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March 17, 2011 - Image 5

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The Michigan Daily, 2011-03-17

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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 5A

NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW ISSUE

1 Ohio State
16 UT-San Antonio
8 George Mason
9 Villanova
5 West Virginia
12 Clemson
4 Kentucky
13 Princeton
6 Xavier
11 Marquette
3 Syracuse
14 Indiana State
7 Washington
10 Georgia
2 North Carolina
15 LIU
1 Duke
16 Hampton
8 Michigan
9 Tennessee
5 Arizona
12 Memphis
4 Texas
13 Oakland
6 Cincinnati
11 Missouri
3 Connecticut
14 Bucknell
7 Temple
10 Penn St.
2 San Diego St.
14 No. Colorado

Ohio State
Ohio Sta
George Mason

The Daily's men's basketball beat
fills out its 2011 NCAA
Tournament bracket.

West Virginia
Kentucky

West Virg

Ohio State
EAS
EAST

Xavier
~~~ Syracuse
Syracuse
Washington
Washington
North Carolina

Syracuse

Ohio State 73
Pittsburgh 65

Kansas
Kansas
Richmond
SOUTHWEST
Georgetown
Georgetown
Notre Dame
Pittsburgh
Pitsburgh
Kansas State

1 Kansas
Kansas
16 Boston Univ.
8 UNLV
U NLV .....v...
9 Illinois
5 Vanderbilt
Richmond
12 Richmond
4 Louisville
Louisville
113 Morehead State
6 Georgetown
Georgetown
11 USC/VCU
3 Purdue
Purdue
14 Saint Peter's
7 Texas A&M
Texas A&M
10 Florida State
2 Notre Dame
Notre Dame
15 Akron
1 Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
~16 UNC-Ashville
8 Butler
Old Dominion
9 Old Dominion
S Kansas State
Kaosas State
12 Utah State
4 Wisconsin
Wisconsin
113 Belmont
6 St. John's
St. John's
11 Gonzaga
3 BYU
BYU ~
14 Wofford
7 UCLA
Michigan State
10 Michigan State
2 Florida
Florida anta Bar
15 UC Santa Barb.

Duke

Duke

Michigan

Arizona
Arizon
Oakland

Duke
WEST

r

SOUTHEAST

Cincinnati
Connecticut

Connecti<

Connecticut

St. John's
Michigan State
Michigan State

Penn State
San Die,
San Diego St.

Regional Breakdowns: Who are this year's Cinderellas?

SOUTHWEST: The top half of
this bracket is pretty cut and dry.
Even President Barack Obama
picked Kansas to win it all, and
the Jayhawks should be able to
tear through their first three
games. But Purdue or Notre
Dame could pose a problem in the
regional semifinals.
The possible matchup between
the Fighting Irish and the Boiler-
makers could prove to be one of
the most exciting of the tourna-
ment. Purdue'spost/guard combo
of E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan

Johnson, who combine for 39
points and 13 rebounds a game,
may meet its match in Notre
Dame's Ben Hansbrough and
Tim Abromaitis, who combine for
34 points and10 rebounds a game.
The most likely upset is No. 12
Richmond over No. 5 Vanderbilt.
The Spiders just finished their
regular season with a record-
setting 27 wins, including wins
over then-No.8 Purdue and Saint
Joseph's. Richmond is on a seven-
game win streak, led by seniors
Kevin Anderson and Justin Harp-

er. Last weekend, the Spiders won
their first-ever Atlantic-10 title
and are looking to make a mark
in their second-straight NCAA
Tournament appearance.
Florida State - with nine
upperclassmen - could also make
some noise.
It held Ohio State to its lowest
point total of the year and handed
Duke one of its four losses this
season when senior guard Der-
win Kitchen caught fire, scor-
ing 22 points and grabbing 10
rebounds.

SOUTHEAST: If you're against Purdue to propel them- they have suffered some big
expecting a lower seed to find selves into the tournament. losses this year. The Panthers
its way into the Final Four, this Remember, Michigan State were stunned at home by Notre
could be the region where it coach Tom Izzo has been there Dame and were also exploited
happens. before and so has half his squad. by St. John's, the No. 6 seed in
The Southeast Region is If the Spartans make it out of their region. Expect Pittsburgh,
probably the most competitive the second round, they'll most a team known for not having
this year, boasting many high- likely meet Florida. stars to have a rough time mak-
er seeds that have been put on The Gators are one of the ing it from of the bunch.
upset alert - not to mention, a few first and second seeds that The team most likely to be
lot of lower seeds that are play- could fall out early. Florida upset on this end has to be Wis-
ing their hottest basketball doesn't have much tournament consin. The fourth-seeded Bad-
when it matters most. experience and has been incon- gers finished third in the Big
Expect Michigan State to sistent down the final stretch of Ten, but Bo Ryan's squad was
make a run on this end. The the season. upset by Penn State in the Big
Spartans have had a rough sea- No. 1 seed Pittsburgh is obvi- Ten Tournament and typically
son but finished with a big win ously the favorite. But even isn't a good tournament team.

EAST: This may be one of
the most dangerous regions
for those who pick upsets just
because they think they must.
There aren't any big sleepers
here, and seeing Ohio State,
North Carolina, Syracuse and
Kentucky in the regional semifi-
nal could be about as predictable
as guessing when your birth-
day's coming next year.
Syracuse could upset the Tar
Heels in that round just because
of the Orange's size and Jim
WEST: The recent revelation
that Duke star freshman point
guard Kyrie Irving may return to
the court makes this region a lit-
tle bit more interesting. Nobody
knows if Irving will play - nor
how many minutes he'll get or
how effective he'll be, even if he
does - but don't bet against the
Blue Devils after they blew out
North Carolina in the ACC Tour-
nament.
There aren't any compelling
Cinderella picks in the West, but
look out for a potential upset in
the No. 13-No. 4 matchup. Texas

Boeheim's 2-3 zone defense. And
Syracuse won't come into this
tournament lightly. Twice under
Boeheim, the Orange have been
upset in the first round. It loss in
1991 when the team was a No. 2
seed and again in 2005 when it
was a No. 4 seed.
Another likely upset is No. 11
seed Marquette over No. 6 seed
Xavier. The Golden Eagles are
one of the 11 teams out of the Big
East to reach the tournament
and Xavier recently was upset by
is very talented, but Oakland has
proven it can play with anybody
- and big man Keith Benson
might be the best player on the
floor when the Longhorns and
Golden Grizzlies square off.
Elsewhere, if No. 7 seed Tem-
ple can get past a tricky first-
round matchup with a hungry
Talor Battle and his Penn State
squad, the Owls are capable of
upsetting No. 2 seed San Diego
State in the second round. The
Aztecs are led by the unappreci-
ated Kawhi Leonard - who was
overshadowed in the Mountain

Dayton in its conference tourna-
ment. Marquette would not be a
bad choice if you're in need of an
early-round upset.
And though no one expects it,
it is very possible that Princeton
busts some brackets.
The Tigers are coming off of
a big win at the buzzer against
Harvard to split the Ivy League
championship with the Crim-
son. If any No. 13 seed is going
to do it, it's Princeton over No. 4
seed Kentucky.
West by Jimmer Fredette, but
lack experience playing deep in
the tournament.
Along with Leonard, the
standouts in the West are Ari-
zona forward Derrick Williams
and Connecticut guard Kemba
Walker. Either player is capable
of a MVP-type run, but look for
Walker to carry his team farthest
due to how vital guard play is in
the Big Dance.
And look for a great duel
between Walker and Duke coun-
terpart Nolan Smith in the Elite
Eight.

Kansas power forward Markieff Morris (21) and the layhawks were chosen by President Obama to win it all.

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