NCAA Tournament Tidbits: 03.17.14 Edition
Posted by Griffin Wong on March 17th, 2014March Madness is finally upon us, and we here at RTC are here to make everything a little bit easier for you. From the First Four until One Shining Moment, we’ll be dropping daily tidbits of knowledge regarding the teams in each region.
South Region
- Florida locked up the number one overall seed with a gutsy SEC Tournament victory over Kentucky. One of the reasons the Gators are favored to go all the way is because they know how to win close games, or in other words, simply don’t know how to lose.
- When Colorado lost its star guard, Spencer Dinwiddie, the Buffs rallied around the movie Seabiscuit to turn things around. They still hold the movie’s message with them as they head into the NCAA Tournament.
- Though it’s tempting to look ahead to a potential match-up against Florida, Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon is just trying to focus on Colorado.
- Having now won 28 games in a row, Stephen F. Austin is a trendy pick to be this year’s Cinderella.
- After winning the Pac-12 Tournament, UCLA is coming into the NCAA Tournament very hot.
- Though Ohio State won’t schedule a road game against in-state rival Dayton, Thad Matta is not about to overlook the Flyers.
- According to freshman Tyler Ennis, Syracuse needs to “get everybody confident” if the Orange want to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.
- Craig Neal continued New Mexico’s recent domination of the Mountain West Tournament in his first season.
- With his job on the line, Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins finally got over the hump and into the NCAA Tournament.
- In the midst of recent Ohio Valley Conference success in the NCAA Tournament, Eastern Kentucky is looking to score the program’s first ever Tournament victory over Kansas. Though it will be a formidable test, the Colonels are thinking: “why not us?”
- Andrew Wiggins and Kansas think they can do it without freshman center Joel Embiid, but they know that “Jo-Jo” makes them even scarier.
West Region
- Sean Miller has returned Arizona basketball to prominence, and despite the adversity the Wildcats faced in the second half of the season, look for them to be contenders in the final weekend.
- Though Oklahoma State may only be a #9 seed, they have the talent to make some noise.
- Gonzaga‘s streak of 16 straight NCAA Tournaments isn’t just impressive for a mid-major, it’s impressive for any program.
- Oklahoma is the fifth team Lon Kruger has taken to the NCAA Tournament. He’s been able to do so, in part, because of his “positive attitude.”
- To North Dakota State, the #12 seed is a sign of respect for the program. Now the Bison look to pull the classic #5/#12 upset.
- With only two Mountain West teams making the field of 68, San Diego State certainly got a better deal than New Mexico did.
- Baylor started slowly in Big 12 play, but it hopes to continue its late-season surge into the NCAA Tournament.
- Though the two teams had separate feelings going into Selection Sunday, in-state rivals Nebraska and Creighton are on a third-round “collision course.”
- BYU was ecstatic to hear its name called on the Selection Show, and thinks it has a chance to notch an opening round victory over Oregon.
- Though the Ducks got blown out in their Pac-12 Tournament loss to UCLA, don’t expect Oregon to succumb to the same fate against BYU.
- Some experts are loving Wisconsin‘s path in the West Region.