After a whirlwind first two rounds of the NCAA Division 1 Tournament, starting on Thursday, March 28 the regional semi-finals will begin to get underway. Unlike most years not much chaos has transpired leading up to this point. Much of the chaos in March Madness comes from surging lower-seeded mid-major teams making a Cinderella run or rarely a blue-blood team eventually falters. This year much parity and cohesion are the name of the game for most of these teams left standing. Of the 16 teams remaining, two are mid-major programs: No. 5 seed San Diego State from the Mountain West Conference, and No. 5 seed Gonzaga, a West Coast Conference contender and rival of the LMU Lions.
The slate begins on Thursday at 4:09 PM Pacific Time in which the West Regional as the No.6 seed Clemson Tigers will take on the No.2 seed Arizona Wildcats in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena. The Tigers are led by their star senior center, PJ Hall who averages 18.5 points per game. The Tigers are a good team this season finishing fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference and have had quality wins over No.3 North Carolina and No.23 Alabama. The Tigers play a consistent brand of basketball but up to this point have been exceptionally streaky. The Wildcat’s top point scorer is a transfer senior guard from the University of North Carolina, Caleb Love. On the season, Love averages 18.1 points per game. In the past season, Arizona’s top wins came in which they defeated No.2 Duke and No.23 Wisconsin. These quality wins resulted in Arizona finishing atop the Pac-12 Conference. Continuously, the Wildcats on the other hand are balanced with efficiency offensively and defensively, and a starting five that knows how to score with fervor.
At 4:39 PM the East Regional Sweet 16 begins with a rematch of last season’s National Championship game: No. 5 seed San Diego State Aztecs taking on the No.1 seed UConn Huskies. The Aztecs are led by top forward senior Jadeon Ledee. Leedee, who’s top 20 in the nation in scoring, comes in averaging 21.5 points per game. The Aztecs found themselves victorious over No.13 Gonzaga and No.16 Utah Tech with this, the Aztecs finished fifth in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs are a strong defensive-minded team but will have their hands full with a high-scoring UConn offense. The Huskies found success by beating No.10 Gonzaga as well as soundly defeating No.4 Marquette and No.18 Creighton. UConn’s scoring output is led by senior guard Tristen Newton who averages 15.2 points per game. Also on the Huskies are likely the top ten NBA Draft hopefuls guard Stephon Castle and center Donovan Clingan. Castle and Clingan are revered by scouts for their strong defensive game and ability to score as well.
Following that game is another West regional matchup with the No.4 Alabama Crimson Tide will take on the No.1 University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:39 PM. The Crimson Tide finished second in a top-heavy SEC conference despite losses against Purdue, Creighton, Tennessee, and Arizona. The leading scorer for Alabama is senior guard Mark Sears with 21.5 points per game. Sears and his scoring output are good enough to make the Alabama offense the number one in the nation, averaging 90.7 points. UNC on the other hand is a formidable team who has the potential to make it to the Final Four and found good wins by defeating No.10 Tennessee and No.7 Duke. The Tar Heels offense comes from senior guard RJ Davis who averages 21.3 points per game and his running mate five year senior Armando Bacot outputting 14.4 points per game.
The last game on Thursday night is the No.3 seed Illinois Fighting Illini taking on the No.2 seed Iowa State Cyclones scheduled to get underway at 7:09 PM at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. This past season the Fighting Illini finished second in the Big 10 and notably lost to both No.17 Tennessee and No.1 Purdue. As per the team’s scoring output, they are led by the strong scoring of senior guard Terrance Shannon Jr. and his 23.3 points per game. Shannon is a likely top-15 pick in this year’s NBA Draft. As a whole Ilnois is a top defensive team allowing opponents to score 73.4 points per game on average. On the other hand, Iowa State finished second this season in the Big 12. They also are a stout and strong defensive team with a frenetic defense. This past season, the Cyclones had won tough intra-conference contests against No.2 Houston and No.7 Kansas. Their top scorer is junior guard Keshon Gilbert and his 13.7 points per game.
The following Friday, March 29 the South and Midwest regional semi-finals get underway. The first game of the slate is the South Regional No.11 seed NC State Wolfpack taking on the No.2 seed Marquette Golden Eagles at 4:09 PM at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Despite finishing 10th in the ACC, that didn’t seem to matter as they played in a whirlwind ACC conference tournament, playing spoiler to each of their opponents and so far have upset No.6 seed Texas Tech in the first round and escaped against No.14 seed Oakland. Their top scorer is senior guard DJ Horne who is averaging 16.7 points per game this past season. Marquette on the other hand has had relatively smooth sailing to the Sweet 16. This year the aggressive offense of the Golden Eagles has won games against No.1 Kansas and No.22 Creighton. The scoring output of the Golden Eagles is led by the two-headed monster of guards Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek. Both respectively are averaging 17.1 and 15.3 points per game.
Following that game is the Midwest Regional in which the No. 5 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the No.1 seed Purdue Boilermakers at 4:39 PM at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. This past season the Bulldogs found themselves on the losing end of contests against UConn, Purdue,and St.Mary’s and still finished 2nd in the West Coast Conference. Coach Mark Few’s team always churns out several NBA draft picks every year, and this year top scorer Graham Ike averages 16.4 points per game.Their scoring as a team makes them one to watch but will be tough to contend with a gritty and hungry Boilermakers team. This past season Purdue has beaten No.4 Marquette, No.7 Tennessee, and No.9 Illinois. Purdue gets their scoring from the number one scoring player in the nation, 7 ‘4 center Zach Edey. This past season Edey is averaging 24.5 points per game, and is a likely first round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Next at 6:39 PM is the No.4 seed Duke Blue Devils facing off against the No.1 seed Houston Cougars in Dallas. This season Duke has had wins over No.10 Baylor, No.18 Michigan State, and unranked Clemson putting them second in the ACC. Duke’s scoring comes from sophomore center Kyle Filipowski who is averaging 16.6 points per game. As per their opponent, Houston led by senior guard L.J. Cryer and his 15.5 points per game. This year the Cougars had beaten No.21 BYU, No.11 Baylor, and No.25 Texas Tech. The Cougars are a No.1 seed for a reason as their defense is strong allowing opponents to only 57.7 points per game, and matching it with strong scoring 74.1 points per game.
The final game is the No.3 seed Creighton Bluejays taking on the No.2 seed Tennessee Volunteers at 7:09 PM
Creighton finished third in the Big East due to wins against No.23 Providence, No.1 UConn, and an unranked win against Xavier. Their scoring output is led by senior guard Baylor Scheierman who is averaging 18.8 points per game and could see himself wind up as a second round pick in the draft. Next Tennessee is led by senior guard Dalton Knecht who averaged 21.1 points per game. Knecht is a top playmaker who led the Volunteers to first place in the SEC and getting wins against No.22 Ole Miss, No.10 Kentucky and against No.17 South Carolina. Besides Knecht, the Volunteers can count on Jonas Aidoo to be a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end.
