Sweet Sixteen Preview: Oregon State (12) vs Loyola Chicago (8) Deep Dive
We are through the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Let’s take a look at the updated bracket:
via ESPN
Throughout the first two rounds of their tournament, there were some major upsets. North Texas beat Purdue, Ohio defeated Virginia, Oregon State having to win the PAC-12 tournament to make the NCAA tournament beat Tennessee and Oklahoma State while Loyola Chicago pulled an upset by beating the number one seeded Illinois in the second round. Perhaps the most shocking result of the tournament is a 15 seed Oral Roberts making the sweet 16. They got past a 2 seed in Ohio State and then beat Florida. Now, Oral Roberts will play a 3 seed Arkansas who the Golden Eagles have already played this season.
Here are the Sweet 16 matchups for Saturday and Sunday:
Saturday, Mar. 27
2:40 p.m. est — (8) Loyola Chicago vs. (12) Oregon State on CBS (watch live)
5:15 p.m. est — (1) Baylor vs. (5) Villanova on CBS (watch live)
7:25 p.m. est — (3) Arkansas vs. (15) Oral Roberts on TBS (watch live)
9:55 p.m. est — (2) Houston vs. (11) Syracuse on TBS (watch live)
Sunday, Mar. 28
2:10 p.m. est — (1) Gonzaga vs. (5) Creighton on CBS (watch live)
5:00 p.m. est — (1) Michigan vs. (4) Florida State on CBS (watch live)
7:15 p.m. est — (2) Alabama vs. (11) UCLA on TBS (watch live)
9:45 p.m. est — (6) USC vs. (7) Oregon on TBS (watch live)
Oregon State (12) vs Loyola Chicago (8) — 2:40 p.m.
Oregon State is one of the surprises of the tournament thus far. They had to win their conference tournament to get in the field and beat Tennessee and Oklahoma State to get here. Oregon State will mix up their defenses with man and a couple of different zone looks. Ethan Thompson is the best player on the Beavers; he had 26 points and 7 rebounds against Oklahoma State and is averaging 15.6 points on the year. The long wing does a good job getting to his spots in the mid-range.
Jarod Lucas is the Beavers' 2nd leading scorer at 13 points per game and is a very good shooter at 39 percent from three and 89.6 percent from the line. Lucas is extremely confident and will shoot the ball of the catch and off of movement.
Warith Alatishe is one of the most underrated players in the conference. The transfer from Nicholls State is a really good athlete, one of the best rebounders in the conference, and was big down the stretch for them in the conference tournament.
Loyola Chicago is back in the Sweet 16 after making the Final Four in 2018. They are an extremely disciplined and fundamentally sound group that ranks number one in the country in Kenpom’s defensive efficiency ratings.
Cameron Krutwig is a starter on the previous Final Four team and is one of the best players in the country. A third-team All-American is a big man that can pass, dribble and score in the post. He reminds me of Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets but without a jump shot. He averages 15.0 points a game and just under 7 rebounds with 6.9 per game.
Lucas Williamson was another rotation player on the Final Four team and Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year does a really good job guarding the ball and uses his length to bother ball handlers. Braden Norris, who transferred from Oakland, is the third leading scorer at 8.4 points per game and leads the team in assists at 3.1. He’s another very good defender who knocks down 41.1 percent from three.
This will be a good matchup, both teams are extremely well-coached and it’s been a great season for both teams and a game that will likely go down to the wire.
JACOB’S PREDICTION: Loyola 70 - Oregon State-64
