Sweet Sixteen - SOUTH Bracket
2008 College Basketball Betting Odds
The two strongest teams are holding strong, and if it weren’t for a final five-minute collapse, the Longhorns could be considered one of the most dominant teams in this tournament so far. As is, there are three teams that could make it out of this bracket, (yeah, I’m leaving out Michigan State - no way they win two in a row). This bracket is the closest thing to the East as far as top-seed perfection. The only team missing is everyone’s favorite 4-seed, Pitt.
South’s Sweet 16 Games
Game 1: No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 2 Texas
Game 2: No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 5 Michigan State
What to Look For:
Texas has one of the
best backcourts in the game while Stanford boasts a twin tag team front line that can attack the glass with the best of them. The better player of the two twins is Brook, but
Robin Lopez is no walk in the park. Defensively, both are trees that can block shots and rebound with effectiveness.
Brook is the offensive force, and he’s been a beast for Stanford late in the season. I’ve watched him take over games as the team’s focal point, putting in post shots that have him poised for a lottery selection as soon as he declares himself ready for the pros. But does Stanford have the backcourt to defend the likes of
A.J. Abrams and
D.J. Augustin? I’m not sold. I think James, Atchley, and Pittman will be big enough and tough enough to match-up defensively on the
Twin Towers, but it will be tough sledding to predict the Cardinal guards led by
Mitch Johnson will hold court with the Texas backcourt. Augustin had a tough game against the Hurricanes, finishing just 4-14 from the floor, but his ability to create and always make his teammates better is something to behold, and I don’t see two poor games in a row, not from him, not on this stage. I look for Texas to make the next step on Friday. Of all the top teams, Texas has the most impressive resume, beating UCLA, Tennessee, and Kansas already this year.
The Tigers fought off a scare from a downright powerful Mississippi State group while Michigan State put an end to a resilient Pitt club. Now they match up in a match-up that couldn’t show two more different styles. The Tigers can fill up a score sheet like it’s their job while the Spartans rely on their defense to contest shots and win ball games, not to mention give them fast break chances that result in easy points. Don’t get me wrong, the Spartans can score.
Drew Neitzel, when he’s on, is one of the more impressive shooters in the country. Neitzel’s hot shooting probably got them to this point, but holding Pitt’s two best players to a combined 2-14 from three-point land is impressive (Ronald Ramon, 1-9; Levance Fields 1-5). Doing the same to Temple’s talented backcourt means neither was a fluke. But have the Spartans been able to go toe to toe with a team like Memphis? Nope. Of all four teams left in the South, the Spartans worry me the least. They are consistently
good on defense, but their inability to put shots in the basket will get the best of them very soon.
Best Team Left: Texas
Memphis is a close second, but if Texas can get past the twin bigs of Stanford, I don’t see the Tigers taking down the Longhorns in Texas. Not with Augustine running the show, and not with a front line that can dominate the glass against Memphis. Joey Dorsey is a beast, but I’ll take the bigs in Texas in a head to head match-up with the up and down Dorsey. Joey is a jumper, and one heck of an athlete, but I’m not sure that he’s ready to bang and bump with the big men in Texas. It would be one heck of a game, and a match-up worth watching, but Dorsey is Memphis’s only real big guy, that doesn’t match up well against Texas’s trio.
