2008 Woodie Awards
The Season Ticket
Upset specials to watch for in March Madness
KYE JOHNSON
Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 3/15/07 Section: Sports
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Nevada
People will say that the Wolf Pack got bounced out of the Western Athletic Conference tournament and showed signs of being very beatable. Remind those same people that the tournament was held at New Mexico State ’s home court, in front of a huge New Mexico State fan base. Who won that tournament? New Mexico State, of course. No other team really had a chance. Nevada is still 28-4 and ranked in the top ten nationally. The Wolf Pack’s 28 wins are the fifth highest of teams entering the tournament. They have only lost two games out of their last 13, both times to Utah State and both times by a score of 79-77.
They also have this guy named Nick Fazekas - you might have heard of him. He’s won the WAC Player of the Year honor three straight years and has been deep into the NCAA tournament before.
Nevada drew a No. 7 seed and they play Creighton (22-10) in the first round. If Nevada survives round one they will likely play Memphis in round two. If Nevada survives round two the favorite pick for its Sweet 16 bout will be against Texas A&M.
Both are very good teams, but remember that Nevada has great core players and has just as much NCAA tournament experience if not more than both of those other teams.
Illinois
The Fighting Illini barely made it into the tournament and yet they still have a chance to make a huge splash. It seems like every year a No. 12 seed knocks off a No. 5 seed in the first round. Could Illinois be that No. 12 seed in 2007? I’d sure like to think so.
The Fighting Illini play Virginia Tech in the opening round Friday night in San Jose, Calif. Illinois forward Warren Carter will be the x-factor to Illinois success. In Illinois’ semi-final loss to Wisconsin in the Big-10 tournament Carter shot the ball 12 times - not nearly enough for Illinois to be successful against good teams. He only scored 14 points and didn’t even get to the free-throw line. Whereas in the game prior to the loss against Wisconsin, Carter got to the stripe eight times, scored 18 points and Illinois beat Indiana. The Fighting Illini have post-season experience and must get the ball to their playmaker in Carter if they want to win. And I think they will.
Butler
Then there is Butler. The Horizon league regular season champs enter the tournament with an impressive 27-6 record.
Their biggest problem? The No. 5 seeded Bulldogs will have to win some very impressive games to make a good run in this year’s tournament.
But don’t be surprised if they do. They open with No. 12 seed Old Dominion and that shouldn’t too difficult of a task to handle.
Butler has three players who score in double-figures on average and those same three all average better than two assists per game as well. The Bulldogs defeated then top-25 ranked Gonzaga and Tennessee early in the season and only lost to No. 15 ranked Southern Illinois by four less than a month ago.
If Butler wins its first game, which it should, the Bulldogs will likely face a tough Maryland team in the second round. If the get into the Sweet 16, they will likely face Florida.
Don’t be surprised if Butler is this year’s George Mason based on the fact that its guard play might be as good as any team in the tournament.
Add to that the fact that they also have wins against Notre Dame, Purdue and Indiana and you could make a very good bet for Butler being an upset alert team in the 2007 tournament.
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