It is finally that time of the year. The Committee has announced the 68 team field and everyone and their dog has started filling out brackets and making their picks to try and get the best bracket possible. The field is very interesting this year as for the bubble teams, they didn’t go for the “Power 6’s” only approach as Temple, Belmont, among other Non-Power 6’s were let into the tournament over teams like North Carolina State, TCU, Texas, among others.
The first round brings all of the excitement and so many games on at once. It also features very intriguing matchups as we will go through the top 1 v. 1 matchup of each region of the bracket and what to watch out for:
East Region: Louisville Jordan Nwora vs. Minnesota Jordan Murphy
The battle of the Jordan’s collide as both teams lead the way in rebounds and are in the top 2 in scoring for each team. For Murphy, he’s had an extremely good career for Minnesota and might becoming to the end very soon.
This is Murphy’s second year to average a double-double and career wise averages 9.9 rebounds per contest. For 6’6, that is extremely impressive. His numbers have been very consistent throughout his career and has flourished in some spots,\. But in others, underwhelming.
Murphy doesn’t shot the 3 well and uses his body to get down low and get to the rack. Murphy averages 14.8 PPG this season and 11.5 rebounds per contest while shooting 48% from the field. But a rather lackluster 23% from 3. He did improve quite a bit from his Sophomore to Junior year from 12 to 31%. But could not make the jump from beyond the arc his senior year.
In his first year starting for Louisville, Nwora has done a really good job from the field and is a bit more established from beyond the arc than Murphy. Nwora averages 17.2 PPG and 7.5 rebounds per contest.
He shoots 44% from the field, but 37% from 3. Murphy is a bit of a heavier player at 250, while Nwora is 225 and is able to accelerate to the hole and score rather than backing down his defender like Murphy. He shoots much better from the free throw line at 77% and doesn’t take a ton of shots a game.
South Region: Villanova Phil Booth vs. Saint Mary’s Jordan Ford
One of the two senior leaders on the team, Phil Booth has been through the highest of highs and what seemed like, the lowest of lows during the previous 365 days. At one point, he was a 2x national champion. The next, Villanova was had dropped back to back games twice for the first time in a very long time.
The second year starter has broken through his shooting this year and nearly doubled his scoring average last year. From 10 to 18 points, he is averaging to take 7 more shots per game and making 3 more baskets.
He is 43% from the field and 37% from 3 point range. His free throw percentage has gone down, but is a consistent rebounder and assists as he averages almost 4 of those a game.
In Ford’s 2nd year starting, he two has also nearly doubled his scoring total from last year. After averaging just 11 a contest, he has skyrocketed to 21 PPG and was First Team All-WCC this year.
Ford is an above average 3 point shooter and a well rounded free throw shooter at exactly 80%. Ford isn’t a lockdown defender like Booth, but can hold his own defensively. In a conference that features Gonzaga,
it’s hard for other schools to receive Automatic Bids and for players to stand out. Jordan Ford and Saint Mary’s was able to do that this year and make the tournament.
Midwest Region: Houston Corey Davis Jr. vs. Georgia State D’Marcus Simonds
Since stepping on campus last year, Corey Davis has been special and he is showing out this season and that is the reason why Houston is 31-3 and a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Davis is an athletic drive to the basket guard with scary good free throw shooting and good defense for a slightly undersized guard at 6-1. Davis shows up when he is needed the most as he went for 31 Points in their season finale against fellow NCAA Tournament team Cincinnati on 8 of 9 from the free throw line and 6 assists.
He also shot 8-13 from the field and was perfect from 2 point range in a win on the road against #9 seed UCF with 26 points. Davis shows up in big games and this one shouldn’t be an exception.
The Sun Belt player of the year a year ago returned for his Junior Year. Which is a bit odd, considering a guy like Simonds looked like he hit his ceiling, but wanted to come back. Simonds takes a lot of shots and does his best work from inside the 3 point arc.
Simonds is not good from 3 and is an okay free throw shooter. For being 6’3, he is a very good rebounder at 5 a game, but has his fair share of turnovers as it occurs nearly 4 times a game. Simonds is a playmaking guard. We’ll see if he can make enough plays and to stop Davis enough to pull off another crazy upset in the NCAA Tournament.
West Region: Marquette Markus Howard vs. Murray State Ja Morant
By far, one of the most talked about matchup in the entire tournament will go down in the first round. Markus Howard has put on legendary performances throughout the year. While Ja Morant is a solidified Top 5 pick who gets another crack at the tournament before entering the draft.
Howard is an all around baller who can hit from beyond the arc and drive at a ridiculous rate. Howard has eclipsed the 30 point mark 10 times and has gotten 40 or more 3 times. He put up 45 points against Buffalo, which included 40 in just the 2nd half alone.
In road game against Creighton, he shot 15-26 from the field (57%) and 10-14 from 3 as he put up 53 points in that contest. Howard did just come off one of his worst performances of his career against Seton Hall where he shot an awful 1-15 from the field. He did finish with 21 points, but 18 of those coming from the free throw line. That is something to watch heading into this game.
Ja Morant isn’t the 3 point shooter that Howard is. But Morant is a player and a future superstar just waiting for an NBA team to pick him. Morant is 50% from the 3 and has incredible hops.
He also averages 10 assists per contest, but with that comes turnover issues. Even though they have different playing styles, Trae Young had trouble controlling the ball while having to dish out a lot of assists.
Morant is a special talent and against a guy like Markus Howard, it’ll have the entire country and a ton of scouts watching this game. And I’m sure those people wont be disappointed with the matchup they’ll be getting.
Image Credit: https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2017/11/8/16626752/marquette-golden-eagles-basketball-markus-howard-greg-elliott-injuries-injury-mount-st-marys https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2019/01/23/ja-morant-murray-state-racers
