KSR College takes a look at this evening's games
KSRCollege.com would like to bring you all a quick glance at each of the teams participating in this afternoon’s 4th block of NCAA tournament games. Each of us at KSR College were randomly assigned NCAA tournament teams to cover for the duration of the tournament. At the conclusion of the selection show, we each compiled a brief summary of information about each of our teams. We will have a preview with a bit of background information on each team’s season/expectations before each block of games today and this evening.
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(16) LIU Brooklyn vs. (1) Michigan State
 (LIU by Caroline Hall)
LIU is going to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year as the 16th seed in the west. In the beginning of the season, it looked like this team was not even going to make it through their conference tournament. Their regular season record was 25-8. In the conference championship, five Blackbirds scored double figures, which is very impressive. They held nothing back during the championship game scoring a 90-73 victory over Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference championship game.
Julian Boyd, C.J. Garner, and Jason Brickman have been the leaders of the Blackbirds for most of the season. Boyd was named the tournament MVP and had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Brickman scored a strong double-double during the championship game. But it was Garner, who lead all scorers with 21 points, but made the play of the game when he "air-mailed" an alley-oop from behind center court to Boyd who slammed it home to give the Blackbirds a solid 59-45 lead with 10:00 left to play. But the Blackbirds will be meeting Michigan State who beat Ohio State in the Big 10 championship game. LIU is in for an uphill battle against a tough Michigan State team.
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 (Michigan State by Ally Tucker)
Tom Izzo is a leading candidate for NCAA Men's Basketball National Coach of the Year after leading his early season unranked Spartans all the way to a #1 seed. Michigan State started off the season with major question marks as they lost an early, highly publicized game to North Carolina on an aircraft carrier. Izzo's team was able to fly under the radar, as most people had written them off as an average team after losses to North Carolina and Duke. While other teams were continuing to fall from high pre-season rankings, Michigan State gradually made strides and hit top form during the Big 10 regular season, at one point rattling off 15 straight wins. In what was considered a loaded Big 10 conference, Michigan State went 14-5 and won the Big 10 tournament title.
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Michigan State has long been considered a blue collar type of program, stemming from the leadership of Tom Izzo. This team is no different. The Spartans have a stud in undersized big man Draymond Green (still made he didn't wind up at Kentucky), but other than that they are a rather balanced team. They make their name on defense and hold teams to very low scores. Michigan State likely won't wow anyone with fast paced, high scoring, flashy play. What they will do is grind it out with any team in the country, managing to upset the tempo of teams that want to play fast.
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(10) Xavier vs. (7) Notre Dame
 (Xavier by Ashley Scoby)
The team that's known (this season, anyways) for its brawl against Cincinnati receieved a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play Notre Dame in Greensboro for the first round (or the round after the First Four...whatever they're calling it now). Xavier also got a Big East team in the first round in last year's tournament, losing to Marquette in their first game of March Madness.
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Xavier comes in as the Atlantic-10 tournament finalist after losing to St. Bonaventure 67-56. It's the seventh straight NCAA appearance for the Musketeers, a team that went 21-12 for the season this year. They've played Notre Dame 18 times in both schools' histories, and have only come out on top 3 times. So, this will definitely be an interesting matchup, as Xavier will be looking to avenge their first-round loss to a Big East team in last year's tournament.
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 (Notre Dame by Adam Schilt)
 (South Florida by Adam Schilt)
 (Temple by Lee Snodgrass)
 (Detroit by Ashley Scoby)
 (LIU by Caroline Hall)
LIU is going to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year as the 16th seed in the west. In the beginning of the season, it looked like this team was not even going to make it through their conference tournament. Their regular season record was 25-8. In the conference championship, five Blackbirds scored double figures, which is very impressive. They held nothing back during the championship game scoring a 90-73 victory over Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference championship game.
Julian Boyd, C.J. Garner, and Jason Brickman have been the leaders of the Blackbirds for most of the season. Boyd was named the tournament MVP and had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Brickman scored a strong double-double during the championship game. But it was Garner, who lead all scorers with 21 points, but made the play of the game when he "air-mailed" an alley-oop from behind center court to Boyd who slammed it home to give the Blackbirds a solid 59-45 lead with 10:00 left to play. But the Blackbirds will be meeting Michigan State who beat Ohio State in the Big 10 championship game. LIU is in for an uphill battle against a tough Michigan State team.
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 (Michigan State by Ally Tucker)
Tom Izzo is a leading candidate for NCAA Men's Basketball National Coach of the Year after leading his early season unranked Spartans all the way to a #1 seed. Michigan State started off the season with major question marks as they lost an early, highly publicized game to North Carolina on an aircraft carrier. Izzo's team was able to fly under the radar, as most people had written them off as an average team after losses to North Carolina and Duke. While other teams were continuing to fall from high pre-season rankings, Michigan State gradually made strides and hit top form during the Big 10 regular season, at one point rattling off 15 straight wins. In what was considered a loaded Big 10 conference, Michigan State went 14-5 and won the Big 10 tournament title.
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Michigan State has long been considered a blue collar type of program, stemming from the leadership of Tom Izzo. This team is no different. The Spartans have a stud in undersized big man Draymond Green (still made he didn't wind up at Kentucky), but other than that they are a rather balanced team. They make their name on defense and hold teams to very low scores. Michigan State likely won't wow anyone with fast paced, high scoring, flashy play. What they will do is grind it out with any team in the country, managing to upset the tempo of teams that want to play fast.
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(10) Xavier vs. (7) Notre Dame
 (Xavier by Ashley Scoby)
The team that's known (this season, anyways) for its brawl against Cincinnati receieved a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play Notre Dame in Greensboro for the first round (or the round after the First Four...whatever they're calling it now). Xavier also got a Big East team in the first round in last year's tournament, losing to Marquette in their first game of March Madness.
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Xavier comes in as the Atlantic-10 tournament finalist after losing to St. Bonaventure 67-56. It's the seventh straight NCAA appearance for the Musketeers, a team that went 21-12 for the season this year. They've played Notre Dame 18 times in both schools' histories, and have only come out on top 3 times. So, this will definitely be an interesting matchup, as Xavier will be looking to avenge their first-round loss to a Big East team in last year's tournament.
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 (Notre Dame by Adam Schilt)
Notre Dame started off the season looking like anything but a tournament team. That was a while back, and a few months later the Irish find themselves 22-11 (13-5) and in position to beat just about anybody on their best day. In fact, ND was the first team to take out Syracuse earlier in the year, and made a run to the Big East semis.
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The player to watch for the Irish is definitely Jack Cooley. The Harangody look-a-like averages 12.4 points and 9 rebounds per game. He has swatted 51 shots this season, and perhaps most impressively hits 61.2% of his shots. The Irish square off against Xavier in their first tournament game, a tough match-up but certainly not a horrible draw for the Big East's third-place team.
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(12) South Florida vs. (5) Temple
 (South Florida by Adam Schilt)
USF comes into the NCAA tournament 20-13 (13-7), after a solid run through the Big East conference schedule. Although the Bulls were never able to really get on a big run this season, and despite the fact that they have quite a few bad losses on their record (including a 52-40 decision at Auburn), they have apparently done enough to catch the attention of the selection committee and now have an opportunity to make a surprise run in the tournament.
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Augustus Gilchrist leads the team with nearly 10 points per game and 38 blocks on the season (I know, weak, right?). He's a solid Forward-Center, and although he isn't nearly as skilled as another Gilchrist we know, the kid has talent.
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 (Temple by Lee Snodgrass)
Temple was the Atlantic 10 regular season champion, but lost to Umass in the conference tournament. They come into the Big Dance with a 24-7 record overall and were 13-3 in the A-10. Temple was ranked 24th in the last polls, and is one of the hotter teams in the nation, winning 13 of their last 15. Temple is led by their stellar guard play from junior Khaliff Wyatt and senior Ramone Moore. Both players average over 17 points per game. The Owls do not have much size except for senior Michael Eric. Eric has put up some monster numbers against smaller opponents, and look for this double-double threat to provide the Owls with some much needed offensive boards. If this team is given second opportunities, their guard-laden team will surely capitalize.
Lasting Power:
Look for the Owls to make some noise in the tournament. I do not see the typical 5-12 upset occurring here. The Owls could potentially play the Michigan Wolverines in their second game of the tournament. Look for Michael Eric to prove problematic if the Owls play the undersized Wolverines, setting them up for a potential date with the North Carolina Tarheels in the Sweet Sixteen.
(15) Detroit vs. (2) Â Kansas
 (Detroit by Ashley Scoby)
The University of Detroit: the former home of the one and only Dick Vitale. It's the school's main claim to fame, as Dicky V is obviously one of the most famous sports personalities in all the land, but previously served time as the Titans' head coach. This year, however, another guy is making waves in Detroit, and that's guard Ray McCallum. A former top 25 recruit and McDonald's All-American, he spurned several big-time offers so that he could play for his dad, Ray McCallum Sr, the current head coach. McCallum Sr only won 7 games three years ago in his first year as a head coach, but has managed to get the program back to the Big Dance for the first time since 1999.
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Detroit finished out the season at 22-13, beating Valparaiso in the championship game of the Horizon League Tournament. The Horizon's main claim to fame has been Butler recently, but it will take a lot for another Horizon team to make it to the championship game on the national stage: Detroit takes on Kansas in the first round.
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 (Kansas by John Wilmhoff)
Going into the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas had its sights on a #1 seed. After falling in the semifinals to 11th ranked Baylor, the Jayhawks fell to a #2 seed but still find themselves in a very favorable position. KU will be playing their first and second round games close to home in Omaha, NE. If they advance to the Sweet 16, they'll remain close to home in St. Louis with a potential Elite 8 matchup with their former coach, Roy Williams, and #1 seed UNC. Quite honestly, the Jayhawks are better off as a #2 seed and playing close to home in each of the first two weekends than being a #1 and possibly being sent out to Phoenix.
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They have to be happy with their draw, but like anyone, KU can't afford to look ahead. Even in the first round, they cannot take Detroit lightly out of the Horizon League, the same Horizon League that has produced two straight national semifinalists. It's no secret that Kansas has depended big time on center Thomas Robinson this season, and it will be the efforts of every team to get him into foul trouble early. Robinson averages close to 18 points and 12 rebounds a game. To make a serious run at the Final Four, Kansas will need Robinson to stay out of foul trouble and produce big time as he has all season.
 (Kansas by John Wilmhoff)
Going into the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas had its sights on a #1 seed. After falling in the semifinals to 11th ranked Baylor, the Jayhawks fell to a #2 seed but still find themselves in a very favorable position. KU will be playing their first and second round games close to home in Omaha, NE. If they advance to the Sweet 16, they'll remain close to home in St. Louis with a potential Elite 8 matchup with their former coach, Roy Williams, and #1 seed UNC. Quite honestly, the Jayhawks are better off as a #2 seed and playing close to home in each of the first two weekends than being a #1 and possibly being sent out to Phoenix.
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They have to be happy with their draw, but like anyone, KU can't afford to look ahead. Even in the first round, they cannot take Detroit lightly out of the Horizon League, the same Horizon League that has produced two straight national semifinalists. It's no secret that Kansas has depended big time on center Thomas Robinson this season, and it will be the efforts of every team to get him into foul trouble early. Robinson averages close to 18 points and 12 rebounds a game. To make a serious run at the Final Four, Kansas will need Robinson to stay out of foul trouble and produce big time as he has all season.
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