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South Region Analysis

Ben McLemore

Kansas looks like they are suiting up for another deep tournament run. They have a great, steady point guard who has played in big games in Elijah Johnson, shot blocking Jeff Withey and fantastic perimeter play in Ben McLemore. If they can get past a tough Sweet 16 match up likely against the winner of Michigan/VCU, they should fly into the Final Four.

If we see a 15 seed upset a 2 seed this year, it will likely be Florida Gulf Coast over Georgetown. The Eagles have played Duke and Miami this season and even beat the Hurricanes by 12, so they will not be intimidated by the Hoyas. FGCU has a high scoring backcourt and should pressure a Georgetown team without a lot of quality ball handlers. If they can pull a huge upset over the Hoyas they have a pretty favorable game against the winner of San Diego State/Oklahoma both who have inconsistent seasons.

VCU's Briante Weber
"Havoc" is coming back to the NCAA tournament and you bet teams are worried about it. VCU uses this up-tempo, high pressure press to force team to make mistakes and speed up the game to their liking. Akron had a pretty good year in the MAC but does not have star point guard Alex Abreu, which should hurt them even more against this press. If the Rams can get past the Zips they will get the winner of Michigan/South Dakota State both who have star point guards. It will be interesting to see if they can ride Havoc deep into the tournament.

Minnesota came into this tournament reeling, losing every game after pulling the huge upset over Indiana. Though they got a pretty good draw, going up against UCLA, a team without one of their most important players in Jordan Adams. The Gophers have the edge in athleticism down low where they possess Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams. Their backcourt is amazingly inconsistent but if they can shut down Larry Drew and Shabazz Muhammed the Gophers should be in good shape to advance to the third round where they will most likely get Florida, a team without much momentum.

As weird as it was to see Kentucky not in the Field of 68 it was even more surprising to see UNC at an eight seed. They will get the hot Villanova Wildcats who have a great point guard in Ryan Arcidiacono and a fantastic big man in JayVaughn Pinkston who can score and rebound effectively. He will have to have a great game to shut down UNC's James Michael McAdoo who leads the Tar Heels' in scoring. The winner of this match up will meet up with Kansas, and don't think an upset isn't possible.

My Pick: Kansas over Florida

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