NCAA Tournament- Midwest Region Preview

The Midwest region is an interesting one this year, at least to me. There are a few intriguing match-ups, lets take a look at the round of 64:
1 Michigan State vs 16 LIU
8 Memphis vs 9 St. Louis
5 New Mexico vs 12 Long Beach State
4 Louisville vs 13 Davidson
6 Murray State vs 11 Colorado State
3 Marquette vs 14 BYU or Iona
7 Florida vs 10 Virginia
2 Duke vs 15 Lehigh



Round of 64 Matchup to Watch: 8 Memphis vs 9 St. Louis
Memphis getting a number eight seed, meaning they would need to face a number 1 seed if they made it to the round of 32, is a joke to me. Memphis put together a sold year, really coming on strong towards the end of the season. They have a tough game against an impressive St. Louis team that opened eyes in the A-1O tournament and even during the season, as they were just a game out of winning the regular season title. This game should be a doozy.

My dark horse: BYU. While I do not have much faith in any upsets really in this region, BYU will give Marquette a run for it's money, since it will get past Iona. Brandon Davies, the junior who missed last season's tournament run due to suspension, returns for revenge. If BYU can upset Marquette, I don't see why they could not go on a little run and find themselves in the Sweet Sixteen.

Upset Alert: Michigan State. The Spartans were the weakest of the four number one seeds, and despite their strong showing in the Big Ten Championship Game, I am still not completely sold on them. I have brought up the talent that Memphis should bring to the table in the Round of 32, and also another team should give them some problems....

Midwest Region Winner: Louisville. Rick Pitino's team is on a run right now, having won the toughest conference in basketball. UConn did the same last year, and ended up winning the whole thing. Louisville will upset the Spartans, and go onto to barely win a tough game against an underrated Missouri team that had a strong case for a number one seed.

In the end, I don't really have many upsets in this region. I see all the top 8 seeds in this region moving onto the round of 32. However, not many people I have heard from so far have Louisville getting past Michigan State, and if they do, they do not have them beating the 30 win Missouri Tigers. But I believe in the winner of such a competitive conference in the Big East, especially when their bolstered by an experienced coach in Rick Pitino.