Every Single Damn Thing You Need To Know About Sunday's Elite Eight Games
Folks, we made it. It's March. It's the NCAA Tournament. We have the Barstool Sportsbook live in a handful of states and there's no better time to download it than this month. What I plan on doing on the blog each day is this preview. Everything you need to know. Schedule, storylines, picks, if you want something different let me know and I'll adjust. It's March. It's all about adjustments in order to survive and advance. Let's get into it.
Schedule
Bracket
Two spots left. Could be all blue bloods or some real weird looking Final Four.
Storylines for today's games
1. The St. Peter's run vs UNC/Duke - This is it. This will determine just how much people freak out. We could get St. Peter's, a 15 seed playing Duke for the right to play for a title or Duke/UNC. We've never had Duke/UNC in the Tournament and this would just solidify that the NCAA rigged it somehow. I've given up truly doubting St. Peter's. It's sounds simple by what Holloway has them doing defensive is unreal. Part of it is matchup and refusal to go small by opposing coaches, but they took away Jaden Ivey. Now they have to take away Caleb Love, who was on fire in the win over UCLA. This weirdly feels a lot like UK and Purdue in the sense of UNC having a dominant big but needing a guard to be the guy against St. Peter's. UK didn't do it. Purdue didn't do it. This is where St. Peter's thrives. At the same time, UNC has improved drastically defensively, which is why we're looking at them here. Something to keep an eye on is how St. Peter's runs the flare screens and motion is similar to Virginia Tech. The same Va Tech that smoked UNC in the ACC semis. Now I want to discredit so much about this UNC team, but it's impossible. They've beat the best seeds they could play at each time. They've handled pressure, they've really just gone to a 6 man rotation and let Brady Manek stretch the floor giving Bacot all the space.
2. Jim Larranaga trying to make history again - How about this guy? The guy dancing in the locker room after win. The guy who took No. 11 George Mason to the Final Four and is now trying to do it with No. 10 Miami. What he's done with this roster in letting it be a 5-out offense and letting Sam Waardenburg create some offense like an old school Sabonis look. Then you throw in Charlie Moore and Isaiah Wong and it makes sense why they are here. On the flip side, Kansas finally figured out Remy Martin. That's why Kansas became such a favorite to win this Tournament. You're adding a guy who can create offense in ball screens and take away pressure from Agbaji and Braun or Wilson. More importantly, Remy Martin finally bought into playing defense. Really the first time you could say that in his entire career. It's what is keeping him on the floor and not in Self's doghouse. Speaking of Self, he's going to have to commit to go small here. McCormack is a massive liability on the perimeter defensively.Larranaga is way too good of a coach to give him that advantage.
Picks
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19-10-1 in the NCAA Tournament
Miami +6
UNC/St. Peter's over 137