Previewing the Sweet Sixteen

After two great rounds of college basketball, we now have the final sixteen teams of the NCAA tournament. Let's take a look at each matchup.

Midwest Region:
(9) Northern Iowa vs. (5) Michigan State
The Panthers are a huge Cinderella story after knocking off #1 seed Kansas, and they will take on Tom Izzo and his Michigan State Spartans. Kalin Lucas may have torn his Achilles against Maryland, and that will set back MSU. I still think the depth of MSU will lead them over Northern Iowa.

(6) Tennessee vs. (2) Ohio State
Ohio State has played well so far, but Tennessee has looked very good in their previous games, albeit against San Diego State and Ohio. I'll take the upset and predict a Tennessee win.

East Region:
(12) Cornell vs. (1) Kentucky
Cornell, the Ivy League champs, are one of the many Cinderella's left. With Kansas out, Kentucky is a very popular pick to win it all. I think the Big Red will stick with UK, but in the end, John Wall and Co. will pull out.

(11) Washington vs. (2) West Virginia
The Huskies are showing many people how good they can be, despite a tough season for Washington. West Virginia is a very solid team, and is definitely a contender for the title. As much as I want a Pac-10 team to win, I'll go with West Virginia in this one.

West Region:
(5) Butler vs. (1) Syracuse
Butler has looked good in their first two games, but Syracuse is getting a great contribution from star forward Wesley Johnson, who scored 31 points for them in their rout of eight seed Gonzaga in round 2. I'll take Syracuse over the Bulldogs.

(6) Xavier vs. (2) Kansas State
Xavier has been one of the most consistent teams in the country the past few years, reaching the sweet sixteen for the past three years. Kansas State has quietly been playing a great tournament, led by Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente. I'll take K-State in a close one over Xavier.

South Region:
(4) Purdue vs. (1) Duke
Purdue slid by Texas A&M and Siena, and have looked different without standout forward Robbie Hummel. Duke has played very well in the tourney, and looks to be firing on all cylinders. I'll take Duke to advance into the elite eight.

(10) St. Mary's vs. (3) Baylor
Another Cinderella team, St. Mary's shocked many by stunning 2 seed Villanova in the second round. Baylor has been led by Tweety Carter, and have so far beaten expectations in the tournament. I'll take Baylor in a tight one.

NCAA Tournament Wrap Up: Thursday (3/18)

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've had a lot of basketball and school work. I will try to do a wrap up for each day of the tournament from now on, and starting tomorrow night I will rank the remaining teams in the tournament. Let's take a look at some of the games from this afternoon and evening.

East Region
(1) Kentucky 100, (16) East Tennessee State 71
Kentucky dominated this game and showed why they were a top-ranked seed. Eric Bledsoe led the Wildcats with 29 points and Patrick Patterson had 22. John Wall contributed with a double-double (17 points and 11 assists) to lead Coach John Calipari's team to a second round berth.

(11) Washington 80, (6) Marquette 78
The Pac-10 champion Huskies won this one in dramatic fashion, as senior Quincy Pondexter sunk a game-winner with 1.7 second left in the game. Marquette failed to make a field goal in the final 4:33 of the game. Pondexter had 18 points for Washington, and Isaiah Thomas had 19 points and eight assists.

(9) Wake Forest 81, (8) Texas 80 (OT)
A last second shot from Ishmael Smith won it for the Demon Deacons.

(3) New Mexico 62, (14) Montana 57
The Lobos avoided a huge upset from the Grizzlies.

Midwest Region
(9) Northern Iowa 69, (8) UNLV 66
The Panthers, conference champions of the Missouri Valley conference, took on the Runnin' Rebels in one of the more anticipated mid-major matchups of the day. Ali Farokhmanesh led UNI with 17 points and 3 assists. The Panthers will likely play a number one seed on Saturday barring a huge upset in tonight's Kansas-Lehigh game.

(14) Ohio 97, (3) Georgetown 83
In one of the major upsets of the day, the Ohio Bobcats topped Georgetown in a high scoring game. The Bobcats were led by Armon Bassett with 32 points and DJ Cooper with 23 points. The Bobcats will take on the winner of the Tennessee-San Diego State game.

(6) Tennessee 62, (11) San Diego State 59
A close game all the way through, Tennessee pushed through at the end with fastbreak points.

(1) Kansas 90, (16) Lehigh 74
Lehigh stuck in this game for most of the second half, but the Jayhawks pulled away.

South Region
(11) Old Dominion 51, (6) Notre Dame 50
Another loss in a rough day for Big East as the Fighting Irish fall to the Old Dominion Monarchs. Frank Hassell had 15 points and 9 rebounds for ODU.

(2) Villanova 73, (15) Robert Morris 70
Villanova avoids a huge upset.

(3) Baylor 68, (14) Sam Houston State 59
Baylor looked sharp in tourney debut

(10) Saint Mary's 80, (7) Richmond 71
St. Mary's led by Omar Samhan move to ply Villanova.

West Region
(7) BYU 99, (10) Florida 92 (2OT)
Shootout won by Jimmer Fredette and the Cougars.

(13) Murray State 66, (4) Vanderbilt 65
Major upset as the OVC champs top Vandy on a buzzer beater

(2) Kansas State 82, (15) North Texas 62
K-State looked in Final Four form with 20 point rout of the Mean Green

(5) Butler 77, (12) UTEP 59
Butler takes care of business against Miners who were a popular upset pick.

Welcome to the Madness: Cornell Big Red

With many conferences coming to a close, I'm going to try to get through every automatic bid for conference champions. The first of 31 has clinched their spot in the NCAA tournament, so let's take a look at Cornell's season.

Cornell Big Red
Record: (26-4 Overall, 12-1 Conference)
Conference: Ivy League
The Big Red came into the season projected as the Ivy League champs, which usually doesn't give a team national buzz. But the Big Red did exactly that with probably the most impressive loss of any non-power conference school. They went into Allen Fieldhouse and took on the #1 Kansas Jayhawks and were up by 4 with a minute left. Despiet leaving with a loss, Cornell came as close as anyone had to beating Kansas at home in 3 years. The Big Red did not break their stride getting into conference play, and was ranked in the top 25 at one point. Despite a surprise loss to Penn late in the year, the Big Red took down their main competition for first in the conference in Harvard and Princeton. The Big Red are definitely a Cinderella to watch in the tournament.

Player to watch:
F Ryan Wittman - 17.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 41.2 3PT%

After today's games, we will have three more teams being added to the tournament field with the Big South championship game (Winthrop-Coastal Carolina), Atlantic Sun (East Tennessee St-Mercer) and the Ohio Valley title game (Morehead St-Murray St). Check back later tonight or early tomorrow for posts about those champions.