The Kansas State Wildcats had to sweat out Selection Sunday with CBS' cameras in their faces. Not that they weren't getting in. But K-State was made to wait for a five seed in the Southeast Regional. They'll play No. 12 Utah State Thursday night in Tucson, Arizona. The game will be on truTV (yes, that's an actual cable channel) at 8:57 p.m.
This is expected to be a close one, and the Aggies have won 30 games this season, including winning the Western Athletic Conference (they've lost just three games). But take heed, Wildcats. ESPN's Pat Forde picks you guys to make the Final Four.
The big-yet-unsurprising news was Kansas getting a No. 1 seed. After winning the Big 12 Tournament, there wasn't a doubt about it. They'll play American East Conference champions Boston University (21-13) Friday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You better have cable or satellite TV; the game is on TBS. I expect the Morris twins to batter the Terriers. All but one of Yahoo's experts pick the Jayhawks to make the championship game and lose to Ohio State. ESPN's Andy Katz has the Jayhawks in the Final Four, also.
The Missouri Tigers was the lowest seed of the local teams -- a No. 11 seed. They'll meet the No. 6 seed Cincinnati Bearcats (25-8) Thursday night. The game is on TNT at 8:50 p.m. This could also be a close one. The winner could be playing No. 3 UConn, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Who do you have going out first? I'm guessing Mizzou. The Tigers haven't been able to do anything of note outside of Columbia.
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K-State will be first to go. They have underachieved all season. If not for Pullen, the team would have drifted into oblivion and probably lost 15 out of their last 20 games. Pullen started playing mad ball, the team rallied around him, and they were able to salvage their season. However, the team is probably running on fumes at this point. K-State will no longer benefit from familiarity with their opponents, they will hit a wall in the tournament. I'm predicting an early exit, they won't make it past the 2nd Round. Mizzou will benefit from their style of play in the early rounds and will catch equal, or less than equal, opponents off guard. Nonetheless, they too will hit a wall in the Sweet 16 round against a superior opponent who has had enough time to study them (there is one week in between rounds 2 and Sweet 16). Lastly Kansas will make the Elite 8 but won't be able to crack the Final Four. They have NBA talent up front and Robinson gives them some depth there, but their back court lacks a consistent scorer and/or lock-down point guard. They have a cast of characters in the back court who all do something particularly well, but none are complete players. Unfortunately for Kansas, the game is not played 8 on 5, which means that they will run into a team with superior all-around guards who will effectively out-play any guard Kansas has to offer. I expect a gut-wrenching loss in a close game. Who ever beats Kansas will undoubtedly have superior guards, that will be Kansas' undoing. Kansas' best bet is to shoot a ridiculous percentage from the 3-point line if they are to beat a team that has great guard play, in other words... it will come down to LUCK.
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