NCAA Tournament Preview: Midwest Regional

The Tournament is finally here! That means some analysis from you know who. Over the next few days I'll preview each region with favorites, potential sleepers, and who'll be there at the end. We'll start out with the bracket containing the #1 overall team in the tournament, the Kansas Jayhawks in the Midwest Regional.

Favorites: Kansas, obviously. They're talented outside (Collins, Henry) and inside (Marcus Morris, Aldrich), they can play a variety of styles, and they're excellent on both ends of the ball. Definitely the favorite in this region.

Why they could lose: It will probably take some level of implosion for Kansas to lose early, but don't think it can't happen. There have been times KU has struggled offensively this year (Memphis, Cornell, Tennessee, Oklahoma State) and when that happens, Sherron Collins sometimes tries to do everything and problems occur. It's not a trend for KU to struggle offensively, but it can happen.

Who they could lose to: I don't see KU losing before the Elite Eight (Maryland's too small, Michigan State's not good enough) but at that point there are a whole host of teams that could give KU problems, including Ohio State, Georgetown, Tennessee, and even Oklahoma State or Georgia Tech. The bottom half of the Midwest is probably the strongest 8 team section in the tournament.

Sleeper: Georgia Tech. I know they have turnover problems, but when you have not one but two post players that can create their own shot in Lawal and Favors, you're a dangerous team. Especially when the teams you're trying to upset (Oklahoma State, Ohio State) lack size.

Who will win: Kansas. They're too good to not pick. But don't be surprised if red-hot teams like Georgetown or Ohio State end up taking them down. Especially keep an eye on Ohio State... anytime you have the best player in college basketball, you're a threat to win the game.

PICKS:
1st Round
Kansas over Lehigh
UNLV over Northern Iowa (I'll take UNI over any Valley team... otherwise, they're not dynamic enough for my liking)
Michigan State over New Mexico State
Maryland over Houston
Tennessee over San Diego State (The Vols are one of those teams that could lose in the first round or take the entire region)
Georgetown over Ohio (A couple of weeks ago I would've picked against G-Town in the first round against almost anyone. Then Chris Wright decided he was gonna be a beast)
Georgia Tech over Oklahoma State (Tough to pick against he best 2 guard in the land, but I believe in the Yellow Jackets that much)
Ohio State over UC Santa Barbera

2nd Round
Kansas over UNLV
Maryland over Michigan State (I remember seeing a blog post about three weeks ago where some guy compared Michigan State's resume to Maryland's and asked why Michigan State was a top 15 team and Maryland wasn't ranked. He was exactly right)
Georgetown over Tennessee (Hopefully the Hoyas don't go all last year on me like they have at times this season)
Ohio State over Georgia Tech (Sooo tempting to pick the upset... but the Buckeyes have been playing too well right now. Watch out though if GT attacks the small OSU frontline and gets a thin Buckeye team into foul trouble early)

Regional Semis
Kansas over Maryland (The Terps have no one to deal with Marcus Morris, much less Aldrich. Vazquez will do his thing, but Jayhawks are just too deep and talented)
Ohio State over Georgetown (The Buckeyes will sit back in that zone, deny passes to Monroe and force Wright and Freeman to beat them from the outside. Meanwhile, Ohio State is one of the best teams in the country at turning defense into offense, bad news for a team that has been turnover prone at many points this year)

Regional Finals
Kansas over Ohio State (Similar reasons... too much size, too much depth for OSU to handle; however, Turner is the wild card. He can drop 40 on anyone in this tournament and win the game for his team. Stay tuned)

Winner: KANSAS JAYHAWKS