Midwest Round One Preview

Let’s goooooo! After previewing the First Four/NIT on Monday and boring myself yesterday previewing Saturday of the NIT, it’s time to get into the tournament. We’ll break this down region by region so we have a blog to read every day leading up to the tournament. After a year without a tournament last year, I’m giddy for this year’s bracket. Let’s get into it. 

Friday

16 Drexel vs 1 Illinois(-22.5) (143.5) 10:15am TBS

Illinois is the best team coming into the tournament and will take care of business here. I could bore you with numbers and talk about how Drexel has experience with senior guard Zach Walton, forward James Butler and junior guard Camren Wynter, who leads the team with 17 points per game, but it’s not enough. Illinois is a wagon and I expect them to roll, I’ll take Illinois -22.5.

9 Georgia Tech vs 8 Loyola Chicago(-3.5) (126) 1:00 pm TBS

Sister Jean is back in the tournament and taking all of the glory away from the players and I’m all about it. Some people call her a self-glorified mascot, but she’s the Tim Tebow-esque connection to God the Ramblers will need to make another tournament run. Underdogs in the 8/9 game are 26-10-3 against the spread in the last 10 years, but I can’t go against Jesus. Take Loyola Chicago -3.5 and repent for your sins after the Ramblers move on. 

12 Oregon State vs 5 Tennessee(-8) (130.5) 1:30 PM TNT

Every bracket snob is going to tell you “YoU nEeD a 12 oVeR 5 uPsEt”. You do you, I’m not sold on this 12 seed in this region and the PAC-12 stinks…which makes me want to take the Beavers. The SEC also stinks and Tennessee is a bit overseeded in this tournament, the Beavers actually have more Q1 wins than them, but they’re a talented team capable of making a run. I’m not taking Oregon State to win outright, but I love them at +8. 

13 Liberty vs 4 Oklahoma State(-7.5) (139.5) 3:25PM TBS

I’ve been pounding the table for the Big12 all year. OSU has a lottery pick and their role players have finally helped him out down the stretch. Prior to losing in the Big12 Final to Texas, OSU won 8 out of 9 including 2 games against their Bedlam rival Oklahoma, 2 games against 3 seed West Virginia and a split against the Big12 regular season, no 1 seed Baylor. Liberty hung with tournament teams Mizzou and Purdue early in the season, but I don’t think they’re ready for this Oklahoma State wagon. Cowboys -7.5.

15 Cleveland State vs 2 Houston(-20.5) (135) 4:15pm TruTV

Cleveland State and Wright State were the clear favorites in the Horizon, but I was really hoping for sub .500 Oakland team to sneak into the tourney. Houston has been beatin’ the piss out of inferior teams all season and junior Quentin Grimes’s ppg could be even higher if he didn’t get pulled in the second half of blowouts. He’s a special talent and Houston is built for this tournament. That being said, 20 points is a lot for a squad that has struggled with tournament-worthy teams (MEMPHIS). They score a ton though, so we’ll just need Cleveland State to be somewhat relevant on offense. Take the over 135.  

10 Rutgers(-1.5) vs 7 Clemson (126.5) 6:20 PM TBS

Sometimes I get anxious because it feels like my life is going by at hyperspeed, but then I think back to a time when both of these teams were ranked in the top-15 in the country and it puts me at ease. It feels like an eternity ago when Rutgers beat the now-best team in the country Illinois and we were all praising Rutgers and questioning if Illinois could put it all together. I picked Rutgers in my bracket thinking they would be underdogs, but this line baffles me. Clemson won 8 of their last 9 before an inexcusable loss to Miami in the ACC tournament while Rutgers got their asses kicked by Nebraska and Illinois. I’m starting to lean toward Clemson +1.5. 

11 Syracuse vs 6 San Diego State  (-3) (139) 6:40 PM CBS

I think the committee screwed SDSU a bit with this seed. SDSU was the 19th ranked team in the country and won 14 in a row heading into the MWC tournament, and the committee has them as a 6 seed playing a tough ACC team? Call me a Mountain West homer, but I would have flipped Tennessee and SDSU’s seeds which would have led to a great matchup between SDSU and Oklahoma State in the round of 32. I like SDSU to come out and make a statement vs Syracuse in this game. SDSU -3.

14 Morehead State vs 3 West Virginia(-13) (138) 6:50 PM TruTV

Huggy Bear has been stuck at 899 wins for 2 weeks now after losing to Ok. State twice, but fitting it will come in the tournament. Ironically for a Coach Huggins team, West Virginia has had some defensive struggles this season, so hammer the over at 138.

The Midwest and South regions both play on Friday, so we’ll break down the South matchups tomorrow morning. Out of all the regions, I do believe this one is the most chalk with 4 teams that are clearly better than the rest. I’ve got to go fuck with my bracket about 69 more times before I’m finally ready to submit it. Love you, bye.