KSR's NCAA Tournament Midwest Region Preview

Earlier today, Nick Roush previewed Kentucky’s path to the Final Four in the East Region. What about the rest of the bracket? Let’s break down the Midwest Region, which features some of the tournament’s biggest stars, a pair of SEC teams, an exciting potential first-round upset, and two mascots that are the polar opposites of one another.

The Bracket

The Schedule

All Times EDT

Tuesday, March 15

• 6:40 PM | truTV | Dayton: No. 16 Texas Southern vs. No. 16 Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Thursday, March 17

• 12:40 PM | truTV | Buffalo: No. 13 South Dakota State vs. No. 4 Providence (-2)
• 3:10 PM | truTV | Buffalo: No. 12 Richmond vs. No. 5 Iowa (-10.5)
• 7:27 PM | truTV | Fort Worth: No. 9 Creighton vs. No. 8 San Diego State (-2.5)
• 9:57 PM | truTV | Fort Worth: No. 16 Texas Southern/Texas A&M Corpus Christi vs. No. 1 Kansas

Friday, March 18

• 12:40 PM | truTV | Greenville: No. 15 Jacksonville State vs. No. 2 Auburn (-15.5)
• 3:10 PM | truTV | Greenville: No. 10 Miami vs. No. 7 USC (-1.5)
• 7:20 PM | TBS | Milwaukee: No. 11 Iowa State vs. No. 6 LSU (-4)
• 9:50 PM | TBS | Milwaukee: No. 14 Colgate vs. No. 3 Wisconsin (-7.5)

The Favorite: Kansas

Shocker, the No. 1 seed has the best odds of making it to New Orleans. But, Auburn and Iowa are close behind at 3/1. Honestly, if you can get Wisconsin at 10/1, take it!

• Kansas 2/1
• Auburn 3/1
• Iowa 3/1
• Wisconsin 10/1
• LSU 12/1
• USC 20/1
• Miami (Fl.) 25/1
• Providence 25/1
• San Diego State 25/1
• Creighton 33/1
• Iowa State 33/1
• Colgate 50/1
• Richmond 66/1
• South Dakota State 66/1
• Jacksonville 100/1
• Texas A&M CC 200/1
• Texas Southern 200/1

Star-Studded Bracket

The stars are out in the Midwest. This region features three First-Team All-Americans in Johnny Davis, Ochai Agbaji, and Keegan Murray. If you put together the top players from the Midwest Region, you’d have a pretty incredible roster. Here are the biggest names:

Johnny Davis (Wisconsin) – Davis is the Big Ten Player of the Year and if not for Oscar Tshiebwe, might win National Player of the Year. He averages 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. Wisconsin has a pretty good draw, and if they need a bucket late, Davis is the one to take it.

Ochai Agbaji (Kansas) – You should be plenty familiar with Agbaji now. Kentucky handled the All-American with relative ease in Lawrence, limiting him to 13 points, but he’s still averaging just under 20 points per game and making almost three three-pointers per game.

Keegan Murray (Iowa) – The sharp-shooting Hawkeye is one of the best scorers in the country, averaging 23.6 points per game on 55.5% shooting. He’s also pulling down 8.6 rebounds per game and averaging two blocks per outing. His twin brother Kris is also on the team and averages 10.0 points per game and shoots 40.4% from three.

Jabari Smith & Walker Kessler (Auburn) – It pained me to include two Tigers on this list but Smith and Kessler are a formidable duo that will give smaller teams fits inside.

Who will stop Kansas?

After seeing Kentucky shellack Kansas in its own house, it’s hard to imagine the Jayhawks as a national title contender, but they did emerge first from a competitive Big 12. Kansas hasn’t made it past the second round since the 2018 Final Four run. To get to New Orleans, they’ll have to beat either Iowa or Providence in the Sweet 16 and Wisconsin or Auburn in the Elite Eight. Providence doesn’t impress me, but Iowa could spoil Bill Self’s fun, especially if Keegan Murray steps into the March spotlight.

When it comes to the bottom of the bracket, I remain unimpressed by Auburn, especially after their loss to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. The Tigers’ size and talent will get them to the Sweet 16, but Wisconsin could pull off the “upset” by slowing down the tempo. In March, I like to go with teams who have superstars, and Johnny Davis seems more primed for big moments than Jabari Smith or Walker Kessler. As much as I hate Wisconsin, they are probably the team most capable of knocking off Kansas to make the Final Four.

First Round Upset Pick

No. 13 South Dakota State vs. No. 4 Providence (Thursday, 12:40 p.m., truTV)

The Jackrabbits are second in the country in scoring (86.7 ppg) and field-goal percentage (52.7%) behind Gonzaga and first in three-point percentage (44.9%). They went undefeated in Summit League play, hitting 59% of their shots from inside the arc and 45.3% of their shots outside of it. Meanwhile, Providence got routed by Creighton in the Big East Tournament semifinals, shooting only 30.8% from the floor, 12.5% from three. Right now, Providence is only favored by two. Even if South Dakota State doesn’t pull off the upset, it will be an entertaining game.

Best Mascots

The San Diego State Aztec may steal the show in Fort Worth on Thursday night:

Quite a contrast from the Providence Friar:

Finally, Is it just me or does the Richmond Spider look nothing like a spider?

Midwest Region Prediction: Kansas

Again, it’s hard for me to buy stock in Kansas being a Final Four team after watching them lose to Kentucky by a million, but I also don’t have a lot of faith in the teams in their way. The Jayhawks will make it to Nola, but lose to whoever emerges from the South Region.