Thursday saw three upsets among the four games as the favorite averse 2011 NCAA tournament rolled on. Butler, Arizona, UConn & Florida have all booked their place in the in the elite eight and today the other four teams will join them. Who will they be? Let’s start with the Southeast region, where three of the four remaining teams are 10 seeds or lower.
The #1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks take on the the Richmond Spiders, who have been on a bit of a charmed run so far. They upset a #5 seed in Vanderbilt in the first round, then moved on to face #13 Morehead State in the next round. They’ll get by far their biggest test tonight against one of the tournament favorites, Kansas. The Jayhawks are 10.5 point favorites in this one, which is a big number and maybe a game you want to shy away from against the spread… but it’s hard to imagine them losing. Plus, when Richmond lose they usually lose big. Don’t be surprised if that’s the case tonight.
Pick: Kansas Jayhawks
It’s guaranteed that we’ll have at least one 10 seed or lower in the elite eight by virtue of #10 Florida St taking on #11 VCU. This is a tough game to pick simply because no one would have foreseen this matchup. It’s not that common that you get two teams seeded #10 or lower facing each other in the sweet 16. So it’s not a question of whether you keep riding a Cinderella team… it’s which one? Betting wise expect money to flow toward Florida St because they’re a name team, but really this could go either way. It really depends on whether you value defense or offense. Florida St can play D and VCU can score…
Pick: Florida St. Seminoles
Check out our East region picks