Thanks to Vegas Watch for providing these graphs that measure the moving average of a team’s spread (moving avg.) over time vs. the spread for each individual game (indiv). If a team’s moving average is higher than zero, then Vegas currently has a higher opinion of them than Pomeroy, and vice versa.
General Profile
Location: Berkeley, California Conference: Pac-10, at-large Coach: Mike Montgomery, 22-9 08-09 Record: 22-9, 11-7 Last 12 Games: 6-6 Best Win: 86-71, Washington, 2/5/2009 Worst Loss: 69-65, Oregon State, 1/22/2009 Off. Efficiency Rating: 117.4 [10] Def. Efficiency Rating: 97.2 [87]
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Jerome Randle – 18.4 ppg/4.9 apg Unsung Hero: Patrick Christopher – 14.6 ppg Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): Patrick Christopher: 44th overall in 2010 Key Injuries: None to report Depth: 27% (260) Achilles Heel: Cal doesn’t have much going in the paint on offense or defense. Currently, they’re 89th in the nation in 2-point shooting percentage, and an appalling 324th when it comes to blocking opponents’ shots. Will Make a Deep Run if…: The three point shot is working well and their opponent doesn’t have a powerful big man.
Will Make an Early Exit if…: Live by the three, die by the three. Cal shoots a higher percentage from behind the arc than anyone in the nation, but the regular season showed that if the three pointers aren’t going in (like when they shot 15% from three and lost to Oregon State) the Golden Bears are most likely going to lose.
NCAA History
Last Year Invited: 2006, Field of 64 Streak: This is Cal’s first year back. Best NCAA Finish: 1959 National Champions Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): -0.13 wins per appearance
Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: In 1995, former Cal star Jason Kidd shared NBA Rookie of the Year honors with Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons. Distance to First Round Site: 1,802 miles. School’s Claim to Fame: Besides once being the epicenter of collegiate activism and free thought, UC Berkeley is considered to be one of the top public universities in the United States. School Wishes It Could Forget: Recently, UC Berkeley students who were camped out in campus trees to protest the building of new athletic facilities gained national media attention by biting and throwing their feces on university officials. Poop-throwing among the student body is generally not good for the school’s image. Prediction: If Cal can keep Greivis Vasquez in check, they should win a tight game against Maryland. That theoretically puts them up against Memphis in the Round of 32, so the Golden Bears should be headed home after the first weekend.
Morgan State University (#15, South, Kansas City pod)
vs. Oklahoma (#2)
Thur. 3/19 at about 9:40 pm
Vegas Line: +16
General Profile
Location: Baltimore, MD
Conference: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, automatic bid
Coach: Todd Bozeman, Overall Record: 58-40
08-09 Record: 23-11 (14-3)
Last 12 Games: 11-1, won 5.
Best Win: 66-65, University of Maryland, 1-7-09
Worst Loss: 63-58, Florida A&M University, 1-17-09
Off. Efficiency Rating: 99.3 (210th)
Def. Efficiency Rating: 97.4 (92nd)
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Reggie Holmes, 16.9 ppg, 37.3 3pt%
Unsung Hero: Kevin Thompson, 8.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): None
Key Injuries: No significant injuries.
Depth: 20.4% mins. (336th nationally)
Achilles Heel: Poor Free Throw Shooting. Only 66 percent as a team.
Will Make a Deep Run if…: They stretch the Oklahoma defense and shoot well from three-point range
Will Make an Early Exit if…: Blake Griffin takes more than seven shots.
NCAA History Last Year Invited: First Bid in School History
Streak: n/a
Best NCAA Finish: n/a
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): n/a
Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: Todd Bozeman once coached Jason Kidd, who had several epic battles against the Detroit Pistons as a member of the New Jersey Nets.
Distance to First Round Site: 963 Miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Coached by former Cal Bear coach Todd Bozeman, who was banned from NCAA competition for eight years for improper payments to players.
School Wishes It Could Forget: N/A
Prediction: Morgan St. will shoot and defend well in the first half, but jitters will enable Oklahoma to pull away late.
Major RTC stories:27 Down, 38 To Go
Thanks to Vegas Watch for providing these graphs that measure the moving average of a team’s spread (moving avg.) over time vs. the spread for each individual game (indiv). If a team’s moving average is higher than zero, then Vegas currently has a higher opinion of them than Pomeroy, and vice versa.
Star Player(s): DeJaun Blair – 15.6 ppg/12.2 rpg; Sam Young – 18.7 ppg/6.1 rpg; Levance Fields – 10.7 ppg/7.6 apg Unsung Hero: Jermaine Dixon – 9.0 ppg Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): DeJuan Blair, 13th overall in 2009 / Sam Young, 22nd overall in 2009 Key Injuries: No injuries to report Depth: 29.4% mins, #206 Achilles Heel: DeJuan Blair and fouls – Pitt is 0-3 when their big guy fouls out, and 28-1 when he stays on the court. Will Make a Deep Run if…: Everything goes as expected. Will Make an Early Exit if…: Blair gets in foul trouble, and the other Pitt stars can’t make up the difference.
NCAA History
Last Year Invited: 2008, Round of 32 Streak: Pitt is dancing for the 8th straight year. Best NCAA Finish: 1941, Final Four Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): -0.40 wins per appearance
Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: Head coach Jamie Dixon (1) took over in 2003 at Pitt after Ben Howland (2) left for UCLA. Howland’s Bruins won a spectacular game again Gonzaga in the 2006 tournament, with Adam Morrison (3) starring for the Zags. Morrison was the first draft pick by Michael Jordan (4), who famously played for the Chicago Bulls (5), who were at the time the chief rival of the Detroit Pistons (6). Distance to First Round Site: 256 miles School’s Claim to Fame: “Send it in Jerome!” In 1988, Pitt forward Jerome Lane had one of the most spectacular highlight reel dunks ever, shattering the backboard with a slam against Providence. School Wishes It Could Forget: In 2005, a University of Pittsburgh scientist named Gerald Schatten was linked to a South Korean embryo-cloning debacle that made international controversy. Generally, schools don’t like their faculty members getting involved in such things. Prediction: FSU doesn’t have the firepower, outside of Douglas, to take down Pitt, and Blair should dominate over Duke’s tepid post players. In the end, Pittsburgh makes it all the way to the Final Four, but can’t quite make it to the title game.
Welcome to the RTC 2009 Mascot Death Match! We’ll post each round of games as they come available, so check back Friday for Saturday’s Round 2 matches and so forth. Voting will close at the end of each day’s matches.
vs. Texas (#7)
Thur. 3/19 at 7:10 pm
Vegas Line: +4
General Profile
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Conference: Big Ten, at large Coach: Orlando “Tubby” Smith, hired 2007. Record at Minnesota = 42-24.
08-09 Record: 22-10 (9-9)
Last 12 Games: 5-7
Best Win: vs Louisville, 70-64, 12/20/08
Worst Loss: at Northwestern, 65-74, on 1/18/09.
Off. Efficiency Rating: 106.5 (88th)
Def. Efficiency Rating: 90.6 (20th)
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Lawrence Westbrook (6’0″ junior guard), 12.4 ppg.
Unsung Hero: Ralph Sampson III (6’11” freshman center), leads team with 4.4 rpg and second in blocks at 1.5/game.
Potential NBA Draft Pick: Sampson has some teams interested.
Key Injuries: No significant injuries.
Depth: 40.7% mins. (13th nationally)
Achilles Heel: Guarding the three. Opponents shoot 32.7%, 236th in the nation in that category.
Will Make a Deep Run if…: …their defense can frustrate. They’re 20th nationally in Defensive Efficiency and 4th nationally in blocks.
Will Make an Early Exit if…: …their interior defense breaks down. Despite being poor in defensing the three, they’re in the top 30 as far as guarding shots inside the arc.
Last Year Invited: 2005
Streak: One year.
Best NCAA Finish: 1997 Final Four.
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): n/a
Other
Distance to First Round Site: 1143 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: A notable alumni list too long to list, but it includes 18 Nobel prize winners. Bob Dylan went here but dropped out.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Yanni is an alumnus.
Prediction: Minnesota doesn’t wow you with statistics but with Smith at the helm you know at the very least they’ll give Texas a ballgame, and maybe win it outright. Minnesota will be a popular 1st round upset pick, but they have to find a way to corral Pittman. If they can…who knows, after that.
Major RTC stories: Big 10 Wrapup and Tourney Preview
Location: Northridge, CA Conference: Big West, automatic Coach: Bobby Braswell, 205-180 08-09 Record: 17-13, 11-5 Last 12 Games: 9-3 Best Win: 71-66, Pacific, 3/15 Worst Loss: 67-65, Cal State Bakersfield, 11/21 Off. Efficiency Rating: 102.2; #162 Def. Efficiency Rating: 97.1; #83
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Rodrigue Mels, 25.5 ppg in Big West Tournament
Unsung Hero: Tremaine Townsend – 10.2 ppg, 8.3 rebs
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): None
Key Injuries: Josh Jenkins, G – car accident; Deon Tresvant, G – pending legal case Depth: 41.4%, #9 Achilles Heel: Just 67.3% from the FT line Will Make a Deep Run if…: Memphis falls asleep on the court Will Make an Early Exit if…: They turn the ball over too much (17.7 pg)
Other
Distance to First Round Site: 1,637 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: One of the state’s largest schools (33,000+ students), Northridge finished rebuilding in 2007 after the campus was heavily damaged in the 1994 earthquake that struck the Los Angeles area
School Wishes It Could Forget: Three players (including leading scorer and coach’s son) accused of stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise from a local Best Buy on New Year’s Day this year, and have not played since.
Prediction: Northridge does all of the things that Memphis does… only Memphis does them much, much better. The Matadors won the Big West despite missing some key players, but that grit won’t get them far against the Tigers.
Thanks to Vegas Watch for providing these graphs that measure the moving average of a team’s spread (moving avg.) over time vs. the spread for each individual game (indiv). If a team’s moving average is higher than zero, then Vegas currently has a higher opinion of them than Pomeroy, and vice versa.
General Profile
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Conference: Big Ten Coach: Thad Matta, hired 2004. Record at OSU = 127-45.
08-09 Record: 22-10 (10-8)
Last 12 Games: 7-5
Best Win: vs Michigan State 82-70, on 3/14/09
Worst Loss: at Northwestern, 69-72, on 2/18/09.
Off. Efficiency Rating: 114.0 (26th)
Def. Efficiency Rating: 95.9 (72nd)
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Evan Turner (6’7″ sophomore forward); 17.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.8 spg. Unsung Hero: William Buford (6’5″ freshman forward); 11.3 ppg, shooting 45.2% FG and 89.6% FT. Potential NBA Draft Pick: 7’0″ freshman center B.J. Mullens is currently projected as the 12th overall pick in the 2009 mock NBA draft at www.nbadraft.net. Key Injuries: Would-be star player David Lighty (6’7″ junior F) injured his left 5th metatarsal against Jacksonville on 12/17/08 and was slated to miss 6-12 weeks. No recent mention of possible return. Depth: 26.6% mins (271st nationally) Achilles Heel: The boards. The Buckeyes pull down 28.2 rebounds/game, which is 301st nationally. Will Make a Deep Run if…: …they shoot well, and the Buckeyes know how to do that. 9th nationally in FG% (48.9), and 7th nationally on shots inside the arc (54.5%). Will Make an Early Exit if…: …they don’t take advantage of limited possessions; OSU only gets an average of 63.1 chances per game, which is 315th nationally.
NCAA History
Last Year Invited: 2007 Streak: 1 Best NCAA Finish: 1960 National Champions. Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): -0.12 wins per appearance
Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: Freshman guard Anthony Crater is from Flint. And the Buckeyes know the state of Michigan well, let’s just say.
Distance to First Round Site: 71 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Largest single-campus university in the nation. Oh, and they kind of like football.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Recent football shortcomings, along with that loss to Florida in the 2007 tournament final after the Gators had also beaten them for the football title earlier that year.
Prediction: Another Big Ten team that doesn’t jump off the page, and Siena would be a typical team that could surprise the Buckeyes if it were not for the fact that this will basically be a home game for OSU, playing in Dayton and all. They’ll have the best chance to knock off a 1-seed if they get to play Louisville in Dayton in the 2nd round.
Western Kentucky University (#12, South, Portland pod)
vs. Illinois (#5)
Thur. 3/19 at about 9:50 pm
Vegas Line: +4.5
General Profile
Location: Bowling Green, Kentucky
Conference: Sun Belt, automatic bid
Coach: Ken McDonald, hired as head coach 2008. Record at WKU = 24-8.
08-09 Record: 24-8 (15-3)
Last 12 Games: 11-1, won 7.
Best Win: vs Louisville, 68-54, 11/30/08
Worst Loss: at Denver, 74-78, on 1/24/09.
Off. Efficiency Rating: 108.6 (68th)
Def. Efficiency Rating: 101.3 (168th)
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): A.J. Slaughter (6’3″ junior guard), 15.8 ppg.
Unsung Hero: Sergio Kerusch (6’3″ senior guard), 11.2 ppg/7.4 rpg.
Potential NBA Draft Pick: None.
Key Injuries: No significant injuries.
Depth: 25.3% (295th nationally) Achilles Heel: Guarding the three. Opponents shoot 34.9%, 206th in the nation in that category.
Will Make a Deep Run if…: …they get Slaughter lots of touches, and if they continue hitting the offensive glass hard, something they’ve done well all year.
Will Make an Early Exit if…: …they think just because they pulled off an upset last year, it will automatically happen this year. Last Year Invited: 2008
Streak: Two years.
BestNCAA Finish: 1971 Final Four. Defeated Kansas in consolation game.
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): +0.08
Other
Distance to First Round Site: 2326 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Darrin Horn (South Carolina head coach), Clem Haskins are both alums, as is the PGA’s Kenny Perry. And everyone loves Big Red, the seemingly amorphous Hilltopper mascot.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Last year’s Sweet 16 loss. The ‘Toppers had their chances against UCLA.
Prediction: Not a team to take lightly. Wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one semi-upset win, since they are indeed peaking at the right time.
Major RTC stories: Sun Belt Conference Tourney Wrapup
RTC asked its legion of correspondents, charlatans, sycophants, toadies and other hangers-on to send us their very favorite March Madness memory, something that had a visceral effect on who they are as a person and college basketball fan today. Not surprisingly, many of the submissions were excellent and if you’re not fired up reading them, then you need to head back over to PerezHilton for the rest of this month. We’ve chosen the sixteen best, and we’ll be counting them down over the next two weeks as we approach the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
The Hunter S. Thompson of College Basketball (submitted by Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk)
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – The NCAA tournament in 1979 turned out to be truly memorable. And not simply because of Magic vs. Bird. First, a little background. I was writing and doing some photographic work for Eastern Basketball magazine. EB was produced in the Long Island home of founders Ralph and Rita Pollio and enjoyed a good following. The three of us plus Rita’s brother Ray took a twelve-hour drive to Raleigh for the first two rounds. On Friday evening Penn stopped Iona (coached by the late Jim Valvano) and St. John’s upset a good Temple team. On Sunday it was the day still known in ACC country as “Black Sunday.” Penn upset top ranked North Carolina and St. John’s, who upset Duke in December’s Holiday Festival consolation, made it two straight over the Devils with another upset victory.
The following weekend it was off to Greensboro for the regionals. I traveled with EB writer Happy Fine. An extremely knowledgeable basketball analyst and excellent writer, Happy knew a good number of people and was well connected. We flew to Greensboro, had regular hotel rooms, credentials and ate at good restaurants and covered some memorable games. Greensboro Coliseum was half (or more empty) with no ACC representatives. Even the local papers billed the regionals as the “frost belt four.” For the record, Penn upset Syracuse and St.John’s did the same to Rutgers in the semis. Then Penn edged St. John’s in a thrilling regional final. As the sign Penn fans held in post game celebrations read, “weese going to Utah.”
Now in 1979 there was no Big East. Penn naturally was in the Ivy, but schools like St. John’s were part of ECAC regional affiliations while Rutgers was in the Eastern Eight (now Atlantic Ten). We did not cover the ACC at EB – only the “traditional East.” We had an agreement with the NCAA that if we got a team in we could get a Final Four credential (as in… one credential). As much as Rita tried, we could not secure a second for yours truly. Happy and I would drive to Philadelphia (about 2 hours) and fly on the Penn fan charter – the bad news was that I did not have a ticket nor did we have hotel rooms in Salt Lake City. Talk about “survive and advance.”
We flew out Thursday morning , two days before the semis. Happy secured us a ‘room’ in the suite of SI’s Curry Kirkpatrick. A heavy hitter on SI’s team, I met Curry through Happy in Greensboro and felt him humble and passionate about the game. An hour into the flight, Happy had already secured tickets for me to the semis and finals with the whole cost setting me back only about $30. No complaints, at least I was in. The charter was mostly Penn students and we had a great time discussing basketball with them on the flight out. That night I went to the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) all-star game at the old Salt Palace, where the Jazz played. Pleased to see James Bailey of Rutgers star in the contest which had a number of solid players.
The Final Four was held at the Arena on the University of Utah campus. On Friday at open practice I met with Al McGuire. There was no ESPN back then. NBC televised the tournament and some national games. Eastern teams like Syracuse got maybe a date or two or national TV. McGuire wanted to know more about Penn so Rita arranged for me to meet with him. She prepared a sizable portfolio on the Quakers. After meeting McGuire, quite a thrill since I idolized him and his coaching style since high school, he put the packet aside. In his unique style he jotted down key points about Penn. Their marquee players Tony Price and Bobby Willis. The multi-talented center Matt White. The coaching philosophy of Bob Weinauer. The streamers thrown after the first basket. Even the watering hole, Smokey Joe’s, which had cheap tap brews and great cheesesteaks. We met for about a half hour then McGuire gave me his card. Safe to say, from my vantage point, the McGuire meeting was a highlight of that Final Four (an example of his peculiar eloquence is below).
Got back to the hotel and Happy asked if I wouldn’t mind going to another hotel. No problem, even though I quietly arose at 7 a.m. that morning to go running. Seems Curry had ‘overbooked’ his guests. We arranged for me to stay with Mike Madden of the Boston Globe. I met Mike covering some BC games. We got along well and had no problems with the situation.
Saturday. Game day. Rode the NABC shuttle to the arena and one coach had a remark that could be etched in stone when he said, “there is no better day in basketball than today.” He’s right because as special as the finals are, the semifinal Saturday gives you four teams all with national championship hopes and dreams. Penn-Michigan State was the first game. The Quakers got inside Michigan State’s patented 2-3 matchup zone, but could not hit a thing, picking the most inopportune time to play their worst game. The margin was in the thirties in the first half as MSU cruised. The second game came down to the final minutes as Indiana State edged DePaul. Thought it was a special story that the same Ray Meyer who coached DePaul to prominence with George Mikan three decades prior was back in the limelight.
Through post game receptions with the NABC and media on Saturday night and into Sunday the talk was over Michigan State dismantling Penn and now Magic vs. Bird on Monday night. They told us Salt Lake City was dry. With the commerce dollars coming in that weekend, the city’s ‘good fathers’ probably looked the other way as the beer flowed like an amber cascade. Made some phone reports to Ralph but his phone was disconnected so we called the neighbor who would run across the street to get him.
Met Basketball Times publisher Larry Donald on Sunday. It’s ironic that about a decade later I would be working for him. Snapped some shots around the picturesque Utah campus and chatted with students. Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton stopped by a media reception on Sunday evening. Sutton’s Arkansas team dropped a heart breaker to Indiana State in a regional final but the coach was cordial and an interesting personality to discuss the game with. Happy and Bob Ryan told Sutton about this young high school player doing some work in Boston, Patrick Ewing.
On Monday I went to a few NABC clinics. As a basketball fanatic I’m always looking for information on the game. Ohio State’s Don Devoe gave a great talk. Really impressed with a coach who would fall afoul to recruiting violations a few years later; New Mexico’s Norm Ellenberger also spoke about the fast break. Back in those days they had a consolation game and Penn was thrilled to go out and prove they belonged. I ‘borrowed’ Happy’s press pass to get some photos on the floor. Penn played well and lost a tough one to DePaul. The Quakers gained back some respect, but unfortunately the game was not televised.
The final saw Magic Johnson’s Michigan State vs. Larry Bird’s Indiana State. A great game. Greg Kelser was an inside factor for the Spartans and, though there was no three point shot, Jud Heathcote had a few good outside shooters that kept the defense honest. Michigan State held about a nine point lead through the second half. That nine felt like eighteen as they were in command throughout. Got on the floor for the post game awards. Snapped some shots then caught some of the post game press conference in a huge area to accommodate several hundred media. Shortly after, Happy and I went to the airport to catch our charter. It was a redeye and as we boarded, a Penn student brought a PENN sign from a side scoreboard at the arena. Why not ?
We flew cross-country in the middle of the night. Penn students slept. At times I stayed awake thinking about it all, wondering will Indiana State stay a major player or was this their “fifteen minutes of fame?” Penn will be a major Ivy player, but was this like Princeton’s ’65 final Four run where everything came together? Magic’s greatest attribute is his ability to raise his teammates’ games, and what a great story the DePaul resurgence was.
As years passed the ’79 final went down as a classic. In truth, for me, the whole weekend was.
Star Player(s): Jarvis Varnado, Junior center, 4.7 bpg – leads nation and more than 318 D1 teams and this year broke SEC single-season block record currently held by him and Shaquille O’Neal – 9.0rpg – 4th in SEC – 55.1% FG – 3rd in SEC – 13.1ppg, Reigning and likely two-time National Defender of the Year, SEC Tournament MVP, All-SEC First Team, SEC Defender of the Year Unsung Hero: Dee Bost, Freshman point guard, 4.34 apg – 4th in SEC and 1st among SEC freshmen, 1.51 a/to – 7th in SEC and 1st among SEC freshmen – 1.46spg – 11th in SEC and 1st among SEC freshmen – 72.1% FT – 12th in SEC and 1st among SEC freshmen – 11.1ppg, SEC Freshman of the Year Runner-Up, Consensus All-SEC Freshman, Two-Time SEC Freshman of the Week Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): none Key Injuries: Elgin Bailey, ankle – out indefinitely Depth: 25.2% of mins from bench, #296 Achilles Heel: Rebounding, #11 in SEC in rebounding margin Will Make a Deep Run if…: Some threes will fall for MSU. State leads the SEC in 3-pointers made and ranks fourth in 3PT%. The team starts four guards and is very, very difficult to beat when the threes are falling Will Make an Early Exit if…: The effort on the boards is below par. State was outrebounded 44-24 in an 81-57 raping at LSU earlier this season.
NCAA History
Last Year Invited: 2007-08, 2nd round 74-77 loss to #1 seed Memphis Streak: 2 consecutive years Best NCAA Finish: 1995-96, Final Four 69-77 loss to Syracuse Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): RTC will provide
Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: None
Distance to First Round Site: 2,519 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Before Rick Stansbury: 3 NCAA’s, 4 NIT’s all-time. Under Rick Stansbury: 5 NCAA’s, 3 NIT’s. If you’re talking about MSU as a whole…MSU has won the prestigious Challenge X competition for engineering the past two years.
School Wishes It Could Forget: MSU hasn’t produced a successful high-round NBA pick in well over a decade despite losing players such as SEC Player of the Year Lawrence Roberts and infamous All-SECers Jamont Gordon and Charles Rhodes. If you’re looking for MSU as a whole, State is by far the poorest school in the Southeastern Conference.
Prediction: Mississippi State’s disgraceful 13 seed could be a blessing in disguise, as the Bulldogs don’t see a team higher than a four-seed in the first two rounds. State is hot at the moment and if the team continues to play with passion, the Bulldogs could be a darkhorse to reach the Sweet Sixteen.
