2015 NCAA Tournament for March 20: Who, what, where, and when

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Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

2:10PM – TNT
#5 WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS 23-9
#12 BUFFALO BULLS 23-9

Get ready for some defense as West Virginia is one of the country’s best. The Mountaineers are going to full court press you all day long and feed off the turnovers. West Virginia allows around 58 points a game but this is not a good shooting team, although they are one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the nation. The key for West Virginia today will be how they respond to the injury bug. Their best player, Juwan Staten (14.5 PPG, 4.6 APG) missed the last three games with a knee injury. Gary Browne has an ankle injury. If those two can not go, their defense will take a big hit.

Buffalo is a trendy upset pick as they led Kentucky at the half at Rupp Arena and gave Wisconsin a good game. They are an aggressive team and if they smell blood in the water versus West Virginia, they will attack. Justin Moss (17.9 PPG, 9.2 RPG) undwent one of the biggest one-year transformations in the NCAA as he averaged just 3.8 points last year. Look for the Bulls to be in constant attack mode on offense and Shannon Evans averages 15.3 PPG. The one drawback is that the Bulls are not a great 3-point team, however, WVU does not have a great 3-point defense either.

2:45PM – CBS
#7 WICHITA STATE SHOCKERS
#10 INDIANA HOOSIERS

Last year, the Shockers were the undefeated NCAA darlings. This year, they have a chance to face the rival Kansas Jayhawks in the round of 32. It’s been a pretty good couple of years for the Shockers. The Shockers play great team defense, are very experienced, and have a couple of guards in Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet that can take over a game. The Shockers allow just 55.8 points a game and rarely turn the ball over. On the negative side, they are not a big team with no starter over 6’7 and miss that post presence. Still this team can shoot its way to a victory any day.

Is Tom Crean on the hot seat? If he was, getting into the NCAA Tournament cooled it down dramatically. Winning today will totally freeze it. It’s easy to see why Indiana is in this position however. They live and die by the three pointer and are as soft as Kleenex defensively. Yogi Ferrell and James Blackmon Jr can fill it up all day long, yet this team allows 71 points a game and does not creat a lot of turnovers or block shots. The Hoosiers may be in a bit of trouble depending on how healthy Hanner Mosquera-Perrerea is. He was the starting center at 6’9. They may not need the height today, but if the Shockers can slow down the Hoosier offense, they can can still score at will.

Next: Inside the Numbers: UK in the NCAA

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