And then there were four.
The NCAA Tournament field that started with a whopping 68 teams has now been whittled down to four. Loyola-Chicago, Michigan, Kansas, and Villanova are set to do battle for national supremacy in three games that will be played Saturday, then, Monday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Here’s my preview of the semi-final games.
Loyola-Chicago Ramblers (32-5) vs. Michigan Wolverines (32-7)
Loyola-Chicago is making a strong case to the NCAA: allow more mid-majors to participate in the NCAA Tournament.
Courtesy: 670 The Score – Radio.com
And one has to wonder if the Ramblers would have been selected had the team not won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. If left out, then we wouldn’t have been able to see them get last-second victories v. Miami (FL), Tennessee, and Nevada before beating Kansas State in a surprising rout. And we wouldn’t have gotten to know Sister Jean!
Loyola-Chicago, which has ripped off 14 consecutive victories, hasn’t lost since a 69-67 setback to Bradley back on Jan. 31. But the Ramblers problem now is Michigan. The Wolverines enter San Antonio with plenty of momentum, looking to make the clock strike midnight on Loyola’s Cinderella story.
Let’s keep in mind that UM is on a streak, too–winning 13-games in a row. The Wolverines have gotten the job done all season on the defensive side of the ball, ranked eighth nationally in defensive efficiency, yielding just 63.1 points a night. Meanwhile, Michigan’s offense is predicated on making three-point shots. The Wolverines are 19th in the country in made 3-pointers (351) and Michigan has four players who’ve netted at least 40 shots from downtown.
Courtesy: Detroit News
But these Wolverines will be tested against a Loyola-Chicago defense that has been one of the nation’s best all season long. The Ramblers allow just 62.4 points per night, which is good enough for fifth-best in all of America. And Loyola hasn’t given up more than 68 points during the NCAA Tournament.
The Ramblers aren’t just disciplined on defense, it’s their offensive thing, too. Loyola is ranked 39th in the nation in assists with 15.9 per game and it has five scorers that average in double digits.
It’s a team that likes to distribute the basketball. Is that because they share Sister Jean’s freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies after practice?
PREDICTION: I’m jumping on the Loyola-Chicago bandwagon. This is a fundamentally sound team that’s on a mission. Move on up, Sister Jean! Loyola-Chicago 68, Michigan 66.
Villanova Wildcats (34-4) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (31-7)
In a year that was teeming with improbable upsets, #1-seeds Villanova and Kansas managed to find their way to San Antonio unscathed. But the story of how each team got here is quite different.
Malik Newman (photo, Bleacher Report)
Kansas had to claw and fight to get its first Final Four since 2012. The Jayhawks haven’t had an easy game since the first-round against 16-seed Penn. They had to beat Seton Hall and, finally, two ACC foes–Clemson and Duke–to win the Midwest.
In the Duke game, the Jayhawks saw an unrealistic performance from Malik Newman. The Mississippi State transfer poured in a game-high 32 points, including all 13 of the Jayhawks’ OT points.
But the leader of this KU team is definitely senior guard Devonte’ Graham. Graham averages a team-high 17.2 points and 7.3 assists per game. He has to stay out of foul trouble for KU to win.
That’s because Graham and the Jayhawks are squaring off against a Villanova team that’s playing some of the best—if not the best–basketball in the nation. The Wildcats have won every NCAA Tournament game by double digits. It’s a veteran team, too, back in the Final Four for the second time in three seasons after capturing the national title in 2016.
Can Jay Wright do it again? (photo, National Alliance for Youth Sports)
The Wildcats like to score…especially in three’s. Jay Wright’s squad is tops in 3-pointers-made (436 on the season). It’s one of the reasons that Villanova leads the nation in scoring at 86.6 points per game.
Villanova is also unselfish, dishing out 16.5 assists per night, with SIX guys averaging double digits in scoring. Junior duo Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson lead the way with 17.8 and 19.2 points per game, respectively. But let’s not forget that almost every player on the roster is a scoring threat.
Slowing down VU’s offense will be as hard as going to Zaxby’s while on a diet.
PREDICTION: I think Graham and the Jayhawks will put forth in a great effort in what should be an epic game. But Villanova’s three-point barrage will ultimately do in KU. Villanova 84, Kansas 77.
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Cameron Brown is a former Webster County basketball player and an undergraduate student at Western Kentucky University, where he is a double major in journalism and history with a minor in broadcasting. Contact him at Cameron.brown288@topper.wku.edu or follow him on Twitter @Cameron_Brown_3
