Your Guide To The 2019 NCAA Men’s Tournament: West region

Seed outlook: Gonzaga is the best club in the West with a considerable margin, but the Zags, despite reaching haven’t always performed well under the lights of this tournament. Still, Gonzaga has a 70 percent probability of reaching the Elite Eight, according to our model, as well as the third-best chances of any group to reach the national championship match (26 percent).
Should Gonzaga face Syracuse in the second round, the zone defense of the Orange will give the Bulldogs trouble. This is the best offense Mark Few has experienced Spokane, but it may be tested by any of the terrific defenses from the West: Four of the top 15 can be seen in this area, including the best two in Texas Tech and Michigan.
Sneaky Final Four pick: No. 4 Florida State. A fixture in the KenPom Top 20 for most of the season, the Seminoles are hoping to build on last year’s tournament run, which saw them come inside a 4-point margin of creating the Final Four. FSU has a dominant defense (No. 9 at Pomeroy’s evaluations ) and a balanced roster that saw four players collect at least 2.5 win shares. This draw isn’t horrible, either: Vermont isn’t particularly tough as a first-round foe, and Marquette is very beatable (more on this below). No. 1 seeded Gonzaga probably looms then, and also we give FSU a 24 percent chance from the Zags — but the Seminoles would have a 48 percent probability of creating the Final Four when they were to pull off the upset.
Do not bet on: No. 5 Marquette. Teams seeded fifth aren’t generally good bets to make it past the Sweet 16 anyhow, but Marquette might be an especially bad choice. As stated by the FiveThirtyEight energy ratings, the Golden Eagles are by far the worst No. 5 seed in the area, and also a first-round date using breakout mid-major celebrity Ja Morant did not do any favors. Marquette has a star power of its own in junior guard Markus Howard, who ranks sixth in the country with an average of 25 points per game, but this team lost five of its final six games and has a challenging tournament road ahead of it.
Cinderella see: No. 10 Florida. They are poised to do some damage today they are here, although the Gators might have been among the bubble teams to sneak in the area of 68. They drew Nevada, a so-so No. 7 seed, at the first round, and also we provide Florida a 42 percent chance of pulling the upset that. Last year’s national runner-up, Michigan, probably waits in Round two, and that is a difficult matchup (23 percent likelihood of Florida) — however if the Gators win, they have a 38 percent likelihood of making the Elite Eight. In a region with a number of possibilities that are good-but-flawed, Florida appears better than the.
Player to watch: Gonzaga, Brandon Clarke The linchpin of the Zags isn’t the consensus lottery pick, nor the two guards that have together started 87 percent of the games of Gonzaga . It is a transfer from San Jose State who’s in his first season with the team, Brandon Clarke. He is perhaps the most underappreciated player in the nation.
On a group that typically comes with a it is Clarke. Clarke has responded by placing a single-season blocks record and submitting the maximum block rate of any group under Couple.
„If I feel like if I could get a great, fast jump first, I’ll pretty much jump with anyone,“ Clarke told me. „I mean, I have seen Zion (Williamson) coming down through the lane before TV, and when I can’t jump at the right time, I probably wouldn’t jump , however… I do not really see myself not leaping with anybody.“
Likeliest first-round upsets: No. 9 Baylor over No. 8 Syracuse (48 percent); No. 10 Florida over No. 7 Nevada (42 percent); No. 12 Murray State over No. 5 Marquette (32 percent)

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