March Madness Analysis featuring Jonah Skiles

March Madness is one of the best events on the sports annual calendar and Blog SH is covering various parts of the madness.  Today I have a guest to discuss the recently released bracket before the 64 teams begin playing.  Jonah Skiles is a fellow CCU student who has an avid knowledge for college basketball.

[4:33:14 PM] jonahskiles: Thanks for having me Jack.  March Madness is my personal favorite event in all of sports.  Obviously I am a huge college basketball fan, as well as a life-long supporter of the North Carolina Tar Heels.

[4:35:42 PM] Jack Kavanagh: Happy to have you here.  Lets jump right in and take a look at the South portion of the bracket.  Can we assume the #1 overall seed Florida Gators will advance to the final four or is there a team in here that can take them down?

[4:44:29 PM] jonahskiles: Well in my opinion, they will advance to the Final Four due their senior leadership, defensive pressure, and unselfish brand of basketball, not to mention their great coaching staff led by Billy Donovan.  However with all that said, there are a couple of teams that I could potentially see giving Florida a run for their money.  Kansas is as talented as any team in the country, and if they are to make it through the first couple of rounds without Joel Embiid on the interior, they have enough versatility and athletic ability to take down the Gators.  You also have Syracuse in this region, who despite having slipped up a little in late stages of the regular season, held the number one spot in the country for quite some time.  C.J. Fair and Tyler Ennis could lead the Orange past Florida.  Finally, you cannot forget about VCU.  Shaka Smart always has his team ready to play by tournament time and this year should be no different.

[4:48:04 PM] Jack Kavanagh: I also do think they will reach the Final Four but Kansas will definitely give them a run for their money if they match up in the Elite Eight.
[4:48:58 PM] Jack Kavanagh: Where can we expect to see upsets in this portion of the bracket?  Is the 31-2 Stephen F. Austin team really all they're cracked up to be?

[4:56:17 PM] jonahskiles: I think Stephen F. Austin is a really good team.  They are riding a 28 game winning streak into the tournament, which is impressive for anyone.  They crash the glass hard, and force lots of turnovers.  They should give VCU all they can handle in the first round.  Another potential upset to watch out for is the 13-seed Tulsa over the 4-seed UCLA.  Former Kansas great, Danny Manning, coaches this team and leads them in to the tournament on a current 11 game win streak.  If they can keep UCLA from making 3-pointers, they should have a chance due to their excellent defense inside 2-point range.

[4:59:30 PM] Jack Kavanagh: That is certainly a popular upset pick this year and will be a great game to watch but what do you think the most exciting game will be in the East?

[5:07:37 PM] jonahskiles: That's a tough question because there are some very interesting match-ups in this region.  The one I am most interested in is the 3-14 contest between Iowa State and North Carolina Central.  Most people overlook this matchup because of the star power of Iowa State in Melvin Ejim and DeAndre Kane, but N.C. Central has a star of their own in Jeremy Ingram.  This young man averages 20.6 PPG and has shown he can do it against big time opponents (27 against Cincinnati, 37 against Wichita State).  If they can limit the fast break chances of Iowa State, this game could be close.  They play excellent defense in the half-court set and have been competitve against high profile teams, beating N.C. State and losing to Cincinnati by 13 and Wichita State by 11.  If Ingram gets hot, this game could become very intriguing.

[5:12:55 PM] Jack Kavanagh: That's interesting because I was not even considering that as a possible upset.  Let's move on to West portion which to many is seen as wide open.  Is Arizona the one to emerge victorious or can Creighton, Wisconsin, or another team take down the Wildcats?

[5:18:01 PM] jonahskiles: I think Arizona would be the favorite to win the region, but no one should overlook Oklahoma State.  Marcus Smart, Markel Brown, and LeBryan Nash could propel them past the Wildcats in a potential second round match.  Wisconsin can slow you down and make you play at their pace, which could be enough for them to continue to advance.  Creighton is another interesting case.  Doug McDermott could shoot them all the way to the Final Four.  He's that talented as a scorer. But aside from him, the rest of the team is solid as well, so they could be a tough out for anyone.
[5:21:24 PM] Jack Kavanagh: All solid points.  One team that surprised a lot of people this year is Nebraska, are they a cinderella candidate this year?

[5:23:48 PM] jonahskiles: It's a possibility, but I'm not sold on the team.  I think Baylor is just too athletic and long for Nebraska to advance to the round of 32.
[5:26:18 PM] Jack Kavanagh: That should be a fun game to watch but what potential match up in the later rounds of the West gets you excited?

[5:30:37 PM] jonahskiles: I would say that this the weakest region, but having said that, the possible Elite 8 contest between Arizona and Creighton would be exciting.  Arizona has tons of talent with Nick Johnson leading the way.  Flanked by Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson the Wildcats have an uber-talented roster.  But I would never count out McDermott and the Blue Jays.

[5:31:50 PM] Jack Kavanagh: I would love to see McDermott match up against some of the other top talent in the country as well.
[5:34:11 PM] Jack Kavanagh: Let's here your thoughts on the Midwest Region.  The Midwest in my opinion is the most intriguing region and contains the best competition.  Where does our favorite lie in this quarter of the bracket?

[5:38:33 PM] jonahskiles: Well I'm going to have to ride the nation's bandwagon on this one and choose the defending champion Louisville Cardinals.  They are peaking at the right time and have the championship experience to go the distance.  I truly think they will have a rough time getting past Wichita State in a potential Sweet 16 match-up.  Wichita St. has a better team this year than last year's Final Four team.  The only issue could be the pressure of living up to the undefeated record with which they enter the tournament.  Coach K is always going to have his Duke squad ready to play as well.  The Jabari Parker-Rodney Hood tandem could be the best 1-2 punch in the nation.

[5:43:30 PM] Jack Kavanagh: Louisville has really been impressive these last couple weeks.  One team I haven't heard anything about is Mercer.  They come out of the same conference that Florida Gulf Coast does and I think we all remember what happened last year.  Mercer faces up against Duke a team that lost to 15 seed Lehigh two years ago.  Is this game a match made in heaven or a 35 point loss for Mercer?

[5:46:40 PM] jonahskiles: Well this Mercer squad knocked off Florida Gulf Coast this year in the Atlantic Sun Conference final on Dunk City's home court.  That is an accomplishment in its self, but I think Duke is just too strong and talented from top to bottom for Mercer to pose a huge threat.

[5:52:31 PM] Jack Kavanagh: As we move on to the East, this region has special significance for you and I.  Coastal Carolina lines up against ACC Champions Virginia.  There has been a lot of hype for this game being that it is a 1 VS 16 match up.  Can the Chanticleers be the first 16 seed to ever take down a 1 seed?

[5:57:16 PM] jonahskiles: Well it's a stretch, that's for sure, but the Chants might have a chance.  They have enough length and athleticism to challenge the Cavaliers.  Badou Diagne could be the X-Factor in the game with his relentless attack of the boards and his knack for momentum-shifting plays.  If Elijah Wilson and Warren Gillis can get hot from the floor, it's at least doable.  But if they are even the slightest bit off their game, Joe Harris and Virginia will bury them because they rarely make mistakes.

[5:58:35 PM] Jack Kavanagh: It would be a real treat for Coastal Nation especially the two of us because we will be attending the game Friday night in Raleigh.

[5:59:05 PM] jonahskiles: That would be something special to witness.
[6:00:25 PM] Jack Kavanagh: Indeed.  Now is the East similar to the Mid-West in that the four seed Michigan State is the favorite?

[6:04:27 PM] jonahskiles: I believe so.  They are my pick to win the tournament.  You can pretty much throw their record out the window because of all the injuries they have faced throughout the year.  Keith Appling, Adrien Payne, and Gary Harris provide such a strong core, and when everyone is healthy this team has showed that they can beat anyone.  They dismantled Michigan in the Big 10 Conference final this past week.  With everyone on the team healthy, it will be hard not to bet on the Spartans.  Also, Coach Tom Izzo has never failed to take a senior class to the Final Four in his tenure at Michigan State.

[6:06:43 PM] Jack Kavanagh: They are a popular pick to win the title.  With that said my final question will be how do you expect your beloved UNC Tar Heels to fair against Providence and beyond?

[6:12:51 PM] jonahskiles: Providence is riding a confidence high off of their Big East Championship win and have a star in Bryce Cotton.  However, the team is not deep and each starter plays over 30 minutes per game.  With UNC's breakneck pace that they love to play at, Providence should run out of gas.  UNC has been extremely up and down this year.  They have beaten Louisville, Michigan State, Kentucky, and Duke but have bad losses to UAB and Belmont among others.  If Marcus Paige can keep up his stellar play and can get some help from James Michael McAdoo and J.P. Tokoto, they could potentially make a deep run.  But if McAdoo doesn't show up to play, they could have an
early exit.  I guess we'll see what they're really made of in the next few days.

[6:13:55 PM] Jack Kavanagh: They surely have been up and down this year but are undoubtedly one of the most exciting teams to watch all year.
[6:15:46 PM] Jack Kavanagh: I think and I believe you share the same opinion that we are in for one of the best tournaments in recent years.  Thank you for giving us your time here today it is greatly
appreciated by all of us here at Blog SH.

[6:17:03 PM] jonahskiles: Thank you very much for having me Jack, and thanks to Blog SH for taking my insight and opinions!

UNC Asheville and The Greatest Upset That Could Have Been (featuring interview with former player Matt Dickey)

By: James Decker

           Selection Sunday has come upon us. I am sure a lot of people are like me and can barely control their heart racing as Greg Gumbel reads off the names of the teams that have made it to “The Big Dance”.  I know that practically every serious bracket-maker besides the members of the schools who are the 16^th seeds are quick to advance the 1st seed past the round of 64. I’m not trying to sound like head coach Danny O’Shea of the “Little Giants” delivering his famous “One Time” speech, but to me there is always that small chance that a 16th seed will finally knock off a number one. UNC Asheville almost proved that to us two years ago.

            UNC Asheville came into this game champions of the Big South, finishing at 24-10 overall and 16-2 in the Big South. Syracuse came in at 32-2, regular season champions of the Big East. UNC Asheville came out to play right away; led by J.P Primm, Jaron Lane, Jeremy Atkinson, and Matt Dickey, the Bulldogs controlled the pace of the game and were able to get good looks against the Syracuse 2-3 for much of the first half. They took a 34-30 lead heading into halftime. Syracuse gained the lead about midway through the second half, and were able to get a 62-54 lead with 2:37 left in the game. Watching this game, I personally thought that Syracuse had pretty much sealed the deal with an eight point lead in this game; but then things got really interesting and controversial. A quick 4-0 run by UNC Asheville cut the lead to 62-58. Syracuse had trouble getting the ball inbounds, and if you look at the ref in the video below, this could definitely be seen as a five-second violation.

Syracuse was then awarded a timeout and Scoop Jardine knocked down two foul shots after he was fouled by Dickey when the ball was inbounded. Jaron Lane knocked down a three, followed by a Brandon Triche layup for Syracuse and two foul shots from J.P Primm had the score at 66-63 Syracuse with 38 ticks left. Syracuse had more trouble getting the ball inbounds again, and this time a pass was thrown that looked to be off the hands of Brandon Triche. Take a look at the video below and decide for yourself (start at 2:00).

According to the recap on ESPN.com, “Coordinator of officiating John Adams said he would have given the ball to UNC Asheville on the inbounds play.” Instead, Syracuse got the ball and Jardine knocked down two more clutch free throws. UNC Asheville ended up falling to Syracuse 72-65.

            I will never say that refs completely decide the outcome of this game because who knows that UNC Asheville would have done if they received the ball on either occasion. My main purpose in writing this is to show that number 16 seed should ever go underestimated. This Syracuse team had a dominant season and the Bulldogs had them on the ropes. I was able to get in contact with Matt Dickey via Facebook, who averaged 16.1 points per game in what was his senior season at UNC Asheville. He had this to say about his mindset coming into the game, as well as the controversial calls.

James - As a team and personally what was your mindset prior to the game against Syracuse?

Matt – “We went into the game with the mindset that we could win. We knew a 16 had never beaten a 1, but we knew how good we were and had played a couple of the other 1 seeds during the year and competed well against them, so we knew if we played our best we could win.”

James- Did you ever feel as if Syracuse was taking your team lightly?

Matt- “No, we didn't feel that Syracuse took us lightly at all (though there coach/players may say different). We had a game plan and we followed that game plan well. We also played great defense and made them work for everything they got. So no, I don't feel that they took us lightly. I think we made everything tough on them and that may have made it look like they were taking us lightly.”

James- I remember a few questionable calls down the stretch in that game. Do you feel as if the refs took you guys out of a chance to win?

Matt- “It's really hard to say that the refs took us out of a chance to win the game. There were a few missed calls down the stretch, but Syracuse also made some big shots as well. I will never blame a game on the refs.”

James- How often do you talk about that game with family, friends, old teammates, etc?

Matt- “Every once in a while it will get brought up in conversation with friends, family and teammates. It is still a little tender because we knew we should have won that game, but we can hold our heads up because we knew we gave it our all.”

            Thanks again to Matt Dickey for taking the time to answer these questions. I love the line “I will never blame a game on the refs”, because I feel like it would be easy for a team trying to pull off an upset to blame the referees in a situation like that. Also, hats off to Matt Dickey for providing us with a great buzzer beater. I am 100% taking a shot at fellow Blog SH member and current Coastal Carolina student Jack Kavanagh by putting this video up.

So before you fill out your brackets, study up on the 16th seeds because you truly never know what can happen. I have a feeling that this could be the year of the 16th seed. Cheers to Selection Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, and let the Madness begin!