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NCAA Tournament: South Great Eight Breakdown and Final Four Pick

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No North Carolina and No UCLA are the two greatest things to ever happen to Duke basketball in the past few years.

Oh, not because Duke always loses to those two teams. It’s because the NCAA Basketball Committee felt the need to practically hand Duke the South Region in this year’s tournament, Duke being the third most popular college hoops team in the nation after N.C. and UCLA.

Villanova, the #2 seed in the region, lost 6 out of their last 10 games. Baylor, the #3 seed in the region, wasn’t even ranked in the Top 15 last week. Purdue, the #4 seed, will be without their best player, Robbie Hummel.

Ohio State, the Big Ten champ, gets a 2 and Duke gets a 1. And…that makes sense because?

Great Eight & Final Four: South

Teams that Will Make It to the Great Eight: #1 Duke and #6 Notre Dame

#1 Duke Blue Devils: I have the utmost respect for Coach K and the Duke program, but come on! The toughest team these guys are likely to face will be either Cal or Louisville in the second round. Shame on the committee for sticking Kansas with Michigan State, and Maryland while Duke gets to play injury riddled Purdue and Big 12 has been Texas A&M. Wow. If the Dookies don’t make it to the Great Eight, I’ll be laughing my butt off.

#6 Notre Dame: ‘Nova just isn’t playing well. Richmond could be a surprise. Baylor isn’t a terrible team, but there is one thing that Notre Dame has over all of those teams. That would be Luke Harangody. Harangody dominates with 22 points and 9 rebounds per game. The guy is a machine and nobody, nobody in the South can handle him. Well, maybe Duke’s man to man.

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Top Two Upset Teams: #9 Louisville and #7 Richmond

#9 Louisville Cardinals: Actually, you can go ahead and replace Louisville with Cal if you want to. I mean, both of those teams have the best shot of upsetting Duke at the top half of the bracket. Forget Texas A&M. Forget Purdue. Both Cal and Louisville have the guard play, history, and coaching necessary to upset Duke and are the only two teams that can do it. If the Blue Devils get out of the 2nd Round, then they will make it to the Great Eight.

#7 Richmond Spiders: I really believe that Richmond, who lost a close game to Temple in the Atlantic-10 Championship, could have been a 6th or even 5th seed in this tournament. They’re definitely better than 5th seeded Texas A&M in my opinion and are more deserving than 5th seeded Butler. Guard Kevin Anderson can play in the NBA and is one of 3 players for the Spiders who routinely scores in double-figures. The other two, David Gonzalvez and Justin Harper, could get as hot as Anderson who averages 18 points per game. If all three are hot at the same time, then the Spiders could easily make it to the Great Eight.

Final Four NCCAB Pick: Duke

By default, really. I’m not in love with Duke. In my mind, they deserve a 2nd seed at best but they will have to play absolutely nobody after they beat Louisville or California in the 2nd Round. If the Blue Devils had to face West Virginia, or Ohio State or even a Georgetown or Wisconsin, I wouldn’t be picking them to reach the Final Four.

But they don’t. ‘Nova has been terrible and Baylor is just okay. That leaves Richmond and Notre Dame as the two likeliest teams that the Dookies will face from the bottom half of the South Bracket in the Great Eight.

The Blue Devils will shut down Notre Dame’s Harangody and Richmond’s shooters will have a hard time breaking through Duke’s man to man defense.

Duke will get to the Final Four.

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