Bracket News: Friday Night Session With Pick$$$
What are the storylines tonight? Well you have some of college ball’s biggest names making their debut. Will any of them fall into the favorite trap that has been the 2010 Tournament? With the final three 1- and 2-seeds going tonight, we have some heavy chalk eaters. Duke is favored by 24 over Arkansas Pine Bluff, Syracuse is laying 15.5 to Vermont and Ohio State gives 17 to UC Santa Barbara. Michigan State and Maryland look to play each in the next round, but first have to ensure the survival of the 4/5 matchup tonight. Both are chalky spice with MSU -13.5 over New Mexico State and Maryland is -10 over Houston. You know, of the five teams who stole a bid by winning an automatic bid in the league sectionals, three have won games this first round. The other two are New Mexico State and Houston. Interesting.
Beyond those games, there are a trio of “coin flip” games that could go either way. And unlike those games that pit upstarts or anonymous power league qualifers, we have three games with rosters and rotations laced with guru talent. In the Gonzaga/Florida State, Oklahoma State/Georgia Tech and Louisville/Cal games, there is a nice sized combination of recent creeper guru approved recruits and/or blue chippers high up on this June’s NBA draft board. Even though the winners of these games are likely facing a tournament favorite in either Duke, Sryacuse or Ohio State in the next round, I think each have enough talent on hand to start a multi game run in this tournament tonight. I though all along these were three of the more intriguing games on the board. Then the madness of the last 36 hours happened. There almost have to be a few classics in store for the final night of the first round. First a quick tour of the promised talent, followed by picks on those games.
Basketball no name versus overachieving college upstart. Not much reason to send in the NBA scouts, right? Uh, no. Florida State might be a basketball no name, but they’ve stockpiled an array of talent the last three years. Three starters were ranked among the elite at their positions coming out of high school Solomon Alibi was a 5-star, 24rth overall, 4rth center in the 2007 class. Chris Singleton was a 4-star, 12th overall, 3rd small forward in the 2008 class. Marcus Snear was a 5-star, 7th overall 2nd shooting guard in the 2009 class. Singleton arrived with a class that included four other 4-stars, Xavier Gibson, Luke Louks, Deiviadas Dulkys, and Derwin Kitchen, who are all key members of FSU’s 10-man rotation. Maybe thats why they were able to survive the loss of all-everything Tony Douglass from a year ago and make it back to their second straight tournament after a decade-long absence.
We all know Gonzaga. They have their fair share of blue chippers as well. Demetri Goodson was a top-100 ESPN recruit in 2008. Elias Harris was expected to be an instant impact Euro with a lot of rave international reviews. He’s projected as a late lottery to midddle first round pick in this June’s draft by the ESPN draftniks, despite just one year playing college in the States. Robert Sacre is a 7-footer who scores in double figures. Then there’s the backcourt of Matt Bauldin and Steven Gray, one of the better duos in the college game the last two years. Bouldin could elevate himself to the late first round in the June draft with an excellent March.
In the Georgia Tech/Oklahoma State game, there’s Derek Favours, Gani Lawal on one side, James Anderson on the other. Two likely lottery picks in Favours and Anderson. A likely first rounder in Lawal. Well, should they declare early, of course. Iman Shumpert of Tech and Obi Mounelo of State are also possible draft picks who can move up the charts with a great weekend. Those five guys play the most of anybody in either teams player rotation. It’s a 7/10 game, but there’s enough talent on either team to spark a multiple game run in this field.
The highlight of the Louisville Cards team is Samardo Samuels, a 5-star from the Rivals 6th-ranked 2008 class for Louisville. Samuels is probably a year away from being a legit first rounder, but he ought to be a force in this game. He’s one of our guys brought in from that class are part of Pitino’s rotation. As are a pair of 4-star freshmen from this year16th ranked class that get about a dozen minutes apiece. Of course the heart of the team is the 4-star guard duo ending their collegiate careers with this tournament, Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith. Smith has struggled shooting the ball, especially from behind the arc. Sosa, however, has totally elevated his game and his shooting numbers have skyrocketed this season. Cal might break the trend of guru approved guns in this bizarre subset of games of I’ve grouped. But Jerone Randle and Patrick Christopher have been one of the best backcourts in the country this season. After watching Washington’s underrated guards and firepower win out against Big East Marquette last night, I dont know how you couldnt be intrigued to see how Cal matches up here.
So we have two viewing options tonight. Will we have another bigtime underdog take out a brand name? And the high quality talent on the floor in the coin flip games to determine who will play those brand names Sunday. I’m sold. Now, on to the picks:
Zags pick ‘em over FSU, 1 Unit…..I just cant help myself from taking the Zags to win in a first round game. It’s like a rule in March. While these teams have a lot of talent, they couldnt play much different than one another. The Zags play a potent style, looking to push the ball and score aggressively. They use their bigs to score in the open floor and create mismatches on offense. Florida State, not so much. They like to play in the Piston Bad Boy style, but perhaps without the open muggings. They are fine choking any game to death and playing in the 50s. They use their bigs to vigilantly protect the goal and create mismatches on defense. They’re not a high scoring team, but they shoot the ball well. That’s because they get a lot of buckets off the offensive glass. They’re best play is a missed shot, offensive rebound and tap in. Just like Leonard Hamilton drew it up, I am sure. So, anyway, here’s the deal. The Zags are a good rebounding team in their own right. Everybody chips in even their guards. I think they can neutralize the Noles there. And they’re not that cliche west cost team thats all offense and no defense. They can D it up. They’re only average at keeping points off the board. But they’re really hard to shot successfully against. They have plenty of size to counter FSU’s interior. So the Zags are good at FSU’s strength, while I dont think FSU is good at all at the Zags strength. In the end, Bouldin and Grey are the better backcourt and Harris is the best basketball players in this game.
Okie State -1 over Georgia Tech, 1 Unit…..I just think Okie State has an idea about what it wants to do out there. Tech wavers a lot in games. Besides, the Cowboys have postseason experience. After 30 minutes of back and forth play, look for that to push the Pokes through in this one.
Lousville -1 over Cal, 1 Unit…….Pac 10 over Big East, amirte?!?!? Okay, so that punched me in the gut last night. But I gotta save fave here! When I saw the lines and saw two Big Easters in coin flips over the Pac 10 reps, I had to play them. Could the Pac 10 really sweep this challenge? I dont think they do. The Cards will have too much.
If I add anything else, I will send out a tweet.
