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2017 NCAA Tournament Midwest Region Preview


The best time of the year has arrived! Yes it is March and we will be covering the 2017 NCAA Tournament day by day. Here is your Midwest Region Preview!

Teams 2 Watch 4 in the Midwest Region:

#11 Rhode Island

Rhode Island is an 11 seed and takes on 6 seeded Creighton on Friday. I think Rhode Island can pull off this upset. They were ranked 23rd to begin the year and finished the season with a 24-9, beating VCU twice. If E.C. Matthews can get going, look out for the Rams.

#7 Michigan

Michigan is on absolute fire right now. They just won the B1G Ten Championship as an 8 seed, the lowest ever. They are 6-0 on neutral courts this year, and to help them out Oklahoma State has lost 3 straight and are 275th in effective FG % Defense.

#13 Vermont

Vermont defeated local college UAlbany in the America East Final to get into the NCAA Tournament. The Catamounts are heating up as they are on a 21 game win streak (longest in the nation). 16 of those 21 wins are by double digits!

#5 Iowa State

Iowa State has won 9 out of their last 10 and they have 4 seniors that score 12+ ppg. Among those seniors is one of the most underrated point guards in the nation Monte Morris. The leadership is definitely there for the Cyclones now let's see if they can survive the first round against #12 Nevada.

#15 Jacksonville State

There is always a #2 seed that falls to a #15 seed, last year it was Michigan State to Middle Tennessee, and this year I think Jacksonville State will be that team to upset #2 Louisville. This team is not looked at and should be.

#14 Iona

I watched Iona in the MAAC Tournament this year and one thing I took away from them was that they are hard to defend and for Oregon without lading shot blocking Forward Chris Boucher that could be a big factor. Now the reason they are so hard to defend is because of their guard play. Ricky McGill, Deyshonee Much, and Schadrac Casimir start hitting shots from the outside and once teams get out on them then they dump it into Jordan Washington on the inside and that's where they get their 2nd half buckets.

My Midwest Region Round of 64 Picks:

#1 Kansas over #16 NC Central/UC Davis

#8 Miami over #9 Michigan State

#5 Iowa State over #12 Nevada

#4 Purdue over #13 Vermont

#11 Rhode Island over #6 Creighton

#3 Oregon over #14 Iona

#7 Michigan over #10 Oklahoma State

#15 Jacksonville State over #2 Louisville

For more continued coverage of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament stay with Upstate Sports Zone, and follow us on Twitter- @Upstate_Sports

For more continued coverage of the Midwest Region follow me on Twitter- @CAmesUpstate

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