La Salle comes into this game off an impressive win over Boise State in the 1st round. Boise out of the impressive Mountain West can shoot the three very well much like Kansas State. Boise was decent too they lost by 4 at Michigan State, beat Creighton on the road and also beat LSU. They also took New Mexico to OT at home. La Salle is blessed to have great guard play led by senior guard Ramon Galloway who helps lead a balanced offense ranked 80th in 2 point % and 34th in 3point % offense. The key though will be the 3 point defense by La Salle as well as their ability to not turn the ball over of which they do both well.
Kansas State has thrived by forcing turnovers but La Salle's guards are ranked 37th with just 17% turnovers/possession. while forcing 21.4% turnovers. Kansas State has not faired well against these type of teams. For instance they lost to Michigan by 14 who are 1st in the nation, and lost to Gonzaga by 16 who were 26th and only beat a mediocre Oklahoma team by 2 on the road who were ranked 43rd. La Salle is also a team that beat Butler, won @VCU (a team that thrives on forcing turnovers) and Villanova in OT and even led Miami FL by 6 at the half. La Salles 37th ranked 3 point defense should also play a crucial role. There were only 2 teams in the Big 12 ranked in the top 100 in 3 point defense % and Kansas State was 1-4 against Oklahoma State and Kansas.
What I like about this the most is that Georgetown is not a team that dominates against the lower ranked schools. They really are not the type of team that's going to blow you out especially on neutral court or on the road. They only beat Duquesne by 6 earlier this year, LIberty by 9, Towson by 6 and they haven't made it past the 2nd round since the 2006-07 season and have lost in the first round in 2 of the last 3 years. That tells me they are poorly coached because they clearly have the talent. I expect Gulf Coast to hang around. I meant his is a team that beat Miami 63-51 earlier in the year and have plenty of confidence considering they feature their own conferences player of the year and defensive player of the year in Sherwood Brown and Bernard Thompson. Sprinkle in their PG Brett Comer who is #5 int he nation in assists per game and you have a team that should be able to compete with the Hoyas.
