Previewing Three More Second Round NCAA Tournament Games
We’re onto the Round of 32 and the scheduling gets weird here. You have two games pretty much stand on their own to start us off and then from 5-8:00 it’s multi-screen time and keeping up with numerous games at once. So with that in mind I’ll be changing up how I do the previews. I’ll do the first one standing alone and then break it up to either 2 to 4 games at a time.
No. 3 Tennessee vs No. 11 Loyola Chicago – 6:10 pm, TNT
Line: Tennessee -5.5
I think this is one of the more intriguing games today. These teams are fairly similar in the sense that they are defensive-minded and then slow it down on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, you’re going to see both teams just make the other uncomfortable. They don’t do anything fancy, they don’t have any gimmick type defense, it’s mostly just man-to-man and getting up in your shorts. The other things both teams do incredibly well is share the ball. That’s due to the motion offense they run, leading to Tennessee being 8th in the country in A/FGM and Loyola being 24th in A/FGM. I’ll be curious to see if Loyola tries to crash the offensive glass a bit tonight. They typically just drop back on defense and are a terrible offensive rebounding team. That said, Tennessee’s biggest weakness is on the offensive glass. They are a terrible defensive rebounding team and you can get some extra possessions and free points attacking there. That’s vital in this game as I expect this to be minimal possessions and low scoring. Tennessee should have an advantage offensively with either Williams or Schofield. Loyola is going to likely have to put Ingram on one of those two and there’s your mismatch.
Bracket pick: Tennessee
ATS pick: Loyola
No. 1 Kansas vs No. 8 Seton Hall – 7:10 pm, TBS
Line: Kansas -5.5
I talked about this matchup before the tournament started. If Angel Delgado can stay on the floor and avoid foul trouble, I really like Seton Hall here. It sounds like Udoka Azubuike is going to play, but just about 15 minutes, which means Delgado should get every single rebound there. That right there is where Seton Hall can hang in this game. Kansas is one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country while Seton Hall is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. Pretty simple when you look at Kansas playing four guards and Seton Hall having Delgado. Expect a lot of ball screens from both teams here. They simply struggle guarding that and both are excellent offensively in that set. Devonte Graham should look to attack the lane, something that he does quite a bit, with Svi in the corner. Another thing to keep an eye on – letting Malik Newman attack in this set. Newman has been excellent as of late in the sense of getting into the lane and finishing. Surrounding him with Graham and Svi could be dangerous. For Seton Hall, monitor Desi Rodriguez. He came off the bench in round one after coming back from a leg injury suffered at Providence a few weeks ago. He has the ability to break defenses down, especially driving left.
Bracket pick: Seton Hall
ATS pick: Seton Hall
No. 4 Gonzaga vs No. 5 Ohio State – 7:45 pm, CBS
Line: Gonzaga -4
This is actually a rematch from earlier in the year when Gonzaga beat Ohio State 86-59 in the first round of the PK80 Invitational. Now, things have obviously changed since then, but just worth noting. I talked about the ability for Gonzaga to use roster versatility, especially its bigs and now it happens again tonight. Killian Tillie and Rui Hachimura can provide a huge mismatch for Ohio State’s bigs – especially Kaleb Wesson. Look for Gonzaga to push Tillie and Rui out to the perimeter and let Johnathan Williams attack from the midpost. That will force Ohio State to make a decision on how to guard them with the likes of KBD and Tate. You also can’t leave those two due to how well they shoot the ball. On the other side, Gonzaga should be able to throw a couple different looks on Bates-Diop, but it will be important to push him away from ball screens.
Bracket pick: Gonzaga
ATS pick: Gonzaga