MIDWEST REGION
This is a beautiful compliment. The Midwest Region is the Ugly Bracket.
Yep, it’s a compliment. In this day of one-and-dones and barrages of 3’s, the team that makes it out of the Midwest is going to have to be able to win, physical, defensive ball.
The No.1 seed Houston is the second-best defensive team in the nation, holding teams to just 56.5 points per game. The Cougars will face No.16 seed Northern Kentucky which is 27th, allowing just 63.6.
Iowa State, the No.6 seed, is 16th in scoring defense, allowing just 62.8. And Texas, keeps coming at your with nine players getting at least 12 minutes.
Midwest Champs | Midwest Sleeper | Midwest Bracket Buster | Midwest Best Pro | Midwest Best Mascot | Midwest Best Bet |
No.1 Houston | No.12 Kent State | No.5. Miami | Kevin Durant, No. 2 Texas | Northern Kentucky Norse | Kent State +5.5 over Indiana |
No Pain, No Game?
Two of the top teams in the Midwest Region come limping into the NCAA Tournament.
Houston, the No.1 seed in the Midwest, lost in the America Athletic Conference championship game, 75-65, Sunday to Memphis with its best player, Marcus Sasser on the bench with a strained groin.
The loss snapped a 13-game win streak for the Cougars, 31-3, the best defensive team in the country. Houston doesn’t just play defense. The Cougars relish playing defense the way a nine-year-old grips on to an ice cream cone and good luck plying that bad boy away.
Sasser is the team’s leading scorer at 17.1 points per game and its second-best three-point shooter at 38.1-percent. Most important, Sasser is a senior and there is no more valuable commodity in the NCAA Tournament than a senior guard. It’s like breath mints before a first date.
Miami, the No.5 seed, can empathize. They lost forward Norchad Omier, who rolled his right ankle in the team’s semifinal round loss to Duke in Friday’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game.
Omier is the team’s leading rebounder (9.7), third-leading scorer (13.6) and shoots 59.1-percent from the floor. In the 85-78 loss to the Blue Devils, Miami was outrebounded, 36-24, after Omier went down in the game’s first minute.
Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hide
Will the real Xavier Musketeers please stand up. Xavier, which was picked 2nd in the Big East preseason poll, was on track to win the league until forward Zach Freemantle went down with what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury. The X-men lost 3-of-4 before righting the ship.
Xavier seemed headed for a Big East tournament title after dismantling Creighton, 82-60, in a semifinal round game. But the Musketeers were never in the game in a 65-51 loss to Marquette in the title game.
Xavier (25-9) is an intriguing pick as the No.3 seed. Archie Miller is as good a game coach as there is in college basketball. Depends on which Xavier team shows up.
Green Flash or Golden Flashes
Fisherman say the sighting of a green flash on the horizon is good luck. The 13th-seeded Golden Flashes of Kent State could be bad luck for teams in the Midwest Region.
Kent State won the Mid-American Conference championship with a 93-78 dismantling of Toledo. The Golden Flashes have that treasured tournament commodity known as a senior guard in Sincere Carry.
They have a two-point loss to Charleston, a five-point loss to No.1 seed Houston, and a seven-point loss to Gonzaga as proof that they can play with anyone. Kent finished 28-6 and won’t be intimidated by their first-round opponent. No. 4 Indiana.
Best Bet
If you don’t like the MAC upsetting a Big Ten team, how about the Patriot League over the Big 12. No.15 is getting 15.5 against No.2 seed Texas. The Longhorns should win but there is no more potent weapon in college basketball than the 3 and the Raiders are best 3-point shooting team in the nation at 40.78