down eight boards to lead the Huskies to a 71-58 win.

The performance perhaps was a shout out to the coaches who left him off the All-Pac-10 team. Jon Brockman had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

See the rest of this article, including Dave's free prediction, at sportschatplace.com.