West Virginia is an excellent 9-0 on neutral court his year. How have they gotten to the Sweet 16? Well when they won the Big East Tournament many thought they may take an early exit, but this team has battled. Despite being a #2 seed and favored by 4 points there are many doubting once again now that Bryant is out for the season. However, they got a guy in Mazulla who is better passer this year and better shooter and if it weren't for his shoulder injuries of the past he'd start. West Virginia defends and rebounds the ball that's how they win games. In their last 5 games which are all tournament games they are holding opponents to 34% shooting and 27.7% from three. Washington won't be able to win in a game like that. Washington is -3ppg on the road and playing out west is finally going to catch up with them playing in Syracuse tonight at 7:30pm. This is a team that railed Marquette by 15 in the 2nd half with 13:51 to go. West Virginia has too good of a defense to let a team come back from that and they have learned to shut the door since late in the season.
Kansas.. why not Kentucky?? Cornell flying under the radar still. Well maybe this line would be 15 or 16 in the regular season, but not here. Many still love Kentucky because they are holding opponents in the tournament to 18% from beyond the arch, but they have faced two poor shooting three point teams ranked #300 and #302. Cornell is the #1 three point shooting team. I have backed them in both games to start this tournament. They did it against two top scoring defenses. There is no secret in what they need to do against Kentucky. Slow the game down and drop 4 back on defense. That is exactly what they'll do. Force Kentucky to beat you from the perimter and from the FT line and you'll have a chance. Kentucky is #228 from FT line and #160 from 3PT%. However, they shoot just 27.3% from three away from home and are -1.5 To's. Cornell can definitely win this game if they played like they have in this tournament. Will it happen? I'm not so sure, but 9 points are a lot of points to give a veteran team like Cornell with shooters.
