Every Single Damn Thing You Need To Know About Friday's Sweet 16 Games
Folks, we made it. It's March. It's the NCAA Tournament. We have the Barstool Sportsbook live in a handful of states and there's no better time to download it than this month. What I plan on doing on the blog each day is this preview. Everything you need to know. Schedule, storylines, picks, if you want something different let me know and I'll adjust. It's March. It's all about adjustments in order to survive and advance. Let's get into it.
Schedule
Bracket
Yep, that's not chalk at all. Three 1 seeds out, a couple 4/5 seeds advancing. This is looking like potential mayhem everywhere now.
Storylines for every game
1. The St. Peter's Cinderella run - There's no doubt the story of the Tournament is St. Peter's. I mean they are a 15 seed in the Sweet 16. But now they play a Purdue team that I haven't been able to quit all year. A couple things to know in this game - Purdue is going to shoot a TON of free throws. St. Peter's fouls a lot. Purdue will have no problem dumping the ball to the bigs to start the game and then likely just get people out of the way and let Jaden Ivey take over. Ivey is the exact sort of guard that a mid-major like St. Peter's struggles with. Bigger, athletic, can get to the rim and create his own shot. While you're worried about doubling the monsters inside, Purdue has shooters surrounding them and you have to pick and choose spots. It's a horrendous matchup for St. Peter's. Now that's not saying they won't muck the game up and slow it all down, it's just hard for me to see a path unless Doug shoots lights out.
2. Jaime Jaquez injury - This is somehow flying under the radar, or at least it feels like it is. Jaquez is so damn important to what UCLA does. He has a sprained ankle and it doesn't sound like he's remotely close to 100%. Cronin talked about how he's likely going to play but if he'll even be effective and how long his leash is, etc. That right there opens up so much for UNC and guys like Brady Manek, who have been on fire.
3. The path is wide open for Kansas - Kansas wakes up this morning and sees they are the favorite to win the thing now. They get Providence, who is good. Like let's not gloss over the fact that Providence is a top-15 team in the country. But we're talking about Kansas here for a second. They win this, they get a 10 or 11 seed. Then it's tough with Houston/Nova in the Final Four, but the path is there. It's fairly open for them. At the same time, Providence just keeps showing up. I'm pretty sure people have picked against Providence every single game this year. Ed Cooley loves it. In terms of this game they both match up fairly well against each other. Kansas has big bodies to throw at Nate Watson. They can stretch and be comfortable guarding on the perimeter. We know Providence will use all their guards to run offense through. They also have one of the best defenders in the country in Justin Minaya to throw on Agbaji and try to slow him down.
4. The two forgotten about teams - Listen, it's just a fact that people are forgetting about Iowa State and Miami. They aren't the 15 seed. They aren't title contenders. But they are here and one is going to play in an Elite Eight. It makes no sense but all the sense in the world because of how this Tournament runs. We also get some dudes that names you should 100% know. Izaiah Brockington and Isaiah Wong are both awesome to watch. I know Iowa State had the Tyrese Hunter game against LSU and Miami has Charlie Moore, but those two are incredibly fun to watch.
Picks
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15-8-1 in the NCAA Tournament
Purdue -12.5
Providence +7.5
UNC +2
Miami -2.5