The Southwest Region has a powerhouse (Kansas), programs more noted for their success on the football field (ND, Purdue, Texas A&M, Florida State), and a fav of mine (UNLV)...let's take a look...6 Conference Champs...
#1 seed - Kansas Jayhawks...32-2...Big 12...5-1 vs ranked opponents...Kansas had a look of a #1 NCAA Tourney seed for much of this season...16-1 in away and neutral site games bodes very well for the Tourney...The 'Hawks are brilliantly lead by Head Coach Bill Self...Kansas alumni in the NBA include the likes Paul Pierce, Mario Chalmers, Julian Wright, Kirk Hinrich, and Drew Gooden...more recently Xavier Henry...Of the teams in the Tourney only Washington scores more per game than Kansas...It is a family affair at KU as they are led by the Morris twins - Marcus and Markieff (Juniors) who provide size and skill for the Jayhawks frontcourt...KU is also getting great play lately from Tyshawn Taylor (Junior), plus Seniors Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed...Very very good shooting team (one of the Nation's best)...Very good rebounding team...Very good defensive unit...the Big 12 Champs will surely be a team to be reckoned with for the next few weeks...
#2 seed - Notre Dame Fighting Irish...26-6...Big East...8-3 vs ranked opponents...current NBA players from ND include Luke Harangody, Troy Murphy, Chris Quinn, and Matt Carroll...Notre Dame really impresses me with their scoring depth...This a veteran Senior-led squad...G's Ben Hansbrough (Big East Player Of The Year...damn good) and Scott Martin can really score, plus good play from F's Tim Abromaitis, Tyrone Nash, and Carleton Scott (all 5 players are Seniors)...Youngsters Eric Atkins and Jack Cooley are the future of this program, and they contribute now too...ND is one of the top scoring teams in this 2011 NCAA Tourney (they can really shoot the 3-ball)...The Irish pass the ball very well and set up teammates very well...ND has a Top 10 RPI ranking...impressive 14 wins vs Big East foes this season...all 6 ND losses came on road/neutral site games...
#3 seed - Purdue Boliermakers...25-7...Big 10...4-2 vs ranked opponents...What a season in West Lafayette, Indiana...First their stars JaJuan Johnson (damn good) and E'Twaun Moore (damn good) declare themselves eligible for the NBA Draft, but luckily for Purdue both decide to withdraw from the Draft and return to the University for their Senior seasons...Then Robbie Hummel is lost for the season which surely is a major blow, but Head Coach Matt Painter has a deep rotation and has a lot of Juniors and Sophomore that will be the strength of this program going forward...especially at the Guard position with Juniors Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith, plus Sophomores Kelsey Barlow and D.J. Byrd...Purdue lost all 7 of their games this season on road/neutral site games...Purdue's best ranking was #6 this season...current NBA players from Purdue include Carl Landry, Brad Miller, and Brian Cardinal
#4 seed - Louisville Cardinals...25-8...Big East...7-5 vs ranked opponents...Head Coach Rick Pitino has surely done a great job at bringing this Louisville basketball program into elite-program status...but I am underwhelmed at the name of their new arena KFC Yum! Center...yikes...current NBA players Derrick Caracter, Earl Clark, Francisco Garcia, Samardo Samuels all went to Louisville, as did AND1 and streetball legend the late Troy Escalade Jackson...This years squad is very balanced...Pitino can go 8-9 deep with this roster...The team is led by Senior G Preston Knowles (only Senior on the team)...Kyle Kuric can hit 3's in spurts, plus Chris Smith and Peyton Siva provide depth and skill in the Cardinals backcourt...if you value great Guard play as a must have in the Tourney then Louisville is worth a look...this team plays very good team D...they also distribute the basketball and pass the basketball very well...
Other teams worth a look...
#13 seed - Morehead State Eagles...24-9...Ohio Valley Conference...0-2 vs ranked opponents...Seniors Kenneth Faried (damn good) Sam Goodman, and Demonte Harper provide leadership and a ton of points and rebounds for the OVC Champs...the biggest reason to like this team is surely Faried who would be more of a household name if he played at a bigger program...Kudos to Head Coach Donnie Tyndall for getting his team to the Big Dance...
#8 seed - The University of Nevada at Las Vegas aka UNLV...24-8...Mountain West Conference...1-6 vs ranked opponents...full disclosure - any NCAA preview of mine would have at least a blurb on the Runnin' Rebels...they are my fav team and have been since the days when Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, and George Ackles were kicking major ass...I also am a long time Lon Kruger (current Head Coach) fan...Former Memphis player Tre'Von Willis (Senior) leads this squad with help from Juniors Chace Stanback and Oscar Bellfield (both pretty good from downtown), plus Soph G Anthony Marshall...
!!! #5 vs #12 ALERT !!! 20 of the past 22 years a #12 seed has upset a #5 in the opening round...in the Southwest the 5-12 match-up is #5 Vanderbilt (23-10...SEC) vs #12 Richmond (27-7...A10)...The Richmond Spiders did play a ranked opponent 3 times this season, winning twice...they have a really nice inside-outside attack with Senior F Justin Harper and Senior G Kevin Anderson (damn good)...4 of Richmond's 7 losses were on road/neutral site games...
Check out the other Region blogs too...follow me on twitter @craigballard77
craig.ballard@hotmail.com
