I am sitting here at work, way too anxious about the game tonight. Do we come out in a zone, or man? Does Perry Jones III repeat his amazing game from yesterday? Can we get Pierre Jackson and Quincy Miller scoring again, and can A.J. Walton continue to hit 18 foot step back jumpers? So many questions and thoughts. So, to avoid thinking about the game too much, I thought I would take a look at the possible teams the Bears might play in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament next week.
Okay, so the Bears are more than likely going to be a #3 seed (reverse jinx in full effect, hoping we win tonight and tomorrow, move up to a #2 seed and make all of this work meaningless!!!!), so who will they play in the first round? Let's take a look at the possibilities:
South Dakota St. Jackrabbits
Montana Grizzlies
Davidson Wildcats
Akron Zips
Belmont Bruins
Detroit Titans
These are the teams I have narrowed it down to. I really think we will end up with one of the top 2 there. South Dakota State won the Summit league in an epic overtime victory over Western Illinois. This is their first trip to the NCAA tournament. Their best player is Nate Wolters, a scoring point guard that really runs their entire offense. Everything goes through him or Jordan Dykstra, a 6-8 stretch post player.
They are a pretty typical mid-major team, one that will try and spread the court out, and hit long jumpers or isolate a low post player. They played tough in the Summit Championship game, and got some big stops.
Montana is a team that I am not too familiar with, so if anyone has seen them play, speak up. Montana won the Big Sky tournament and will be playing in their 2nd tournament in the last 3 seasons.I have seen them projected to play us on ESPN, CBS, and a few other bracketology's.
The two teams I do not want to face are Detroit and Davidson. For some reason, I see Detroit being listed as a 15 seed, and I just don't see it. They are better than a 15 seed, and if they get Duke in the first round, they have the athletes to give them some major problems. Detroit is led my McDonald's All-American and premier recruit Ray McCallum. He is a tremendous player, someone that can dominate a game by scoring, facilitating, or locking down on defense.
Davidson beat Kansas earlier in the year, and has some nice wins on the season. They went 25-7 on the year, and had just 2 conference losses. They got beat pretty bad by Wichita State in the bracket buster game.
So, keep an eye out for these teams, Bear fans, as they might be our first round opponent...