NCAA Tournament: Which No. 1 Seed Has the Best Chance to Reach the Final Four?

by: Luke Anthony (sportscappingpros.com)

Three No. 1 seeds have survived to the Sweet 16, the question is which one will survive to the Final Four and more importantly the National Championship?  I will break down who I think have the best chance of cutting down the net.

West Region No. 1 Syracuse - The Orange have a pretty nice chance of making a run to the Final Four with the upset of Murray State over Vanderbilt.  The Orange shouldn't have an issue with Butler tonight IMO as they have too much talent for the Bulldogs to compete with. 

The Orange average over 81 ppg and have looked very dominate in their two wins in the NCAA tourney beating Vermont 79-56 and then dominating a talented Gonzaga team 87-65.  They are averaging a win margin of 22.5  points per game in this NCAA tournament! 

Will the loss of Onuaku finally catch up to the Orange tonight against Butler, or will Andy Rautins and Wesley Johnson be too much for this defensive minded Butler team to handle? 

I think that Syracuse wins this game tonight pretty easily and moves on to the Elite 8.

In the Elite Eight they will run into a very tough Kansas State team.  The Wildcats are a very tough match up for the Orange and I think the Orange will be on upset alert in the Elite Eight.  Jacob Kelly and Denis Clemente are prime-time players and this game is going to be an offensive affair with both teams running up and down the court. 

I think that Kansas State wins this game and moves on to the Final Four over Syracuse in this No. 1 vs No. 2 game in the West region.

South Region No. 1 Duke - Duke should have no issues against No. 4 seed Purdue tomorrow night in the South region.  With the absence of Hummel I am surprised that Purdue even made it to the Sweet 16!

Defensive specialist Chris Kramer had to go for 17 against Texas A&M and it took OT for them to win the low scoring 63-61 game.  Kramer will have to shut down Jon Scyeher for Purdue to have any chance to win this basketball game.

Even if Kramer shuts down Scyeher I think that forward Kyle Singler will have his way with the Purdue defense as he is a serious match up problem.  Singler can shoot the three just as well as he can post up and drive the ball. 

Duke will move past Purdue pretty easily tomorrow night and find themselves in a Elite Eight matchup with No. 10 St. Mary's, who will move past Baylor in my opinion.

St. Mary's actually matches up pretty well with Duke and could give them some problems in the Elite Eight. Big man Omar Samhan is an absolute beast and proved that he is among the best big men in the country with his 32 point, 7 rebound and 2 block performance in the upset of No. 2 seed Villanova. 

On top of this big man St. Mary's can flat out shoot the basketball.  St. Mary's can shoot the three ball at a 41 percent rate and Duke will have to run them off the three point line.  A key match up in this game is going to be Zoubek and Samhan and in the end I think that Samhan will dominate this match up and have a monster game. 

That being said, I think that Singler and Scheyer hit some big shots and Coach K returns to the Final Four again after a very close victory against No. 10 St. Mary's. 

East Region No. 1 Kentucky - Kentucky has the "swagger" to win the National Championship this year.  For you guys who don't know what "swagger" is, its the mindset of being confident, borderline cocky, and laid back and having fun.  This young team has molded together real well and play No. 12 seed Cornell tonight in the Sweet 16. 

Do not get me wrong, I love underdog stories more than the next guy, but I think the clock strikes midnight tonight for Cornell.  I will admit they looked really good in their first two rounds, but I don't think they know what is coming to them when playing this talented Kentucky team. 

John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins will be way too fast for this Cornell team tonight.  I look for Cornell to play very hard and hit some threes to stay in the game early but Kentucky runs away with this game in the second half and move to the Elite 8 to play No. 2 West Virginia.

West Virginia point guard Darryl Bryant broke his foot during practice and will miss the season so I am not sure they will even make it by Washington, but they should.  I think that after they barely make it past Washington Kentucky will absolutely dominate the game against the Mountaineers.

I think that Butler will still get his points against Kentucky but the rest of the team will not be able to pick up the slack to hang with Wall and company in the Elite Eight.  Kentucky will move to the Final Four to face No. 1 seed Duke.

No. 1 Duke vs. No. 1 Kentucky FINAL FOUR

I am circling this game as it will be a good one! I think that Duke and Kentucky are two offensive minded teams and they will get up and down the court and will be a very exciting and fun game to watch!  Not only are these two teams even on the court, but also in the leader department.  Take your pick, Coach K or Coach Calapari?

That's too tough for me to pick and I think that Duke might have the edge there, but Kentucky has the edge on the court.  Wall will have his way with this team running up and down the court and I think that Cousins and Patterson down low will be too much for Duke to handle down the stretch. I got Duke losing to Kentucky in a high scoring close game 83-80.

This will move Kentucky to the National Championship game where I think they will play Ohio State out of the Midwest Region.  Evan Turner is arguably the best player in this tournament and I think he will carry them to the National Championship over Kansas State in the Final Four. 

No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 2 Ohio State National Championship Game

While I just said that Turner is one of the best players in this tournament I think he is going to run into his equal in this National Championship game.  Wall vs. Turner, who is better? Well, to be honest, I don't think that will matter because I think that Wall and Turner will even each other out and both have pretty good games. 

The deal breaker in this Championship game is the SUPPORT PLAYERS that each teams has. Kentucky has Bledsoe, Cousins and Patterson to support Wall while Ohio State has Lighty, Buford, and Diebler who support Turner. 

If Kentucky can run Lighty and Diebler off the three point line and not let them get open looks, this is in the bag for the Wildcats.  If these two shooters can get going and knock down some threes I think that is the equalizer and this game could go either way.

I do think that Coach Cal will run these guys off the three-point line and have a good game plan against Turner to frusterate him.  In the end, I think that the X factor is Cousins.  He will dominate the post and Ohio State will have no answer for him.  Down the stretch Wall and Bledsoe will be at the free throw line and will seal this game which will finally let Coach Cal cut down the net.