Community Picks: Indiana U 0% vs North Carolina 0%

The 30-second shot clock operator can sit with feet up and enjoy watching North Carolina play Indiana in the East Regional semifinals Friday night. ''They don't put anybody out on the court that can't defend at a high level or score at a high level,'' Indiana coach Tom Crean said Thursday. ''I think one of the things that separates this Carolina team so much is the way they pass the ball. Continue to Article

March 24, 2016 4:54:pm EST

We’re kicking off our preview coverage of the Sweet 16 today with a list of the 16 things you need to know to get primed for the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. If you’re not ready to let the first weekend go, trust me, I hear you. It was wild. You relive the  eight buzzer-beaters  we saw or the  13 craziest moments we experienced . And when you’re ready to move on, continue reading here. The Wisconsin bench reacts after Bronson Koenig’s last second 3-point shot (Chris Lee/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) 1. For the first time since 2012 and for just the second time since 2009, all four No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Sweet 16. In 2015, it was Villanova that lost. In 2014, it was undefeated Wichita State that lost to Kentucky. In 2013, Gonzaga lost in the second round to … Wichita State. This season? All four No. 1 seeds advanced, even if: A) No. 1 seed Oregon isn’t favored to get to the Final Four out of the West Region (No. 2 Oklahoma and Buddy Hield is) and B) The favorite in the Midwest Region was No. 2 Michigan State … until they lost to No. 15 Middle Tennessee State. So that’s good for No. 1 Virginia, I guess, especially when you consider that, in each of the last two seasons, the Wahoos were knocked out by a lower-seeded Michigan State. 2. For all that talk about how wild and crazy and unpredictable the NCAA tournament is with these upsets no ever, ever, EVER saw coming, you might be surprised to find out that 14 of the 16 teams in the Sweet 16 are from the Power 5 conferences. And that the other two programs are Villanova and Gonzaga. And that of those 16 teams, 12 of them were in the  NBCSports.com Preseason Top 25 and that three more were considered but left just on the outside. The only team that didn’t get votes in our preseason top 25 was Syracuse, one of the fifteen best programs in college basketball. 3. Six of the 16 teams left in the NCAA tournament are from the ACC, as Pitt is the only member of the conference that failed to make it out of the first weekend. The Panthers couldn’t even make it out of the first round. But is that proof that the ACC if the best conference in college basketball? Maybe. Remember, the ACC is doing this while Louisville, who is one of the top three or four teams in the league, is watching from home. But it’s also fair to mention that the conference currently has just a single win over a team that’s ranked higher than a No. 9 seed, and that came when Syracuse picked off a depleted No. 7 Dayton. Virginia and North Carolina both beat a No. 16 and a No. 9 seed. Miami and Notre Dame both beat a No. 11 and a No. 14 seed. Duke beat a No. 12 and a No. 13 seed. Syracuse got to the Sweet 16 with a win over a No. 15 seed. So good for them for winning. But just how good are those wins? 4. The Pac-12 was no where near as impressive, as four of the six teams in the conference lost in the first round and Utah was picked off in the second round. Every one of the Pac-12 teams that have lost so far have lost to a team that was seeded below them: No. 3 Utah lost to No. 11 Gonzaga, No. 4 Cal lost to No. 13 Hawai’iNo. 6 Arizona lost to No. 11 Wichita State, No. 7 Oregon State lost to No. 10 VCU and No. 8 USC lost to No. 9 Providence. And if No. 1 Oregon does not make the Final Four, the Pac-12 will go 6-for-6 in getting “upset”. 5. Here’s the full conference breakdown: ACC: 6 Big 12: 3 Big Ten: 3 SEC: 1 Big East: 1 Pac-12: 1 WCC: 1 6. Exactly half of the coaches left in the Sweet 16 have reached a Final Four. They are: Mike Krzyzewski (Duke): 12 Final Fours Roy Williams (North Carolina): 7 Final Fours Jim Boeheim (Syracuse): 4 Final Fours Bill Self (Kansas): 2 Final Fours Tom Crean (Indiana): 1 Final Four Lon Kruger (Oklahoma): 1 Final Four Jim Larrañaga (Miami): 1 Final Four Jay Wright (Villanova): 1 Final Four Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield (24) (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) 7. There are just two double-digit seeds remaining in the NCAA tournament and they just so happen to be matched up in the Sweet 16, meaning that we are guaranteed to have a double-digit seed playing for the right to get to the Final Four. One of them is No. 10 Syracuse, who was arguably the worst at-large team ever to be included in the field. And please, don’t be the guy that says the Orange justified their inclusion with these two wins. By all means, enjoy this run, but it doesn’t “prove” the committee right anymore than getting drunk in a bar “proves” you’re 21 if you got in with a fake ID. The other was No. 11 Gonzaga, who made as big of a turnaround this season as Indiana and Wisconsin. It’s ironic when you think about it. The Zags were a No. 1 seed in 2013. They were a No. 2 seed with two four-year starters in the back court last season. And this year, playing with a front line that has no depth thanks to the injury to Przemek Karnowski, may be their best chance to get to a Final Four since Adam Morrison and company blew that 17-point lead to UCLA in 2006. 8. Buddy Hield once again looked like the Buddy Hield of January. He averaged 31.5 points in Oklahoma’s two wins, including a 29-point second half — where he scored 26 of Oklahoma’s final 31 points in the last 15 minutes — of a win over No. 10 VCU. That’s damn impressive, and it makes him the favorite to win the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Award. But does that make him the National Player of the Year? That award is typically given for regular season performance, which is why we already named Denzel Valentine the NBCSports.com National Player of the Year. 9 . No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 5 Indiana is going to be the most hyped Sweet 16 game on the schedule. That’s what happens when you have two bluebloods squaring off. That’s what happens when Marcus Page and Brice Johnson will take on Yogi Ferrell and Thomas Bryant. That’s what happens when Roy Williams is chasing his third (and final?) national title while Tom Crean is trying to get these Hoosiers over the Sweet 16 hump. It’s going to get all the buzz that North Carolina-Kentucky would have gotten. But it’s not going to be the best game of the Sweet 16 … 10. … because No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 4 Duke is going to be. We all should know about good Oregon is at this point in the season. And we all should know about the limitations on this Duke team. But here’s the thing about that matchup: Oregon’s strengths play right into Duke’s hands. There are two fatal flaws on this Duke team. They have no interior depth and get obliterated on the offensive glass, which is why they lost to North Carolina at home in the regular season finale and part of why they lost to Notre Dame in the ACC tournament. They also struggle to handle pressure because their point guard play is suspect, which is why Yale nearly finished off a 27 point comeback against them in the second round. But Oregon does neither of those things. They spread the floor, they play small and they try to attack mismatches. That plays into Duke’s hands, and if you’re into the idea of betting on talent when two teams play similar styles, you bet on Duke here. Because Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram will be the two best players on the floor. 11 . And if Duke wins, that only increases the likelihood that we end up with an all-ACC Final Four. It would still be a longshot to happen — North Carolina and Virginia are the favorites to make it out of their respective regions, while Duke would need to beat Oregon and Oklahoma/Texas A&M while Miami needs to find a way to get past Villanova and Kansas/Maryland — but it’s not often that we get to the Sweet 16 and something like that is realistic. 12 . But we could also see three Big 12 teams get into the Final Four. Kansas and Oklahoma are probably the favorites in their region, and if Iowa State can pick off Virginia, they can certainly beat Syracuse or Gonzaga 13. That said, I’m betting on there being Big 12 rematch and an ACC rematch for the right to play for a national title. In other words, this is what my Final Four looks like right now: No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 2 Oklahoma No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 1 Virginia 14 . And in the end, that’s what you want out of a Final Four. You want the powerhouse programs and the name-brands. You want the teams with the massive fan bases that are spread across the country, or at the very least the crazy fan bases that are willing to spend crazy amounts of money to fly into a city to see their team have a chance to win a national title. With the Final Four in Houston, you better believe that Kansas and Oklahoma fans would be able to make that trip and you better believe that North Carolina fans are going to show up. That leaves Virginia, whose fans outnumbered UNC fans at the ACC title game last week. 15 . If you asked me now, my pick to win the title would be Bill Self and Kansas knocking off North Carolina and the man Self replaced at Kansas, Roy Williams. 16 . Vegas agrees. Here are the favorites to win the title, according to Westgate: North Carolina 7/2 Kansas 7/2 Virginia 5/1 Villanova 8/1 Oklahoma 12/1 Oregon 12/1 Duke 18/1 Texas A&M 20/1 Indiana 20/1 Maryland 20/1 Gonzaga 20/1 Iowa State 20/1 Miami (FL) 25/1 Wisconsin 50/1 Notre Dame 50/1 Syracuse 50/1 Continue to Article

March 24, 2016 12:24:pm EST

We’re kicking off our preview coverage of the Sweet 16 today with a ranking of the 16 teams left in the NCAA tournament to get you primed for the second weekend. If you’re not ready to let the first weekend go, trust me, I hear you. It was wild. You relive the  eight buzzer-beaters  we saw or the  13 craziest moments we experienced . And when you’re ready to move on, continue reading here. 1.  No. 1 (South) Kansas : Kansas is not the most talented team in the country. They don’t have the best player left in the tournament. They probably don’t even have the best player left in their region and may not even have the best player on the floor when they take on No. 5 Maryland on Thursday night. But Bill Self has done a tremendous job with this team, balancing egos and shots and touches. They may not have that one guy that you know  will take over a game at some point, but they will have three or four guys on the floor at any given moment that  can  take over a game. A punch is the most dangerous when you don’t know where it’s coming from. 2.  No. 1 (East) North Carolina : Part of me wanted to put UNC No. 1 on this list because I think that, when push comes to shove, Roy Williams has the team with the highest ceiling of anyone left in the NCAA tournament. With Brice Johnson playing like an all-american and the good Marcus Paige and Joel Berry showing up, the Tar Heels are really, really, especially when they decide to defend like they have the last three weeks. But will that last? Are we sure there won’t be anymore defensive blips? 3.  No. 2 (West) Oklahoma : Buddy’s back, baby. Hield went for 27 points in the tournament opener and followed that up with a 36-point performance against VCU where he scored 29 in the second half and had 26 of Oklahoma’s 31 points in the final 15 minutes. Oklahoma is a limited, one-dimensional team, but when that one-dimension is kicking into high gear, they can be awesome. Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield (24) (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) 4.  No. 1 (Midwest) Virginia : If you were to give me odds on who would win the tournament, I think I’d have the Wahoos higher than Oklahoma simply because I think they have a much easier path to get there, locking horns with Iowa State and a double-digit seed instead of Texas A&M and the Duke-Oregon winner. I’m still going to reserve the right to change my mind on this before the Sweet 16 starts, because I’m not sure anyone else in the country has a guy that can take over offensively  and  defensively the way that Malcolm Brogdon can. 5.  No. 1 (West) Oregon : This is a chance for Oregon to prove a lot of things to a lot of people. We’re now into the Sweet 16 and there are probably still die-hard college basketball fans that can’t name their starting lineup. That’s what happens when you’re underrated in the preseason, you can’t get many nationally-televised games and your TV network makes it as difficult as possible for media members and fans alike to actually be able to see the games. How many people are going to actually be seeing the Ducks — who are really, really good, but the way — for the first time when they play Duke on Thursday? 6.  No. 5 (East) Indiana : I’m still concerned about Indiana’s size and depth along their front line, but it is absolutely impossible to ignore how good they’ve gotten on the defensive end. The combination of Troy Williams being locked in and O.G. Anunoby and Colin Hartman becoming effective and versatile players is a difference-maker. Oh, and they’ve got this dude named Yogi who’s pretty OK. I can’t believe how much I like the Hoosiers right now based on what they were three months ago. 7.  No. 3 (South) Miami : The only reason that I don’t have Miami in the top five is Angel Rodriguez. He’s one of the most talented point guards left in this tournament, and, as I wrote on Saturday, is one of those guys that is not afraid of the moment. The problem is his consistency. It’s been less of an issue this season, but there is still a phenomenon known as ‘Good Angel’ and ‘Bad Angel’. When he’s good, their talent — Sheldon McClellan is the real deal — and their athleticism is probably better than you realize. 8.  No. 2 (South) Villanova : Kudos to Villanova for getting over the Sweet 16 hump. Ryan Arcidiacono has been too good for too long to forever be associated with early tournament exits. But the problem is that I’m just not sure that this team has the talent or athleticism to make it to the Final Four. Those fears, however, are somewhat assuaged  when Kris Jenkins plays the way he has for the last month. 9.  No. 4 (West) Duke : The depth issues and the point guard issues reared their ugly heads in the second round game against Yale, when Duke nearly — and probably should totally — blown a 27-point lead to a Bulldog team that isn’t exactly known for their ability to press. But the bottom line is this: Duke is going to have the two best players on the floor almost every time they play. Will that be enough this deep into the tournament? 10.  No. 3 (West) Texas A&M : I’m just not sold on the Aggies. I haven’t really been all season long. I love Danuel House, but I’m not sure who else on this team can beat you. Tyler Davis is a year away from truly being a force, Alex Caruso and Anthony Collins are not exactly guys you need to guard out to the three-point line and Jalen Jones can be inconsistent. If Northern Iowa was able to inbound the ball under their own basket, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. UPDATED NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET 11.  No. 4 (Midwest) Iowa State : There are two reasons the Cyclones are rated this low: Depth and the fact that you never really know what you’re going to get out of Deonte Burton and Jameel McKay. That said, Georges Niang and Monte’ Morris is the best 1-2 punch this side of Allen and Ingram. 12.  No. 6 (East) Notre Dame : I’m not really sure how to feel about this Notre Dame team. I love Demetrius Jackson, I love Zach Auguste and I think that Steve Vasturia, Bonzie Colson and V.J. Beachem are underrated role players. But this team also should have lost to Stephen F. Austin, they should have lost to Duke in the ACC tournament, where they eventually lost by 31 to UNC. 13.  No. 11 (Midwest) Gonzaga : The big difference for the Zags has been the play of their back court recently. If they can get this effort from Josh Perkins (reached double-figures five of the last eight games) and Eric McClellan (an elite defender who has gone off for 20+ points in three of his last five games), their front line of Domantas Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer is good enough that this might be Mark Few’s best chance at getting to a Final Four. 14.  No. 7 (East) Wisconsin : Maybe I just can’t shake the image of December Wisconsin from my memory, but I think it’s fair to make the argument that this is the least-talented team left in the tournament. That hasn’t slowed them down the last two months, however, and the only thing currently standing between them and a shot at the Final Four is Notre Dame … well, and Nigel Hayes if he can’t find a way to get it going this weekend. 15.  No. 5 (South) Maryland : In terms of talent, Maryland might be No. 1 on this list. Seriously. But the Terps looked anything like the team we expected to see this season for an extended period of time. The did for four minutes Sunday night. They did for a half against South Dakota State. I’m not sure why people expect them to change against the best team left in the tournament. 16.  No. 10 (Midwest) Syracuse : I’m going to recycle a line that I  used in the Sweet 16 Preview  because I love it so much: “Please, don’t be the guy that says the Orange justified their inclusion with these two wins. By all means, enjoy this run, but it doesn’t “prove” the committee right anymore than getting drunk in a bar “proves” you’re 21 if you got in with a fake ID.” Continue to Article

March 24, 2016 12:10:pm EST

The NCAA Tournament started about as expected, the upsets, buzzer beaters and extraordinary performances coming at nearly every turn. Continue to Article

March 24, 2016 2:22:am EST

Indiana Hoosiers coach Tom Crean has come a long way in 12 months. Instead of being bombarded by questions about his job, Crean confidently speaks his mind. ''That's not the drive,'' Crean said after Saturday's 73-67 victory over Kentucky. Continue to Article

March 23, 2016 5:37:pm EST