Thursday, March 20, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

SOUTH REGION

Player to Watch:
Dominic James, Marquette

James had initially entered the NBA draft last fall, only to pull himself out of draft consideration and head back to college. He battled through injury and has never gotten into a rhythm. That said, he is as quick and as explosive as any player in this region, even at a generously listed 5’11”. The junior can shoot the Golden Eagles to a long run through the tournament or shoot them right out of it. Either way, he’s a player who has to be accounted for every time he’s on the court.

Biggest First-Round Upset:
No. 13 Oral Roberts over No. 4 Pittsburgh

Lots of people around the country feel that Pitt is the sleeper team in this bracket, but I feel it’s the other way around. Oral Roberts is a team noone has heard of from a league noone has heard of (Summit). But they have a pair of players, including the most dangerous sixth man in the country in freshman Robert Jarvis (16 ppg). While they are often at a size disadvantage, they make up for it by shooting a ton of threes at a high percentage. If they can keep this game close, they will win it in the end with free-throw shooting. The team’s two leading scorers, Jarvis and Moses Ehambe, are both shooting 85 percent or better from the charity stripe. That always bodes well come tourney time.

Biggest Sleeper:
Mississippi State

On the down side, the Bulldogs have only one win over a ranked opponent all season. On a positive note, they have two of the most dangerous players, one on each end of the court. Jarvis Varnado leads the nation in blocked shots with nearly five per game, and Jamont Gordon is as talented as any point guard in the country. This team won the SEC West by a comfortable three-game margin, but this is also a team that lost to Georgia in the SEC semifinals, the second game Georgia played in an eight-hour span. With Mississippi State, what you see is what you get. A quintessential example of a team that can beat or lose to anyone in the tournament depending on how well it is playing.

First-Round Winners:
Memphis, Mississippi State, Michigan State, Oral Roberts, Marquette, Stanford, Miami, Texas

Second-Round Winners:
Memphis, Michigan State, Stanford, Texas

Region Finalists:
Memphis, Stanford

Region Champion:
Memphis

The Tigers get bashed a lot for their non-competitive league schedule, but they did schedule tough non-conference opponents and beat all but one of them (Tennessee). However, two glaring weaknesses were exposed in that game: the inability to play at a slow pace and being one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country. But I feel this quarter of the bracket matches up favorably for them. Plus, the backcourt of Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts is, in my mind, the best backcourt in the country.

Noone in this region can slow them down and the Tigers will advance to their first Final Four since 1985, when they were led by Elliot Perry (one of my all-time favorite college players simply because he wore goggles). Speaking of which, when did goggles stop being cool? I may start sporting while covering games this spring and get the trend up and running again.