Breaking Down Cincinnati, Houston, and Wichita State's Tournament Draw
As expected, The American received three bids to the NCAA Tournament. I broke down each teams draw and how their region looks. Houston will open up play on Thursday, while Wichita State and Cincinnati will play Friday.
Cincinnati - The Bearcats received a 3 seed in the east region. Location wise they got a pretty good draw ending up in Nashville which is just about a 4.5 hour drive from Cincinnati, and the last time Cincinnati opened up in Nashville they went to the sweet 16 in 2012. They play Georgia State who is the 2nd best 15 seed according the seed list and finished 2nd in the Sun Belt. Cincinnati won’t have any issue getting past Georgia State. They would get the winner of Texas/Nevada in the 7/10 game. Texas obviously has Mo Bamba who is expected to be back to 100%, but it’s their defense that’s the strength of the team. Nevada would scare me more just because they have proven how well that can score. The Wolfpack average over 83 points a game, and I would not want to get into a shootout with these guys if I’m Cincinnati. Cincinnati also has Virginia, Arizona, and Kentucky in their region, but they are all on the other side of the bracket, so by the time they could meet Cincinnati in the elite 8, two of those teams will be at home.
Houston – I think Kelvin Sampson’s team got a pretty tough draw. Location wise it wasn’t too bad as they will play in Wichita, Kansas, but I think they have a very tough match up as they will face #11 San Diego State. SDSU has been rolling lately and that includes two wins over a nationally ranked Nevada team and 9 in a row overall. The Aztecs knocked off Nevada en route to winning the Mountain West Tournament, as I think they could potentially be a match up nightmare for Houston. Houston seems to be at a severe disadvantage on the boards, so expect the Cougars to rely heavily on their guards. If Houston can get past SDSU, they will have one of the hottest teams in all the NCAA right now in #3 Michigan, assuming there is no upset. It seems as if nobody ever wants to play John Beilein’s team in March as they are always so hard to beat. If Houston can get to the Sweet 16, the #2 seed is North Carolina, who at times this season, has looked pretty vulnerable. #1 Xavier, #4 Gonzaga, and #5 Ohio State all await on the other side of the bracket. However, I don’t see Houston getting past San Diego State much less Michigan. Nobody really believed Houston would be this good when the season started, so maybe they can prove me wrong again and win a couple games in the tournament. However, Houston by far got the worst draw of the three teams in the American.
Wichita State – The Shockers high powered offense will meet up with another high powered offense in #13 Marshall. Marshall relies heavily on the three ball, and they can really stroke it from deep as well. I expect a close game, but Wichita State squeaks by in the end. A 2nd round match up would be against the winner of the 5/12 game in West Virginia vs Murray State. WVU is a major defensive team much like Cincinnati. Wichita would match up great with the Mountaineers and I believe they could get past them. In all likeliness, that would set up a date with #1 Villanova. Florida, Texas Tech, and Purdue are on the other side of the bracket. If Wichita is able to get upset Villanova, it’s not crazy to think they could represent this region in the final four.
