West Virginia throttled Marshall on Sunday night while Villanova messer around with Alabama before blitzing them in the second half.
West Virginia thrives on pressure and turnovers. Villanova has the 11th best offensive turnover %. West Virginia fouls a ton while Nova rarely goes to the line. If Nova gets to the line a bunch and if West Virginia plays like it always does, it will, they’re the 14th best FT shooting team.
The area where West Virginia will have an advantage will be on the glass. They will get second chances and they will outrebound Villanova. They should have success in the paint. They also protect the ball. Nova will have to break the press to get easy buckets.
This could be the best Sweet 16 matchup. Nova is 1 in KenPom and WVU is 11th. I think I trust Nova more but this game can go either way.
Villanova 92 West Virginia 88
Purdue vs. Texas Tech
The return of Keenan Evans has rejuvenated the Red Raiders. The loss of Isaac Haas hasn’t hurt Purdue yet but it is an interesting dichotomy. If Nova-WVU is the best Sweet 16 matchup, this is probably the 2nd best.
Purdue has the 2nd most efficient offense in the nation, Tech has the 4th best defense. Purdue is 29th in defense, Tech is 48th in offense. Both had battles in the round of 32.
Purdue is a much better 3-pt shooting team, 2nd in the nation. Tech isn’t bad but they’re nowhere near that. Tech’s 3-point defense is good, 39th best in fg%. Can they guard the perimeter? If they do, they can win.
Both teams were sketchy to end the season. I think Keenan Evans is the difference.
Texas Tech 72 Purdue 71
No comments:
Post a Comment