Midwest
No. 12 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 1 Louisville Cardinals
By this point, everyone knows the Pac-12 tournament champion Oregon Ducks were severely slighted with
the committee giving them a 12-seed.
The Oregon backcourt and wing play consists of lead guard Dominic Artis, reserve playmaker Jonathan Lloyd, the 6-5 slasher Carlos Emory and 6-5 freshman guard Damyean Dotson, who has averaged 20 points on 13 shots in his first two tournament games and will be crucial to the Ducks chances.
The pressure will be on the freshman Artis to make excellent decisions with the basketball – something he’s very good at doing – as he faces the Louisville 1-2-1-1 pressure defense, but each and every one of these ball handlers had better be ready to make a play while under durress.
The Louisville frontline of Gorgui Dieng, Chane Behanan, Montrezl Harrell and Stephen Van Tresse is a load for any front court to handle, so Iranian center Arsalan Kazemi, Wake Forest transfer Tony Woods, the 6-11 junior Waverly Austin and 6-8 forward Ben Austin will have their work cut out for them, as they’ll have to handle their own on the interior.
At the end of the day, I think Russ Smith and Peyton Siva seem to be M.O.A.M. right now, while Wayne Blackshear, Kevin Ware and Luke Hancock are playing their best ball of the season at the right time.
Prediction: Louisville’s ball-pressure will overwhelm the Ducks. 77-63, Cardinals.
No. 3 Michigan State Spartans vs. No. 2 Duke Blue Devils
Snap reaction: Does this have instant classic written all over it, or what?
Izzo vs. Coach K.
Travis Trice, Denzel Valentine, Brandon Dawson, Gary Harris and Keith Appling vs. Tyler Thornton, Rasheed Sulaimon, Seth Curry and Quinn Cook.
Ryan Kelly, Amile Jefferson, Josh Hairston and Mason Plumlee vs. Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne.
Sure, some of the other bench players could have an impact on the game…
But at the end of the day, this game is going to come down to big-time coaching and big-time play by some of the guys mentioned above.
So….
Because it’s much too close for us to call and could come down to any number of small factors throughout the course of the game.
We cannot wait to watch the adjustments Izzo and Coach K make. It’ll be fun watching for subtle nuances the entire time.